# Need air fare suggestions Bucharest or Budapest & Amsterdam from SFO Sep 2012



## flexible (Jul 15, 2012)

We are considering some European River Cruises in September 2012 but are having problems finding reasonable air fares. 

Departure from SFO probably after August 26 since that is the first date fo some of the current flight sales.

Arrival/Departure city possibilities in order of preference:
Bucharest
Budapest
Amsterdam
Paris

Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## Talent312 (Jul 15, 2012)

Check out www.skyscanner.com and www.farecompare.com
They look for fares within a radius of nearby airports over a period of time.


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## lvhmbh (Jul 16, 2012)

I'm not sure what you consider reasonable.  The sight that I look at - from a recommendation of a tugger is hipmunk.com


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## x3 skier (Jul 17, 2012)

An alternative is to fly to the cheapest Gateway city like AMS, LHR, CDG and the take a LCC or train to your final destination. Www.whichbudget.com is a good place for cheap intra Europe fares. 

That's what I do if required to get a low miles FF Biz Class fares. In the past I flew into AMS, spent a couple of days then took ~$50 flight to LHR for my week @ The Allen House. 

Cheers


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## Carolinian (Jul 17, 2012)

x3 skier said:


> An alternative is to fly to the cheapest Gateway city like AMS, LHR, CDG and the take a LCC or train to your final destination. Www.whichbudget.com is a good place for cheap intra Europe fares.
> 
> That's what I do if required to get a low miles FF Biz Class fares. In the past I flew into AMS, spent a couple of days then took ~$50 flight to LHR for my week @ The Allen House.
> 
> Cheers



A train to Bucharest would be a long ride and fairly expensive.

I concur as to LCC's, but be careful of the luggage limits, and with Wizz Air be aware that they have recently imposed a fee on even carry on luggage.  Still they can work out to be a good deal.  Also beware of using LHR as a gateway, as that will pop you with the huge APD tax on the return flight.

Wizz Air is now the largest airline in Romania, surpassing national flag carrier TAROM.  Their flights into Bucharest also now go into the main airport, OTP, instead of the closer to the city but absolutely dreadful Banesa airport.  They also offer flights in and out of other Romanian cities like Cluj. EasyJet serves Madrid and Milan from Bucharest OTP, and Germanwings serves a German city or two.  RyanAir only flies to Constanta on the coast, but you can take a train from there to Bucharest.  There is also a Romanian low cost carrier called Blue Air, but cancellations can sometimes be a problem with them.  Another Romanian based carrier, with a much better reputation for puncuality is Carpatair, but although theoretically an LCC, their fares are often not that good.

As to Budapest, since the national flag carrier, MALEV, was shot out of the sky by the EU Commission some months back, the LCC's have been fighting one another for dominance, so there are lots of LCC options.  Wizz Air and RyanAir seem to be the biggest players.


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