International flights

[bigruss]

So I am going to study abroad in Rotterdam, netherlands and will be leaving early January. Any advice when, where, to buy tickets? Any advice on who to fly? Would it be best to fly into Amsterdam instead and then take a train? Any Dvice is welcome. Thanks everyone.

[Chi Town Sox]

So I am going to study abroad in Rotterdam, netherlands and will be leaving early January. Any advice when, where, to buy tickets? Any advice on who to fly? Would it be best to fly into Amsterdam instead and then take a train? Any Dvice is welcome. Thanks everyone.

 

Oddly enough I was just looking at KLM into Amsterdam about a half hour ago (for myself) - check them out I saw about $855 for round-trip so that seems pretty decent. Might be worth it for a few days there before you head to Rotterdam. Have fun

 

[NorthSideSox72]

So I am going to study abroad in Rotterdam, netherlands and will be leaving early January. Any advice when, where, to buy tickets? Any advice on who to fly? Would it be best to fly into Amsterdam instead and then take a train? Any Dvice is welcome. Thanks everyone.

Schiphol (Amsterdam) is a major airport for overseas flights, which means you will have multiple airlines flying there from ORD or other airports stateside, and that means cheaper fares usually. I've never flown KLM, but Northwest used to fly there direct from Chicago, and I'd bet AA or UAL does too - all three of those would be fine to fly on. Just find the cheapest fare.

 

[bigruss]

Schiphol (Amsterdam) is a major airport for overseas flights, which means you will have multiple airlines flying there from ORD or other airports stateside, and that means cheaper fares usually. I've never flown KLM, but Northwest used to fly there direct from Chicago, and I'd bet AA or UAL does too - all three of those would be fine to fly on. Just find the cheapest fare.

Yea that's my biggest problem from a half hour of searching, it appears early January still means to close to New Years, so the prices are jacked up. It's about triple to fly that week compared to the week after.

 

I'll have to confirm when I actually have to be there, as all I know is early January.

[Rex Kickass]

[/b]

Yea that's my biggest problem from a half hour of searching, it appears early January still means to close to New Years, so the prices are jacked up. It's about triple to fly that week compared to the week after.

 

I'll have to confirm when I actually have to be there, as all I know is early January.

 

PM me with your dates and I'll see what I can find for you.

[Texsox]

Drugs. Get something from the doc to knock you out for most of the flight.

[Dick Allen]

Schiphol (Amsterdam) is a major airport for overseas flights, which means you will have multiple airlines flying there from ORD or other airports stateside, and that means cheaper fares usually. I've never flown KLM, but Northwest used to fly there direct from Chicago, and I'd bet AA or UAL does too - all three of those would be fine to fly on. Just find the cheapest fare.

KLM and Northwest sharecode, so it would be the same flight. I've flown to Amsterdam a few times always on KLM. They fly 747s over and are usually early. Also they don't use the US airlines policy on serving alcohol during the flight. You can suck back as many as you'd like, comp.

 

The best bet is to use Orbitz. See what's cheapest and book through the airline website. If you don't mind making stops, yahoo travel can get you a deal as well.

Edited September 23, 2010 by Dick Allen

[Whitewashed in '05]

Drugs. Get something from the doc to knock you out for most of the flight.

Flying is such a pain in the ass and I can't sleep for more than 2 hours, if I'm lucky. A 4 hour flight has me aching everywhere and I'm not even a big guy.

[Texsox]

Flying is such a pain in the ass and I can't sleep for more than 2 hours, if I'm lucky. A 4 hour flight has me aching everywhere and I'm not even a big guy.

 

There was a few year span where I was on a plane every Tuesday and back on Friday. I lost the ability to fall asleep in the plane. I would have the sensation of *falling*. Not cool. I woke up a couple times thinking I screamed. Alcohol would make it worse.

[Chisoxfn]

The flight will be long. But try to find a non-stop flight. When your going for a long time it just helps. Check out vayama.com, they seem to have pretty good coverage on International Travel.

 

When you fly, try to exercise and stand-up and stretch at least a few times during the flight (prevents blood clots).

[Fotop]

Flying is such a pain in the ass and I can't sleep for more than 2 hours, if I'm lucky. A 4 hour flight has me aching everywhere and I'm not even a big guy.

