Questions and Answers

My lady friend has a big birthday coming up in December. Last year we celebrated my big birthday with a trip to Spain. I would love to return for hers. We did not spend enough time in Seville, Granada or Malaga. Naturally, I fear that we will not return to any semblance of travel normalcy by December.

I have heard that Spain will not be welcoming tourist back until possibly 2021, but have not found anything official. Anyone know anything beyond speculation? Right now business class roundtrip fares from LAX to BCN or MAD are running in the low $2k with several airlines. Is it worth speculating on a ticket with the hope of things opening up by December? Most airlines will let me cancel if I purchase before the end of May. Also, most of the flights I am looking at have stops in LHR, MUC or FRA both going and coming. Suppose Spain is still on lock down in December, but other parts of Europe are not. Would it be possible to use the LAX to LRH, MUC of FRA portions of the tickets without going on to or from Spain? Final question, are there certain airlines you would steer clear from based on their financial circumstances right now?

Thanks for your collective wisdom.

I would be hesitant to book a ticket and not use a portion, as the airline may canel your entire booking if you do. So much of the whats, whens, whys, and hows are up in the air right now. For example, Spain thrives on British tourism, which may not open until September.

[URL]https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/11338415/spain-travel-coronavirus-when-book/[/URL]

As to your flights – consider booking JUST to MUC or FRA (Frankfurt and Munich are both wonderful cities in their own right). As the time to your trip nears, you can either pick up a short intra-Europe flight with a low cost carrier (Ryanair, EasyJet, Jet2, etc) or book a train. Booking the plane that way would necessitate two record locators, but if you had to lose or cancel the “to Spain” portion, you would limit your loses and still maintain your flights home. If you decided on the train, you could conceivably fly into Lisbon or Paris and train from there.

[QUOTE=”RTBones, post: 69631, member: 1686″]I would be hesitant to book a ticket and not use a portion, as the airline may canel your entire booking if you do. So much of the whats, whens, whys, and hows are up in the air right now. For example, Spain thrives on British tourism, which may not open until September.

[URL]https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/11338415/spain-travel-coronavirus-when-book/[/URL]

As to your flights – consider booking JUST to MUC or FRA (Frankfurt and Munich are both wonderful cities in their own right). As the time to your trip nears, you can either pick up a short intra-Europe flight with a low cost carrier (Ryanair, EasyJet, Jet2, etc) or book a train. Booking the plane that way would necessitate two record locators, but if you had to lose or cancel the “to Spain” portion, you would limit your loses and still maintain your flights home. If you decided on the train, you could conceivably fly into Lisbon or Paris and train from there.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I thought about just buying the LAX to MUC or FRA round trip ticket separately and playing it out as you suggested. The irony is many of those tickets are pricing more expensive than the LAX to BCN or MAD tickets which connect through MUC or FRA. Naturally the fear is that they would cancel if for some reason the flights to Spain were not an option come December even if flying to Germany was.

Unfortunately, its a waiting game right now. The Spanish just allowed people to go out and exercise at specific times of the day (their lockdown has been quite strict.) It may very well be that they are open again and all this is for naught. Or, they could have a resurgence of this outbreak and lock down again. It is just that uncertain.

If you look at some of the low-cost intra-Europe carriers, Jet2 is planning to resume their schedule as of 17 June. EasyJet is operating on a 7 day rolling basis. Ryanair is re-evaluating every two weeks. Iberia is selling tickets in December – from MUC to MAD is roughly $135 return pp (depending on flights and days). To/from FRA is ~$120. Train schdules are generally 60 days in advance, so trying to book for December is way too early.

tl;dr. It is really all about the risk you are willing to accept. Are you willing to chance that your Germany-Spain leg gets cancelled and you are stuck (unless you train)? Are you willing to book with two locators so that if it does cancel you still have your getting to Europe portion but may have baggage restrictions? Are you willing to hold off booking on the chance things reopen but possibly lose the fare you have found?

[QUOTE=”RTBones, post: 69669, member: 1686″]Unfortunately, its a waiting game right now. The Spanish just allowed people to go out and exercise at specific times of the day (their lockdown has been quite strict.) It may very well be that they are open again and all this is for naught. Or, they could have a resurgence of this outbreak and lock down again. It is just that uncertain.

If you look at some of the low-cost intra-Europe carriers, Jet2 is planning to resume their schedule as of 17 June. EasyJet is operating on a 7 day rolling basis. Ryanair is re-evaluating every two weeks. Iberia is selling tickets in December – from MUC to MAD is roughly $135 return pp (depending on flights and days). To/from FRA is ~$120. Train schdules are generally 60 days in advance, so trying to book for December is way too early.

tl;dr. It is really all about the risk you are willing to accept. Are you willing to chance that your Germany-Spain leg gets cancelled and you are stuck (unless you train)? Are you willing to book with two locators so that if it does cancel you still have your getting to Europe portion but may have baggage restrictions? Are you willing to hold off booking on the chance things reopen but possibly lose the fare you have found?[/QUOTE]

All good questions. I am leaning on locking down the LAX to MUC or FRA roundtrip ticket and then deciding on the inter-Europe part of the trip as December gets closer. I am still, like most I assume, worried about what airline I choose to get to MUC or FRA. Having never tried Lufthansa business class, I was excited to give it a go. However, over the last few days the business class fares on Lufthansa and United have almost doubled. The recent news on both does not install a lot of confidence either. . . . The fare for the other major airlines seems to be staying steady at this point.