Cheapest flights from Chicago to Munich

I am brand new to this site. My husband, daughter (2 years old) and I will be living in Munich temporarily for my husband's sabbatical research at TUM. We will be there from June to December. We've been trying to figure out the cheapest way to fly there and back. Because it's over a 30 day stay, the ticket prices are outrageous ($14,000 for the 3 of us!!!). We thought it might be cheaper to buy 2 round-trips and use only the first half of each. Has anybody done this? Does it work? Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

Mindy

Welcome to Toytown Mindy.

Just to check (as you haven't said specifically), are you looking for flights from Indianapolis to Munich and back? Or are you starting somewhere else?

Although, you are flying here in high-season ...

$14,000 USD seems quite high!! Are you flying 1st Class??

I would call Munich bound carriers directly ... i.e. American Airlines, Luftansa

Good luck ...

Jon,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry I forgot to mention, we will be looking for flights from Chicago to Munich. Non-stop is not an issue, so any airline that flies US - Germany is fine with us. The flight from Indy to Chicago is more hassle than the 3 hour drive to O'Hare, so we usually fly transatlantically from Chicago.

Willy,

That's the amazing thing!! It was for ECONOMY! It was from Lufthansa's Web site. I triple checked that I was specifying economy and it was still coming up with these outrageous prices. I thought perhaps it was because the return was longer than 30 days?

Thanks!

Mindy

Mindy, I bought a RT ticket for my trip here and only used the first half.

If you don't have a travel agent doing the work for you (i.e. you're trying to buy on the Internet), then keep in mind that the time and day of the week you fly makes a big difference in price. For some reason, I've found Tuesday evening flights to be the cheapest when going from the states to Europe. Your departure city might also make a difference (my knowledge is only from NYC). For example, it may be cheaper to travel on the ground for a couple of hours and fly out of Cincinnati or Chicago. On a few occasions, I've traveled to another city the night before an international flight just to get a cheaper fare.

Good luck.

okay, cross-post so I didn't need to give that advice.

I've found booking online much more $$$$ than booking through an agent ...

GET ONE!!

They're trained to find the best deals ...

yeah, but starting about two years ago they charge you for it. (thanks to losing a lot of business to the Internet). If you put some time and energy into it, good deals can be found. I flew from JFK to Hamburg for $285 last year. Bought that ticket on Expedia.

Go to www.expedia.com. Putting in the random dates of June 1st and December 16th, I got a price $2648 for the 3 of you with British Airways. Lufthansa is usually not the cheapest, so check Internet sites for flights, not for carriers.

uh, chicago to munich for $14,000 is ridiculously stupid. even if it is the summer! i went home over christmas (munich-london-dallas-austin) and paid €630 and that was a good deal.

either go to a travel agency or start internet searching for cheap flights. in june you'll probably pay much more than in march, but that's to be expected.

i always use Travel Overland. it's in german, but it is pretty self-explanatory. always get my tixs through them. oh yeah, it is cheaper to have someone in germany buy your tixs for you, then mail them over, than you buying them in u.s. i know you would save 25%. did this for me ma.

forget lufthansa. they suck. expensive! flew american over christmas. never again. they charged $5 per beer or wine. usually on international flighs, drinks are free!

The reason why you found the ridiculous price is because you went straight to the airline website. In north america, travel agencies or booking agents buy bunches of tickets from the airlines in bulk for reduced prices. This way airlines have a guarantee that their planes are full. These tickets are then sold to you. Therefore, you will find the best prices for local travel agents. The only time you will get deals directly from airlines is when they actually have a promotion going on. You will find similar low prices from places like www.expedia.com or www.travelzoo.com. In fact travelzoo has a section dedicated for US travel to Europe. Good luck

I always get take a two-step approach: go to www.ebookers.com and www.opodo.com which usually tells you what the cheapest flight is

then go to the site of that airline and book directly there, avoiding the agent fees and credit card charges and whatnot

using that process, I am down to € 135 for my london to munich flights which I think is about the best deal I can imagine getting for a heathrow flight

Again, all, thank you for your input. I feel a little embarassed because I feel like I came off sounding like I was a "wet-behind-the-ears" traveler. We often fly to Europe and the Middle East (well, Turkey, where my husband is from and where his family still is) and I've never encountered the prices I was seeing. I have almost always gone through the carrier themselves and have always gotten good deals (e.g. we went back to Turkey over Christmas using British Airways on-line, including a lay-over in London for about $500 per person). I was boggled by the prices I was seeing, assuming it was the >30 day return that was the problem.

Part of the problems I've encountered with the Expedias of travel booking is that sometimes you simply cannot change your ticket. If you do, the ticket is canceled and you have to buy a new ticket. That has happened to me once (with Orbitz, maybe??). Since our dates of departure and return are so, so unsure, I need something that's at least flexible (even a $200 change fee would be fine).

Anyway, I think I've already gotten the answer to my question from michnic which is that YES, it's okay to buy a round trip ticket and not use the second half.

But really, thank bunches to the lot of you. Believe me, I'm gonna have a ton more questions before I get there, so please keep your advice coming. I do appreciate it all!!