Lufthansa rates through program vs online

Are the rates you get when you call the number the dealer gives you to book your Lufthansa tickets any better than those to be found online, at Expedia, etc? We'll be booking our tickets soon, for myself, husband and 2 kids, so need to buy 3 tickets... through Expedia, when I do a SAN to MUC search, for dates in late-June to mid-July, it shows a price of ~ $1,350, when I look at Lufthansa's site itself, it shows even higher!

Actually, what I'm really wanting to do is an open jaw ticket, San Diego to Munich, and Paris to San Diego. I don't think you can do this type of search with Expedia, but just tried that with Travelocity, actually got somewhat cheaper rates, which would be nice if that turned out to be available. (and foregoing the free ticket doesn't help, the cheapest of the other airlines I can find is ~ $1,100) We placed our order yesterday, and the dealer said it takes a couple of days to "get in the system", and to call tomorrow or Monday. Any advice? Are open jaw tix any problem?

Edie

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I went through the process a few weeks back and I think I have a situation similar to you in some ways, so I will speak up. I am doing ED in June myself with wife and 2 kids, 5 and 2. It seems that one of your kids is less than 2...good luck (for both of us).

While shopping, I always found I could get prices in travelocity and expedia that were probably $200-300 less than what Lufthansa had FOR RESTRICTED AIRFARES, but I ended up a little bit ahead with the Lufthansa two for one deal after adding the prices of the four tickets. Also, you call Lufthansa before you get any confirmation, they give you the price and reserve the fare, and you buy it once you get a VIN number, which is around one month prior when you are already buying the car. I changed my plans twice and initially had open jaws. I first wanted to return from Venice, but I did not want an unknown to drive my car back to Munich. Lufthansa will fly you to a hub in Germany from Paris and then back to the US. I know this because I considered going all the way to Paris in my excitement, but the reality of long drives with small children sat in (are we there yet!). Being our first family trip to Europe, we decided to stay in Germany only for two weeks and not drive more than 2-3 hours per day. I have found a lot of information of things to keep the kids interested, such as fairy tale roads, amusement parks (including Europa Park, the largest amusement park in Europe, and Legoland in Augsburg, close to Munich), tech museums with children's areas and planetariums, petting zoos, castles, and others. The Frommer's "Best Loved Driving Tours series have great capsules on each driving tour of things to do with the kids. They have one for Germany, Austria, France, and Northern Italy. From my research, Germany seems to be a more kids-friendly Not only that, but I will be driving around Germany and flying round trip non-stop each way with my kids, which is a little cheaper and easier on them. I research a lot of hotels and looked for family friendly ones with enough space for all of us. It will be tougher for you since you are going to be flying from the West Coast. It will obviously be much better if you have at least 10 days for your vacation, since with small kids it will take you a couple of days to recover from each long flight.

I would like to hear about your experience with kids. I had earlier started a thread asking advise about doing ED delivery with kids and found a lot of good information, although it was just from a handful of people since there are not that many out there that apparently do ED with their kids. I hope this is helpful for you.

Reply » Lufthansa rates through program vs online

Thanks for the info -- no, none of my kids are less than 2, they're 17 and 12. Why did you think one was < 2? With the 2 for 1 deal I'd need to purchase 3 tickets for the 4 of us, no?

I'll post any new info I find...

Reply » Lufthansa rates through program vs online

I believe this is covered elsewhere here, but I'll go over it again. The two for one Lufthansa fare books into Q fare category. This is generally not the lowest fare category available on LH (Lufthansa). That's why you are seeing the discrepancy between online bookings and what LH offers through the BMW program. Of course, it's well coordinated because as you observe when you're looking at two airfares you generally end up paying a little less.

However, you give up a few things. The second person on the free ticket does not earn frequent flyer miles. If there is any problem whatsoever with the itinerary you are stuck with each other. There are no substitutions or refunds available. When booking, there has to be Q fare availability on all your desired flights. If not, you are stuck with what they give you. The only codeshares available are on specifically LH coded United flights for the domestic portion, this can restrict your options as well.

My advice to people looking at the 2 for 1 program would be to thoroughly research the alternatives available. And only if the savings are significant enough (in my mind greater than $300) would I consider doing the LH program. It's just my opinion that you really give up too much in flexibility for the meager savings.

Reply » Lufthansa rates through program vs online

I recently booked tickets to MUC and found a better deal online over the Lufthansa program. Booking on my own also gave me more flexibility as it seems going through Lufthansa required me to set my travel dates before ordering my car (which I wasn't prepared to do). Open-jaw was also something I needed to do but I believe the 2-for-1 requires that the flight be round-trip.

In response to the original post about searching for open-jaw flights, Expedia does have this option. Click on the "flights" tab and then choose "Multiple destinations". The multicity option is often buried and difficult to find. I booked my flight via Orbitz.

Reply » Lufthansa rates through program vs online

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Duh.....I thought because of the three tickets....anyway, maybe someone else will benefit from my advise. You do only need three. Having young children makes me think of a 17 y/o as old. Good luck!

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