Purchasing plane ticket

[Chuckles 0]

How did you guys purchase a plane ticket for your fiancee to fly into the states after she recieves her visa? Can you purchase a ticket online then have her use a e-ticket at the counter, or did you have to send her paper tickets? How does it work in Russia?

[russ 1]

How did you guys purchase a plane ticket for your fiancee to fly into the states after she recieves her visa? Can you purchase a ticket online then have her use a e-ticket at the counter, or did you have to send her paper tickets? How does it work in Russia?

My wife ended up buying it herself from Finnair in Moscow (at the airport, cash). She missed her origninal flight direct to New York due to a snow storm in Moscow. (That was a paper ticket I mailed to her).

Because of the problem with her original flight, I would stay clear of Аерофлот.

Otherwise, paper or e-tickets are both fine. Expensive either way though. Generally, you can get a biz-class seat for about an extra $300 on most routes (changing planes though). If you don't mind the expense, it will make you more popular with your future spouse. Unless you are going to NYC/ATL, there will be a change of planes anyway.

[Neonred 3,454]

I called Delta and made the reservation. Delta e-mailed me the e-ticket and I e-mailed her a copy and carried over a copy of the e-ticket also. On Delta you don't even need the print out of the e-ticket. They already have you in their computer so you can just hand them your passport and they will take it from there (but I don't recommend you rely on it). But that is what they often did with me. Looked at my passport and didn't want to see the e-ticket I printed.

Unfortunately Delta will not book flights originating from Moscow on their web site. I also found that a round trip ticket was MUCH cheaper than a one way. Look around, however, as others have found good prices for one way tickets. My girls round trip flight to Florida from Moscow was about $825.....which for some reason was $100 more than my round trip over for her interview and bringing her back. Both reservations were made at the same time on the phone with Delta.

[akdiver 3]

My wife ended up buying it herself from Finnair in Moscow (at the airport, cash). She missed her origninal flight direct to New York due to a snow storm in Moscow. (That was a paper ticket I mailed to her).Because of the problem with her original flight, I would stay clear of Аерофлот.

It's hardly the airline's fault if there is a snow storm - jezz.

For what it's worth, I've flown Аерофлот many times myself and I can tell you that the service is the same as other major airlines (Except British Airways and Qantas - they are in their own class). I would not hesitate to use them.

My (then) fianceé bought her own one-way ticket from Moscow to Frankfurt on Lufthansa for $200 or something. I bought the one-way paper ticket from Frankfurt to Anchorage for about $700, and just sent it in the mail to her via DHL along with some last-minute things for her interview at the embassy. So she got from Moscow to Anchorage with one stop, for about $900-$1000.

Cheers!

AKDiver

Edited August 6, 2006 by akdiver

[Sweetgirl 0]

How did you guys purchase a plane ticket for your fiancee to fly into the states after she recieves her visa? Can you purchase a ticket online then have her use a e-ticket at the counter, or did you have to send her paper tickets? How does it work in Russia?

HI!

Just buy the tickets online in the United states and mail the physical tickets to your fiancee to Russia.

This would be the best way of doing that.

Sincerely.

[Eva Malahova 0]

How did you guys purchase a plane ticket for your fiancee to fly into the states after she recieves her visa? Can you purchase a ticket online then have her use a e-ticket at the counter, or did you have to send her paper tickets? How does it work in Russia?

I used e-tickets from Expedia for the past 5 years and had no problems. They have one way options.

[John24689 0]

I have been looking for tickets from Moscow to the US. I have found two places with good prices. The problem is that they both have a statement: The credit card holder name must match the first passenger's name.that the name on the credit card use to purchase the tickets. (I am going to purchase two tickets, one for my fiance and one for her daughter.) I don't see a way around this. She doesn't have a credit card. I may have to just buy more expensive tickets and send her a copy of the e-ticket or mail her the hard copy tickets. Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

John

[akdiver 3]

I have been looking for tickets from Moscow to the US. I have found two places with good prices. The problem is that they both have a statement: The credit card holder name must match the first passenger's name.that the name on the credit card use to purchase the tickets. (I am going to purchase two tickets, one for my fiance and one for her daughter.) I don't see a way around this. She doesn't have a credit card. I may have to just buy more expensive tickets and send her a copy of the e-ticket or mail her the hard copy tickets. Any other suggestions?

Just by three tickets - one for yourself - and not use it.

Cheers!

-AKDiver

[slim 1,514]

Another way to do it is to find out the flight numbers (most of the websites where you get cheap airfare have flight numbers and times of departure/arrival, etc.) and to call the airline directly. You can use your credit card to reserve a ticket for anyone when you call the airline directly.