 

Heh. Suppose you wouldn't enjoy the 24 hr trips from Singapore to Chicago that I've gone through quite a few times. I enjoy it though, flying is the only time you're shut off to the world - no cellphones, email, nothing, unless you REALLY want to get some work done. Forced relaxation is better than no relaxation at all.

 

 

The flight will be long. But try to find a non-stop flight. When your going for a long time it just helps. Check out vayama.com, they seem to have pretty good coverage on International Travel.

 

When you fly, try to exercise and stand-up and stretch at least a few times during the flight (prevents blood clots).

 

Agree with everything said here. The less stops the better, non-stop is so much easier especially if you have to lug your bags between connections...that's the worst. If I were you, I'd pay the premium for the non-stop flight if it's a reasonable figure in comparison to one with connections. Also, deep vain thrombosis is pretty scary - so the advice about the exercise/walking around is key. I'll admit I'm not the best at this myself, but it's good to point out so you're mindful of it. I'd imagine a direct flight to the netherlands is prob 8-9 hrs? If you're not a sleeper, the exercise/stretching/walking around will help break the monotony.

 

One more key point that hasn't been touched on yet - jetlag can be a b****. To Europe it's not as bad as other places, imagine the time change is something around 6-7 hrs or so. My best advice is if you land during the day, stay up as long as you possibly can the first day so you go to sleep at a normal time. If you land at night, try to time your sleep on the plane so you can sleep when you land. Pretty straight-foward stuff, but it's harder in practice than you'd think.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the tylenol pm/ambien route so I wouldn't recommend that if you're not normally a sleeping pill person. I've had someone recommend melatonin pills, think you can get them at gnc, but I've yet to try - again not a pill guy, but these are more "natural" according to the recommendation.

[Chisoxfn]

Heh. Suppose you wouldn't enjoy the 24 hr trips from Singapore to Chicago that I've gone through quite a few times. I enjoy it though, flying is the only time you're shut off to the world - no cellphones, email, nothing, unless you REALLY want to get some work done. Forced relaxation is better than no relaxation at all.

 

 

 

 

Agree with everything said here. The less stops the better, non-stop is so much easier especially if you have to lug your bags between connections...that's the worst. If I were you, I'd pay the premium for the non-stop flight if it's a reasonable figure in comparison to one with connections. Also, deep vain thrombosis is pretty scary - so the advice about the exercise/walking around is key. I'll admit I'm not the best at this myself, but it's good to point out so you're mindful of it. I'd imagine a direct flight to the netherlands is prob 8-9 hrs? If you're not a sleeper, the exercise/stretching/walking around will help break the monotony.

 

One more key point that hasn't been touched on yet - jetlag can be a b****. To Europe it's not as bad as other places, imagine the time change is something around 6-7 hrs or so. My best advice is if you land during the day, stay up as long as you possibly can the first day so you go to sleep at a normal time. If you land at night, try to time your sleep on the plane so you can sleep when you land. Pretty straight-foward stuff, but it's harder in practice than you'd think.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the tylenol pm/ambien route so I wouldn't recommend that if you're not normally a sleeping pill person. I've had someone recommend melatonin pills, think you can get them at gnc, but I've yet to try - again not a pill guy, but these are more "natural" according to the recommendation.

I'm actually getting ready to head back to the states from Ireland and I've been traveling quite a bit internationally lately for work. It is huge to make sure you time your sleep properly so that your first night at your destination you are able to sleep properly. It might not be a perfect sleep, but that sets up a real quick adjustment. I've heard about the melatonin but from what I read if you don't take it properly and at the right time it can actually make your jet lag a whole lot worse.

 

I'm pretty good at not getting any major jet-lag, but I do tend to hit severe exhaustation because I am the type that can't sleep on a plane. 14 hours to shanghai, not much more than a wink of sleep, but no matter what I force myself to stay awake till 8PM or so when I arrive.

 

All that said, I really do get antsy on a flight so I just try to watch tons of movies, walk around, and drink a s***load of water (very important since planes are something like 2 times dryer than the dryest place on earth). But I don't know what I'm going to do for my flight in a couple weeks to Mumbai. Flying for 20 hours is going to be awful (18 hrs into Dubai and than another 2 into Mumbai). At the end of the day, all I ask is that my flights are safe. Lie flat business seats should help though.

