Airfare rant

[LvivLovers 39]

First we must deal with immigration. And then once that's over with, then the airlines!

Ok, so I'm just going to pass on my experience hoping that it may help someone in the future.

My wife will have her interview on Oct. 29, so I decided we should have plenty of time to receive the visa if I come on Nov. 10 and bring her back to the USA with me on Nov. 17.

I'm planning to travel round trip between Atlanta, GA, USA and Kyiv, Ukraine since that's usually easier to find flights along that route. Then my wife will join me just from Kyiv, Ukraine back to Atlanta, GA, USA. I wanted Atlanta to be our only stop in the USA so that would be her port of entry (also where I live). That way even if the immigration stuff takes a long time we won't miss our connecting flight. This limited our flight options a little bit.

I logged into Orbitz to see what flights I could get since I used them in the past and they were decent. I finally found a route I liked. I figured it might be a little complicating getting my wife on the same flights as me so I decided to call Orbitz. Long story short, I painstakingly gave the guy on the other end of the phone all the information but when it came time to add my wife going one way only, he tells me the system won't let him originate a flight from Ukraine. He then wanted to talk me into keeping my round trip ticket because it would be cheaper than going through the airline directly. Anyway, I decided I'd check that out.

I called NWA and told them what I was trying to do. I got an extra 5 hour layover since they have to use partner airlines only, but I figured that's ok. Total cost of my round trip ticket was about $800. I was pretty happy with this, especially since this was very close to what Orbitz had.

Then the shocker. She pulled the rate for my wife to join me just on the return flights. Cost: More than $2,500! I was like hmm.....that's not good.

I asked her if I could just make a round trip ticket the same as mine and have her only show up for the return flights, but she said if she does not show for the first flight they cancel the whole thing.

And now my tip for future travellers in case you don't know....I then asked her to make a round trip ticket for my wife starting with the return flight part and returning to Ukraine in a week (even though my wife will just skip this). The price came down to about $800. hahaha

Add the airlines to my hate list please...right up there with CSC!

Hope this helps someone!

[mike & elena 0]

LL

Talked with my wife about the physical she said the physical was very easy and there was nothing to fear. Her physical was $100 and the extra shot was about $15 each. As for the airline I have had nearly the same experience except I was able to find the inexpensive one way fare on Expedia. It was about the same cost as the round trip.

Mike

[LvivLovers 39]

LL

Talked with my wife about the physical she said the physical was very easy and there was nothing to fear. Her physical was $100 and the extra shot was about $15 each. As for the airline I have had nearly the same experience except I was able to find the inexpensive one way fare on Expedia. It was about the same cost as the round trip.

Mike

Thanks again, Mike! I'm still not locked into my fair, so I'll probably check them too!

[Jasman0717 8]

I sent Claudeth money to buy her own ticket and saved us about $150. Did you have her look?

[C and J 1]

Airlines have people over a barrel, it really sucks what they are able to do.

On my last trip to the US we decided that my hubby would collect me from Chicago and we would drive 3 hours to get to his house, rather than waiting 6 hours for a 45 minute connecting flight. Because he picked me up, United invalidated not only the connecting flight but also my return flights as well. So I had to book another set of tickets just so that I could get home. Apparently, the 4000 miles I flew to get there are also not valid for my mileage plus account

The only upside is that I booked the return for this ticket to be February, which is when I think my visa will be complete. So it will either be the ticket I use to enter the US on... or, if the visa is not complete, it will be a 2 week holiday in the US and I'll book another "US->UK" flight to get home again.

[joelunchbox 0]

LL

Talked with my wife about the physical she said the physical was very easy and there was nothing to fear. Her physical was $100 and the extra shot was about $15 each. As for the airline I have had nearly the same experience except I was able to find the inexpensive one way fare on Expedia. It was about the same cost as the round trip.

Mike

I have been thinking about this also.... My fiance's mother is in good health but is fairly old. I was thinking of buying her a round trip ticket with a return date of close to a year. Is that possible? I know she will want to visit her mom and sister, etc. And, does anyone know if there will be any visa related issues within this time period concerning a visit home?

[Elbereth 0]

My husband comes to visit every month... it's about 1500USD to fly here from Chicago, only to stay 4 or 5 days .

It's a lot of money, but we figure we can always make more money, whereas we can have back the time we lose not being together.

[*JG* 2]

Wow! That all sucks. When I did ours, I called American directly and had them give me round trip and Andre just the return flight. I don't know what exactly they did; but his ticket was exactly 1/2 the cost of mine. I guess we lucked out.

[pushbrk 12,212]

First we must deal with immigration. And then once that's over with, then the airlines!

Ok, so I'm just going to pass on my experience hoping that it may help someone in the future.