When Elena went to her interview, I did a little research on the internet cheap sites, then called up Aeroflot directly and put the flight on my credit card. No problem.... the lady on the line actually sounded like she was expecting me to be sending a ticket to a Russian lady, and it seemed it wasn't her first time helping some guy in the U.S. reserve a ticket for some girl in Russia. (Customer service from a Russian company? Holy $#!^!!!! But they were very helpful indeed.)

Make sure that you have either a copy of her passport handy or at a minimum you know how her name is spelled on the passport and I think you also need her passport number and home address, phone number, etc. Something like that.

I should be calling soon too! Good luck!

[mendeleev 68]

I brought her my ticket when I met her in Moscow. We entered the USA together.

[Chuckles 0]

I brought her my ticket when I met her in Moscow. We entered the USA together.

This was my original plan way back when... It happens that the interview will take place at a time I cannot afford to miss work, nor afford another ticket (mine) for that matter.

Thanks for the suggestions here, this is helpful.

[John24689 0]

I finally ordered the tickets from Expedia, one way from Moscow. POE is Cincinnati. For a fee, I had Expedia mail the tickets to her in Russia. I bought the tickets last Thursday afternoon. She received them this Tuesday, yesterday. They wen USPS Express. I can hardly believe it, but they got there in record time. She will leave on September 12.

Thanks for your help. Have a great evening.

John

[akdiver 3]

I finally ordered the tickets from Expedia, one way from Moscow. POE is Cincinnati. For a fee, I had Expedia mail the tickets to her in Russia. I bought the tickets last Thursday afternoon. She received them this Tuesday, yesterday. They wen USPS Express. I can hardly believe it, but they got there in record time. She will leave on September 12.

Ouch! That seems to be one of the most expensive POEs to fly into based on my recent research.

I'm in the process of trying every flight known to man to save money on flights for my inlaws. I swear to god the airlines must conspire to make sure their flight schedules do not allow you to manually piece together the cheap flights, or use cheap flights in conjunction with airline miles.

For what it's worth, the best I can find so far is:

Moscow -> JFK (Swiss Air) & return: $583 per person (via Zurich both ways)

JFK -> Anchorage (Delta) & return : $464 per person (via SLC one way, via SEA the other way)

Total for Moscow to Anchorage and return: $1047 per person

Cheers!

AKDiver

[akdiver 3]

Well, I have completed my mission. You know, last week, I found fares from Moscow to Anchorage (non-direct) that totaled some $1900. Expensive, but reasonable.

Last night, I was ready to buy and I went looking, and the damned fares had gone up by $200 to $2100! Dammit! I spent ALL EVENING last night trying to get back to my original price, trying alternate routes, desperately trying to find a way to use airline miles, and so forth. Finally, by midnight, I gave up and went to bed.

Tonight, I played around for a few minutes looking around and I said screw it, I'll just buy what I found last night. Well, wouldn't you know the prices had gone up by $200, just since last night!! What the hell is that? Sorry bastards. Well, after another long evening of playing games with the travel sites, trying every route and possibility known to mankind, I FINALLY found something reasonable. I got two round-trip tickets from Moscow to Anchorage (via some other places) for a total of $2050 ($1466 Swiss Air + $582 Alaska Air). Not as good as what I originally found, but not too awful all things considered. It was only possible because I had a $50 companion fare ticket to reduce the Alaska Air portion from $982 to $582.

These arrangements use only e-tickets, no paper tickets required. FYI, the flight info is as follows:

OUTBOUND TRIP:

Moscow to Chicago (via Zurich) Swiss Air 1325/8

LV DME 9/21/06 @ 7:15AM AR ORD 9/21/06 @ 3:15PM

Chicago to Anchorage (non-stop) Alaska Air 131

LV ORD 9/21/06 @ 7:30PM AR ANC 9/21/06 @ 11:25PM

RETURN TRIP:

Anchorage to Seattle (non-stop) Alaska Air 142

LV ANC 10/4/06 @ 2:20AM AR SEA 10/4/06 @ 6:39AM

Seattle to Chicago (non-stop) Alaska Air 20

LV SEA 10/4/06 @ 8:45AM AR ORD 10/4/06 @ 2:40PM

Chigaco to Moscow (via Zurich) Swiss Air 9/1326

LV ORD 10/4/06 @ 7:15PM AR DME 10/5/06 @ 5:45PM

Hope this info helps someone.

Cheers!

-sw

[Chuckles 0]

I finally ordered the tickets from Expedia, one way from Moscow. POE is Cincinnati. For a fee, I had Expedia mail the tickets to her in Russia. I bought the tickets last Thursday afternoon. She received them this Tuesday, yesterday. They wen USPS Express. I can hardly believe it, but they got there in record time. She will leave on September 12.

Thanks for your help. Have a great evening.

John

I am curious about this, did you call them or use the website? How did you get them to send it directly to your fiance?