[Texsox]

Interesting, I never really minded the connections. Getting off the plane for an hour or three wasn't that bad. I'd rather do a 5 and a 2 than an 7. I always was able to allow for a full day, so why not use it?

[Chisoxfn]

Interesting, I never really minded the connections. Getting off the plane for an hour or three wasn't that bad. I'd rather do a 5 and a 2 than an 7. I always was able to allow for a full day, so why not use it?

The hard part is it can make it more likely to hit delays and when your outside of the US you'll have to go through the security process again, etc, so its nice knowing you don't need to drag your bags back through security again (you'll still need to go through). Of course at certain airports you dont have to worry about that, but if he's flying into Europe with a stop, theres a solid chance he'd be flying into Heathrow which can be a disaster of an airport to go in and out of (lots of air traffic and one runway can cause a lot of delays). Not to mention there are pretty long distances between the terminals.

 

I do agree with you though that if everything works smoothly, it can be nice to have the break.

[NorthSideSox72]

Any overnight flight, do everything humanly possible to get some sleep. As stated by others.

 

KLM and Northwest sharecode, so it would be the same flight. I've flown to Amsterdam a few times always on KLM. They fly 747s over and are usually early. Also they don't use the US airlines policy on serving alcohol during the flight. You can suck back as many as you'd like, comp.

 

The best bet is to use Orbitz. See what's cheapest and book through the airline website. If you don't mind making stops, yahoo travel can get you a deal as well.

 

Actually, NW and KLM both operate flights from the US to Amsterdam, and yes, they code share - though that was before Delta bought NWA, so I am not sure how that works anymore.

 

[Milkman delivers]

I have never had a problem with flying, and I can even sleep on a plane if I'm tired enough. The only thing is that I've never had a flight longer than 4 hours.

[RockRaines]

I used to fly every day for business and its not so much the flying I hate, its the taking off and landing.

 

I've done KLM to Amsterdam and it was a great flight. The jet lag got me pretty good though.

[bigruss]

Im not too worried about falling asleep on the plane, since it will happen even if I just woke up. Planes and car rides knock me out better than NyQuil.

 

The biggest problem that I have seen thus far is the dates in which I have been led to believe that I need to fly in on. They say "early January" and so I take that as the first week of January, which falls into that blanket of Holiday travel which triples the price of tickets.

[NorthSideSox72]

Im not too worried about falling asleep on the plane, since it will happen even if I just woke up. Planes and car rides knock me out better than NyQuil.

 

The biggest problem that I have seen thus far is the dates in which I have been led to believe that I need to fly in on. They say "early January" and so I take that as the first week of January, which falls into that blanket of Holiday travel which triples the price of tickets.

I envy you.

 

I've been sent overseas on business numerous times, and I have rarely ever been able to sleep on the plane. I once did a 3-flight, 29 hour nightmare trip to India on business, didn't sleep once. Worse, I got to the hotel at like noon, so I had to keep myself up another 7 or 8 hours to not be totally whacked out for the next day. That sucked.

 

[Rex Kickass]

Any overnight flight, do everything humanly possible to get some sleep. As stated by others.

 

 

 

Actually, NW and KLM both operate flights from the US to Amsterdam, and yes, they code share - though that was before Delta bought NWA, so I am not sure how that works anymore.

 

Delta, KLM and Air France all have a Joint Operating Agreement for Transatlantic service. So essentially any Delta flight between the US and Europe can also be considered a KLM or Air France flight. In some markets, Delta flies the routes to Amsterdam - in other markets KLM flies the route to Amsterdam. Same thing with Paris. Alitalia is joining this joint venture as well, but I don't know if they have truly activated yet. Delta actually runs the call centers for KLM/Air France in the US, so for transatlantic routes, they are essentially the same airline.

[Rex Kickass]

I used to fly every day for business and its not so much the flying I hate, its the taking off and landing.

 

I've done KLM to Amsterdam and it was a great flight. The jet lag got me pretty good though.

 

KLM service is really good, I have to say. The worst jet lag I ever had was Iceland in November. I kept waking up at Sunset which is like 3 in the afternoon there. I don't think I saw daylight for more than 30 minutes a day when I was there.