My wife will have her interview on Oct. 29, so I decided we should have plenty of time to receive the visa if I come on Nov. 10 and bring her back to the USA with me on Nov. 17.

I'm planning to travel round trip between Atlanta, GA, USA and Kyiv, Ukraine since that's usually easier to find flights along that route. Then my wife will join me just from Kyiv, Ukraine back to Atlanta, GA, USA. I wanted Atlanta to be our only stop in the USA so that would be her port of entry (also where I live). That way even if the immigration stuff takes a long time we won't miss our connecting flight. This limited our flight options a little bit.

I logged into Orbitz to see what flights I could get since I used them in the past and they were decent. I finally found a route I liked. I figured it might be a little complicating getting my wife on the same flights as me so I decided to call Orbitz. Long story short, I painstakingly gave the guy on the other end of the phone all the information but when it came time to add my wife going one way only, he tells me the system won't let him originate a flight from Ukraine. He then wanted to talk me into keeping my round trip ticket because it would be cheaper than going through the airline directly. Anyway, I decided I'd check that out.

I called NWA and told them what I was trying to do. I got an extra 5 hour layover since they have to use partner airlines only, but I figured that's ok. Total cost of my round trip ticket was about $800. I was pretty happy with this, especially since this was very close to what Orbitz had.

Then the shocker. She pulled the rate for my wife to join me just on the return flights. Cost: More than $2,500! I was like hmm.....that's not good.

I asked her if I could just make a round trip ticket the same as mine and have her only show up for the return flights, but she said if she does not show for the first flight they cancel the whole thing.

And now my tip for future travellers in case you don't know....I then asked her to make a round trip ticket for my wife starting with the return flight part and returning to Ukraine in a week (even though my wife will just skip this). The price came down to about $800. hahaha

Add the airlines to my hate list please...right up there with CSC!

Hope this helps someone!

You would have saved yourself a lot of stress by simply describing what you wanted to do (in one of the forums) and asking how best to do it. The end result would be the same because the problem is one we all face. From some countries, however, it is best to buy a one way ticket in country at the last minute. Making the same flights can be pretty tricky that way, if there are connections.

Most would also advise the intending immigrant not make specific travel plans until the visa is in hand. I hope you are satisfied with any refund or change fee policy associated with her ticket or both. Good luck.

[Urge To Race 2]

Good point!

My husband comes to visit every month... it's about 1500USD to fly here from Chicago, only to stay 4 or 5 days .

It's a lot of money, but we figure we can always make more money, whereas we can have back the time we lose not being together.

[LvivLovers 39]

First we must deal with immigration. And then once that's over with, then the airlines!

Ok, so I'm just going to pass on my experience hoping that it may help someone in the future.

My wife will have her interview on Oct. 29, so I decided we should have plenty of time to receive the visa if I come on Nov. 10 and bring her back to the USA with me on Nov. 17.

I'm planning to travel round trip between Atlanta, GA, USA and Kyiv, Ukraine since that's usually easier to find flights along that route. Then my wife will join me just from Kyiv, Ukraine back to Atlanta, GA, USA. I wanted Atlanta to be our only stop in the USA so that would be her port of entry (also where I live). That way even if the immigration stuff takes a long time we won't miss our connecting flight. This limited our flight options a little bit.

I logged into Orbitz to see what flights I could get since I used them in the past and they were decent. I finally found a route I liked. I figured it might be a little complicating getting my wife on the same flights as me so I decided to call Orbitz. Long story short, I painstakingly gave the guy on the other end of the phone all the information but when it came time to add my wife going one way only, he tells me the system won't let him originate a flight from Ukraine. He then wanted to talk me into keeping my round trip ticket because it would be cheaper than going through the airline directly. Anyway, I decided I'd check that out.

I called NWA and told them what I was trying to do. I got an extra 5 hour layover since they have to use partner airlines only, but I figured that's ok. Total cost of my round trip ticket was about $800. I was pretty happy with this, especially since this was very close to what Orbitz had.

Then the shocker. She pulled the rate for my wife to join me just on the return flights. Cost: More than $2,500! I was like hmm.....that's not good.

I asked her if I could just make a round trip ticket the same as mine and have her only show up for the return flights, but she said if she does not show for the first flight they cancel the whole thing.

And now my tip for future travellers in case you don't know....I then asked her to make a round trip ticket for my wife starting with the return flight part and returning to Ukraine in a week (even though my wife will just skip this). The price came down to about $800. hahaha

Add the airlines to my hate list please...right up there with CSC!

Hope this helps someone!

You would have saved yourself a lot of stress by simply describing what you wanted to do (in one of the forums) and asking how best to do it. The end result would be the same because the problem is one we all face. From some countries, however, it is best to buy a one way ticket in country at the last minute. Making the same flights can be pretty tricky that way, if there are connections.

