Finding the Best Flight Fares to the Alps

Airlines

• Lufthansa, United Airlines and Swiss Air offer the majority of the flights from the U.S. They are all members of the Star Alliance (hint, if you want an airline credit card to save miles – get one from Star Alliance)

• Air Canada offers the majority of flights from Canada (also Star Alliance)

• Delta Airlines and American Airlines offer a few flights

• Edelweiss Air offers flights in and out of Zurich from selected airports once or twice a week, Alitalia offers flights into Milan, and Luxair runs one flight from LAX to MUC

​​Fare Searching

• Google Flights is a quick and simple way to get an overview of airfares. You can search from and to multiple destinations at a time (Munich & Zurich for example), and clicking on the calendar for the dates gives you the option to scroll through and see an overview of the lowest price on each day for several months

• Check out the Hopper app. Choose a route, and the app will tell you which dates in the year are likely to have the lowest fares, when the fares are expected to rise and by how much, as well where to go to find the fares it is referring to. You can also set up for fare notifications on your chosen route

• SkyScanner and Kayak are great at allowing you to do a variety of searches to find the lowest fares, and setting up notifications for your desired route

• After finding a good deal on a fare search website, always go directly to the airline's website to see if they might have an even better deal

• After you purchase your ticket, reach out to a price matching service, such as Pricerazzi, that will scan the internet for better deals and send the savings (minus their 15% cut) back to you.

​Tips & Tricks

• The more flexible you are with dates, destinations, and adventures, the more likely you are to find a great deal

• You will get the best deals if you are willing to travel off-season

• Get a credit card that allows you to save points (we recommend with a Star Alliance airline), and put everything you can on that card. But if you do not pay the credit card off completely every month, you will likely offset the savings you will get on flights

• Internet browsing tips (believe it or not – these can make a difference):

  • Delete cookies

  • Browse in a private window (Ctrl+Shift+P)

  • Buy your ticket in a different currency

  • Use a VPN to search flights as if you were located in a different location (country). CyberGhost is a free VPN you can download