[bigruss]

I envy you.

 

I've been sent overseas on business numerous times, and I have rarely ever been able to sleep on the plane. I once did a 3-flight, 29 hour nightmare trip to India on business, didn't sleep once. Worse, I got to the hotel at like noon, so I had to keep myself up another 7 or 8 hours to not be totally whacked out for the next day. That sucked.

I usually fall asleep before the plane even takes off.

 

If Im taking the bus back from campus Ill be asleep before the bus even makes it to the next pick up stop 5 minutes away.

[Dick Allen]

Im not too worried about falling asleep on the plane, since it will happen even if I just woke up. Planes and car rides knock me out better than NyQuil.

 

The biggest problem that I have seen thus far is the dates in which I have been led to believe that I need to fly in on. They say "early January" and so I take that as the first week of January, which falls into that blanket of Holiday travel which triples the price of tickets.

Nyquil was my trick for falling asleep. The overnight flights can be brutal when going to Europe. Suddenly its midnight on your body but 7 AM local time. Last time I flew to Paris I downed a lot of Nyquil right before boarding. I remember taxiing, and waking up over some castles in France a few minutes from touching down, very refreshed. My brother lives in Europe so I had a full slate of activities right away and was instantly acclimated.

[Fotop]

I'm actually getting ready to head back to the states from Ireland and I've been traveling quite a bit internationally lately for work. It is huge to make sure you time your sleep properly so that your first night at your destination you are able to sleep properly. It might not be a perfect sleep, but that sets up a real quick adjustment. I've heard about the melatonin but from what I read if you don't take it properly and at the right time it can actually make your jet lag a whole lot worse.

 

I'm pretty good at not getting any major jet-lag, but I do tend to hit severe exhaustation because I am the type that can't sleep on a plane. 14 hours to shanghai, not much more than a wink of sleep, but no matter what I force myself to stay awake till 8PM or so when I arrive.

 

All that said, I really do get antsy on a flight so I just try to watch tons of movies, walk around, and drink a s***load of water (very important since planes are something like 2 times dryer than the dryest place on earth). But I don't know what I'm going to do for my flight in a couple weeks to Mumbai. Flying for 20 hours is going to be awful (18 hrs into Dubai and than another 2 into Mumbai). At the end of the day, all I ask is that my flights are safe. Lie flat business seats should help though.

 

US to Mumbai? Yeah that's rough. What carrier are you flying? My suggestion would either be Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airlines if you have a choice. They blow the US carriers (namely AA and United) out of the water. Better than British Airways in my opinion, as well.

 

Lie flat seats are always nice - the ones on the new Singapore Airlines planes (basically any of the airbuses 360 and 380 I believe) are HUGE. Again, there's no comparison, except for Qatar from what I hear, but I've never flown them.

 

Good point about the water as well, just make sure you've got easy exit from your seat if you're drinking a ton of water for obvious reasons. Haha.

 

I will also recommend using a tiny travel toothbrush mid-flight - if you're flying business they usually provide these for you or you can pick them up in the lounge pre-flight. Gives you a reason to get up and walk around, makes you feel less scummy toward the end of the flight, and furthermore, should refresh you a bit if you need to be awake.

[NorthSideSox72]

US to Mumbai? Yeah that's rough. What carrier are you flying? My suggestion would either be Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airlines if you have a choice. They blow the US carriers (namely AA and United) out of the water. Better than British Airways in my opinion, as well.

 

Lie flat seats are always nice - the ones on the new Singapore Airlines planes (basically any of the airbuses 360 and 380 I believe) are HUGE. Again, there's no comparison, except for Qatar from what I hear, but I've never flown them.

 

Good point about the water as well, just make sure you've got easy exit from your seat if you're drinking a ton of water for obvious reasons. Haha.

 

I will also recommend using a tiny travel toothbrush mid-flight - if you're flying business they usually provide these for you or you can pick them up in the lounge pre-flight. Gives you a reason to get up and walk around, makes you feel less scummy toward the end of the flight, and furthermore, should refresh you a bit if you need to be awake.

Mumbai can be flown direct from JFK or IAD. Delhi direct from JFK or ORD. If I ever have to trek back there again, I'll find a way to fly direct from the states.