Fly to New York for just 199,73€ incl. taxes!!!

[gulliver]

Does someone want to visit New York for a small price? It is possible with expedia.fr. How it works:
1. Go to www.expedia.fr
2. Click on "Aller simple, multi-destinations, ..."
3. Choose "Multi-destinations"
4. Vol 1: From BRU to NYC, for example january 15th, Vol 2: From NYC to BRU, for example january 18th, Vol 3: SFO to LAX, for example march 4th. and click "rechercher"
5. When the results are displayed, click on "afficher les vols séparément"
6. Choose Continental flights for flight 1 and 2. Flight 3 has to be an flight from American Airlines.
7. Now, if the cheapest tarifs are available, a price of 199,73€ is displayed.
If you book this flight, just fly flight 1 and 2 and don't show up for flight 3 (or if you're in USA again at that time, you'll have a free flight)...
This "trick" works also for flights from Hamburg (from 169€), Berlin(from 199€) and Frankfurt (from 182€)...

[Acid-drop]

I could not get it cheaper than 333 euro.
But what's the trick exactly ? adding a 3rd flight makes the total price cheaper ?

[gulliver]

I could not get it cheaper than 333 euro.
But what's the trick exactly ? adding a 3rd flight makes the total price cheaper ?

Exactly: the 3rd flight with AA influences the way expedia.fr calculates the fuel surcharge, but important is, that all flights are available in the cheapest class

My example:

Vols sélectionnés
vol 199,73 €
Sélectionner un autre vol
09:50 Partir Bruxelles (BRU)
Arriver Newark (EWR) 12:25 ven. 12 févr.
Durée : 8h 35min
Continental Continental 61
Vol Direct

Sélectionner un autre vol
18:35 Partir Newark (EWR)
Arriver Bruxelles (BRU) 07:50 tip+1 jour lun. 15 févr.
Durée : 7h 15min
Continental Continental 60
Vol Direct

Sélectionner un autre vol
07:25 Partir San Francisco (SFO)
Arriver Los Angeles (LAX) 08:45 jeu. 4 mars
Durée : 1h 20min
American Airlines American Airlines 1929
Vol Direct
Détails et options d'achat

[Acid-drop]

how big is the risk to have to pay a fuel surcharge later ?

[gulliver]

how big is the risk to have to pay a fuel surcharge later ?

Normally if you've made your booking, a contract stands. They could argument with an error and cancel the ticket, but, imho, they cannot demand, that you have to pay more than they offered

[AF332]

how big is the risk to have to pay a fuel surcharge later ?

Normally if you've made your booking, a contract stands. They could argument with an error and cancel the ticket, but, imho, they cannot demand, that you have to pay more than they offered

If this is mentioned in the contract terms (this is the case for most airline companies, incl. Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa,...) they have the right to ask a fuel surcharge at the moment you check-in for your flight. I don't know how they can manage this if you check-in online...

[gulliver]

On the expedia website is confirmed that all taxes and surcharges valid at the time of booking are included, and if taxes / surcharches are changed, you might have to pay them afterwards.
But that's normal for all ticket's and as far as I know there is a percentual limit once a ticket is issued, and the time between booking and travel must be more than xx months. (But I don't now the exact regulations)

[gulliver]

In a German forum, the vielfliegerforum, this tarif is heavily discussed. A similar trick worked a couple of months ago also on expedia.fr and the flights were all "confirmed". So I guess, it will give no problems, once the e-ticket is issued.

[connectme]

Congrats this does work I just did it, shame it doesnt work on the uk website, why do we pay more always to fly from London!!?? But I would be nervous booking reagrding the fuel surcharge issue.

[gulliver]

But I would be nervous booking reagrding the fuel surcharge issue.

As I've read, it should be possible to view your status directly on the airline's website. If your flight is "confirmed" they accepted the payment from expedia.fr...

[Depretair]

It's funny indeed.
This price remind me the lowest fare of Biman when they were flying to JFK out of Brussels with the DC10.
In my opinion, it can work.
Once you have paid your ticket, the transaction is accepted by both parts.
It's the same with the fuel surcharge, the price of the fuel can become more expensive but your price will remain the same once the ticket is issued.
A few years ago, Aer Lingus had a problem on their website.
The price for a return to JFK via Dublin was about 1 €.

Maybe i'm gonna try this next years if it still works.

[Acid-drop]

Do it have to be continental for the round trip ? I cannot reproduce it with other companies and airports different than newark

[gulliver]

Do it have to be continental for the round trip ? I cannot reproduce it with other companies and airports different than newark

Yes, it has to be Continental or Continental codeshare flights... For example, from Munich it also works on Lufthansa flights, if it's operated as CO-codeshare-flightnumber. From Amsterdam also Houston is possible for about 330€ instead of 470€

[gulliver]

The price has increased: the cheapest price I found today was 212€...

[danieln]

Just to let anyone know that I am back from Newark since this morning. I was one of the lucky people who enjoyed the € 199,73 fare (thanks to expedia.fr).

Everything went smooth. Security people at the check-in counter at BRU asked me just once what the meaning was of that 3rd flight (Los Angeles - San Francisco). I answered them honestly that I was not planning to use this leg as I booked it to get a better price on the BRU-EWR legs. They were happy with that answer.

So for future error fares at expedia or Continental (or whatever we should call this €199 fare): don't be afraid, no extra charges to be paid at the airport!

[sn26567]

Congratulations for your nice cheap flight. Ryanair couldn't do better!

[regi]

Just to let anyone know that I am back from Newark since this morning. I was one of the lucky people who enjoyed the € 199,73 fare (thanks to expedia.fr).

Everything went smooth. Security people at the check-in counter at BRU asked me just once what the meaning was of that 3rd flight (Los Angeles - San Francisco). I answered them honestly that I was not planning to use this leg as I booked it to get a better price on the BRU-EWR legs. They were happy with that answer.

So for future error fares at expedia or Continental (or whatever we should call this €199 fare): don't be afraid, no extra charges to be paid at the airport!

I would be afraid to tell the truth. They could see it as an act of terrorism against their economy. One way ticket to Gitmo.

I have been informed several times that website bookings are regulated in huge data centers in India. This much be a bug in their software program.

About the past: yes, Biman has been the price breaker for many years BRU to JFK. 250 euro or something like that. ( go and return flight, if you had survived the first leg )

Normal prices these days are about 400 $ with Delta.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Please kep us informed for other 'bugs' in the future !
THX already
CX-B

[liege-bierset]

Isn't it something similar to the old trick called super"Open jaw" ? .As it was used by travel agents before in order to offer a lower price.

[regi]

not such a big discovery: but if you look at prices on ebookers , you get results that differ from which country website you look.
Explanation:
If you go to ebookers.de you can choose Brussels as departure airport. And you receive some choices. Let us say cheapest with company A and price 200 euro.
If you switch now to ebookers.be you often do not get that cheap option at all. This airline seems not to depart from BRU.
You can also choose from ebookers.fr and again, different results. More ridiculous is that they don't even give departures from BRU but from AMS or LHR. Seems that ebookers has no respect for Belgian customers and deleted BRU as an airport
Anyway, just a almost useless remark. I buy my long haul tickets from a travel company.