Most would also advise the intending immigrant not make specific travel plans until the visa is in hand. I hope you are satisfied with any refund or change fee policy associated with her ticket or both. Good luck.

Most of all I wanted to insure that we would be booked together, so waiting until the last minute wasn't a good option for us. Also, the main purpose of my trip is to help her finalize things, help with baggage, and help her get through immigration. I allowed about 3 weeks for the visa...they say it should take from 3-8 days. If for some reason she doesn't get the visa, this trip will just turn into a visit because we've been apart for too long.

I sent Claudeth money to buy her own ticket and saved us about $150. Did you have her look?

I think she would have had trouble doing this because we really wanted to travel together so she would have had to book my flight also.

Airlines have people over a barrel, it really sucks what they are able to do.

On my last trip to the US we decided that my hubby would collect me from Chicago and we would drive 3 hours to get to his house, rather than waiting 6 hours for a 45 minute connecting flight. Because he picked me up, United invalidated not only the connecting flight but also my return flights as well. So I had to book another set of tickets just so that I could get home. Apparently, the 4000 miles I flew to get there are also not valid for my mileage plus account

The only upside is that I booked the return for this ticket to be February, which is when I think my visa will be complete. So it will either be the ticket I use to enter the US on... or, if the visa is not complete, it will be a 2 week holiday in the US and I'll book another "US->UK" flight to get home again.

Cheryl, that's terrible. Again these people just care about making money and force you to jump through all sorts of hoops and rules. I'm so tired of things like this.

[LvivLovers 39]

LL

Talked with my wife about the physical she said the physical was very easy and there was nothing to fear. Her physical was $100 and the extra shot was about $15 each. As for the airline I have had nearly the same experience except I was able to find the inexpensive one way fare on Expedia. It was about the same cost as the round trip.

Mike

I have been thinking about this also.... My fiance's mother is in good health but is fairly old. I was thinking of buying her a round trip ticket with a return date of close to a year. Is that possible? I know she will want to visit her mom and sister, etc. And, does anyone know if there will be any visa related issues within this time period concerning a visit home?

Joelunchbox, yes I think that is possible. Each airline has a limit how far in the future you can go, but the person I talked to indicated for that airline I could buy a return up to about a year in the future. It may be a little more tricky to lock in a good deal however. That's why I decided we probably wouldn't really use our return and just made it a week away.

My husband comes to visit every month... it's about 1500USD to fly here from Chicago, only to stay 4 or 5 days .

It's a lot of money, but we figure we can always make more money, whereas we can have back the time we lose not being together.

Elbereth, that is a lot of money but I completely understand. I would have done the same in our situation, but I couldn't get more vacation days to go see her and she couldn't get a visa to come see me.

Wow! That all sucks. When I did ours, I called American directly and had them give me round trip and Andre just the return flight. I don't know what exactly they did; but his ticket was exactly 1/2 the cost of mine. I guess we lucked out.

Jomo's girl...that's awesome. I wish that all airlines were as common sense/friendly as that. It's expensive enough already, so it would be nice if they would cut us a break.

[pushbrk 12,212]

LL

Talked with my wife about the physical she said the physical was very easy and there was nothing to fear. Her physical was $100 and the extra shot was about $15 each. As for the airline I have had nearly the same experience except I was able to find the inexpensive one way fare on Expedia. It was about the same cost as the round trip.

Mike

I have been thinking about this also.... My fiance's mother is in good health but is fairly old. I was thinking of buying her a round trip ticket with a return date of close to a year. Is that possible? I know she will want to visit her mom and sister, etc. And, does anyone know if there will be any visa related issues within this time period concerning a visit home?

Joelunchbox, yes I think that is possible. Each airline has a limit how far in the future you can go, but the person I talked to indicated for that airline I could buy a return up to about a year in the future. It may be a little more tricky to lock in a good deal however. That's why I decided we probably wouldn't really use our return and just made it a week away.

I remember the days when a Saturday night stay was required to get the best airfare. Lot's of people were buying two round trip tickets and using only the first half of each one, in order to save money on business trips. I was single during most of that time, so preferred to have my employer spend a little less money funding hotels and food, so I could enjoy the weekend where I was working. My favorite was the week I worked a trade show at the Doral Country Club and then spent the weekend in the Keys on the company dime.

[payxibka 10,044]

Most if not all airlines will allow tix to be purchased 364 days in advance. The caveat is that you are subject to schedule changes and being that far in advance it is likely.....

[pushbrk 12,212]

Most if not all airlines will allow tix to be purchased 364 days in advance. The caveat is that you are subject to schedule changes and being that far in advance it is likely.....

The flight times on the last two domestic trips I took in July and August had departure time changes of a few minutes on at least one of the legs. This is common but you have to watch it closely to make sure any connections still work for you.