sooo, i am pretty sure that my husband's visa is all set to pick up in Algiers tomorrow (although he'll actually be going Monday or Tuesday to pick it up). i'm starting to think about him coming here and i was curious if anyone knew of a website (besides expedia) where you can buy a plane ticket with a departure city that is outside the US.

if this isnt possible, what is the cheapest way to wire money to the ME/NA?? i remember there being a thread about this a while back, but i couldn't find it and i wonder if it was closed... hmmm. Western Union seems like a fairly reliable way, but i'm not sure how expensive it'll be and i think i remember someone saying that they had bad experiences with it...

if we have to go this route, my husband will buy his ticket from a travel agent in Oran or Algiers... what is the cheapest airline to fly?? we met an Algerian woman living in boston when I was in Oran who said that it is usually cheapest to fly Alitalia through Milan or Luftansa through Frankfurt... at this point, any way that will get him hear the fastest is worth paying for !! and it sounds like my husband is having a miserable time in Algeria.... he's so bored!!! so he might be here midway through Ramadan instead of staying the whole month in Oran


but anyways, just looking for some advice!!!
thanks ladies

I am not sure if it works also in Algeria. But did you check out Paypal?
And with a credit card you should be able to book a ticket on every website. The only limitation can be that you have to go to an airline website.

I'm not sure about your situation and if you can call an airline to make the reservation by phone and charge it? We went through Morocco so I was able to call Royal Air Maroc in New York and charge his ticket on the phone and he picked it up in Casablanca. We found that to be the least expensive way for us.

Good Luck.

Doreen

What about calling the airline in Algeria and booking it over the phone for him?

I've used www.kayak.com in the past. It searches all other websites and then reroutes you to the airline's site for purchase. It also lets you search with flexible dates. Online has been my means of choice bec in Algeria I have had trouble finding places to buy a ticket with a cc. There is a Lufthansa office in Algiers (don't know about Oran) where they are very helpful and take cc. The fancy hotel in Alger also has a travel agency that lets you pay by cc but they only deal with a limited number of airlines. Maybe the Sheraton in Oran has something similar. I usually fly Lufthansa bec they wind up having the best fares, although Air France can surprise you from time to time. Also, on Air France, sometimes buying the ALG-Paris leg from Algeris is much cheaper than buying it through airfrance.com. No idea why. So, I have also bought the legs seperately a few times.

I am sorry your husband is bored. I think boredom is Algeria's national disease and it does alot of damage. May he get to the US soon.

thanks everyone for all the advice !!!!!!!!





i think his problem is that there is only so much sitting around with friends sipping coffee and family dinners one can stand.... he loves seeing friends and family, but without a job or school he just seems kinda lost... hopefully we'll be able to scrap the money together sometime in the next few weeks and get it over there to him

I use a company called VIGO, www.vigo.com I think. Costs 5% of the transfer but the money is there almost instantly and it can even be deposited in the bank for them. I am just opening another bank account and getting an ATM card for my wife. The international fee transaction fee is much less than transfer fees and safer for them as they are not walking out of a business which people leave with cash in hand. Just a thought.

Doug

I am not sure how Algiers works, but I hope it's similiar to Morocco. My husband was able to buy his ticket to the US cheaper there than I could book it online so we did it that way. And from my experience Money Gram is a cheaper way to send money, plus you even get to send a free messages (maximum 10 words). It works just as well and they have places all around Morocco several in each city, so I'd guess Algiers is the same. All you have to do is go to a Money Gram location, fill out a little form, pay and contact your husband and tell him his reference number and amount so he can pick it up. Also keep in mind Walmart has Money Grams, which is nice since Walmart is almost everywhere in the US and they have great hours so it's easy to send the money.

Wish you luck,

Paula

No ATMs in Algeria.

Holly, I am curious what kind of prices you found for tix. I hope it all worked out and he is coming soon.

Hmmm i'm still doing some research, haven't bought anything yet... the cheapest i have found that i can buy from the US is about $1,300 on expedia.com. My husband has been to a travel agency in Oran where he found a ticket from Algiers to Boston for about $1,000 on Lufthansa. He would then just have to buy the Oran to Algiers ticket for about... $70 on Air Algerie. that's the cheapest we've been able to find so far!! What we're working on now is how I can get him money since we are splitting the ticket. the travel agency said that they would not take credit card and buying the SAME ticket on the Lufthansa website would be about $300 more expensive. soooo...we'll see!! the problem with buying tickets on the internet, i have found out, is there are not that many websites where you can buy a ticket that does not originate from the US. but kayak.com was very helpful!! tickets average around $1,300. also another problem is that a lot of the cheaper tickets have an airport switch (Orly to Charles du Gaulle) in Paris... and that's not possible for my husband to exit the airport!!! hopefully it will alllllll work itself out soon

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Hmmm i'm still doing some research, haven't bought anything yet... the cheapest i have found that i can buy from the US is about $1,300 on expedia.com. My husband has been to a travel agency in Oran where he found a ticket from Algiers to Boston for about $1,000 on Lufthansa. He would then just have to buy the Oran to Algiers ticket for about... $70 on Air Algerie. that's the cheapest we've been able to find so far!! What we're working on now is how I can get him money since we are splitting the ticket. the travel agency said that they would not take credit card and buying the SAME ticket on the Lufthansa website would be about $300 more expensive. soooo...we'll see!! the problem with buying tickets on the internet, i have found out, is there are not that many websites where you can buy a ticket that does not originate from the US. but kayak.com was very helpful!! tickets average around $1,300. also another problem is that a lot of the cheaper tickets have an airport switch (Orly to Charles du Gaulle) in Paris... and that's not possible for my husband to exit the airport!!! hopefully it will alllllll work itself out soon
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We had the same problem with the Paris transfer. Air France now has one flight a day Algiers to CDG. They started it about six months ago and I know it fills up fast, but is worth a shot. I think it arrives late afternoon so it isn't great for US connections. Why don't you call the Lufthansa office in Algiers? I know they take credit cards. So does the Air France office in Algiers. I also remember finding somehting on the CDG website once that said you could transfer to Orly (we were flying from the US TO Algeria at the time). They basically have someone accompany you. Wish I could remember where I saw that and not sure if it is true. Isn't it frustrating how simple logistics turn so complex?

Casa to JFK via royal air maroc?

ugh...sooo frustrating... do you think we would be able to get the same price calling the Lufthansa office that we were quoted by the travel agency? i guess the only way to know is to call.......... add that to the list of things to do!!!!

Amed flew Lufthansa from Algiers to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to JFK. It was about $800 altogether. I ended up purchasing the connection from Frankfurt to Charlotte from Expedia with Delta and he was able to just get his boarding pass for that flight when he got to JFK.

I'm sure you can find cheaper than $1300. Have you checked Tunisia? When Amed was getting ready to come, we found some tickets from Tunis to JFK for about $730.

Just doing a search online, it looks like a ticket from Algiers to Frankfurt costs $412 and you can get a trip from Frankfurt to Boston for $556. However, this is with buying the legs separately via Expedia. You can probably get it cheaper by goign with Lufthansa.

As far as transferring money, I'm not sure. We had a discussion about that a while back on the forum. Some people mentioned the pre-paid credit cards you can send, but I don't even know if any place takes credit cards in Algeria, but it would be worth a telephone call to the airline.

Since you're looking a few weeks in advance, you're in pretty good shape. We wanted the quickest possible flight, so we did the booking only 4 days in advance.