Least Expensive Airfare to Four Continents

Least expensive air travel from Omaha to four continents - Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.


Outline

  1. Ground rules
  2. Method
  3. Influence of travel dates
  4. Least expensive round-trip to Europe
  5. Least expensive round-trip to Asia
  6. Least expensive round-trip to South America
  7. Least expensive round-trip to Africa
  8. Sum total of all three airfares

Ground rules

This is somewhat of a competition. I give extra points for the person with the least total airfare to all of these continents. All airfares must be roundtrip from Omaha, and must for be a three-week period from now until Sept. 1. It can be two different airlines, in which case you would present two different graphic files. The timing must be such that you can make the connection. Provide at least 3 hours. If the connection has you spending the night at the airport, you must include the cost of a hotel.

Generally, the least expensive fares to these destinations are from coastal cities in the US, like LA and New York. In order to get the lowest fare, you need to find the least expensive coastal city and the least expensive flight from Omaha to that city. Sites like Kayak and Expedia won't do this automatically. There may be some ground transportation involved in transferring to a nearby airport. Include the ground transportation cost and associated graphics. Bigger cities have multiple airports so don't get confused. New York, for example, has five airports: JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, White Plains, and Newburgh. Only three offer international flights. The cheapest flights are often from the smaller airports that charge a lesser fee for landing.

You don't need to check luggage but you do need to include a carry-on bag.

Prices vary widely during this period. They also vary by day of the week. You must present screenshots of the airfare with sufficient detail to verify the dates, connections, and price - including taxes. Use only commercial airlines - you can't use military aircraft or family connections with commercial companies. The flight leaves from Omaha – you can't drive to another city.

Method

I used Kayak, Skyscanner, and cheap flights to get an average cost for each trip, or a better general idea of what I would be spending. This assignment was originally supposed to be submitted in February, when restrictions relating to air travel had not yet become stringent. The higher flight prices in this document are reflective of the economic pressure airlines are facing at the moment. My method is to use multiple websites for flight estimates, check multiple dates across multiple months, and to see if search engines can narrow down what the cheapest day, month, and time to fly is. From my experience traveling mid-week is the cheapest time to travel nationally. I am going to assume that mid-week is also the cheapest time to travel internationally, and shoot for a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday flight. It is logical that most people wait towards the end of their work week to book flights. Additionally, I will be searching red-eye flights, or obscure flights times, as the goal of this assignment is to find the cheapest flight. If flights are leaving at times that most individuals won’t be awake, this would most likely be the cheapest time to book a flight.  

Influence of travel dates and cities

I tried the following three-week periods from now until Sept. 1.

The cheapest flights to South America would logically be the most northern parts of South America—this is where I searched. I looked at countries like Ecuador, Columbia, and Venezuela. The cheapest place I found in South America to travel to was Bogota, Colombia. It is about 2,800 miles from Omaha, NE to Bogota, Colombia.  The only other airport that is geographically closer to Omaha, NE in South America is the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Venezuela. Since the US has banned all airlines from flying to Venezuela, this was not an option.

For the flight to Europe I looked at large airports that were in Western Europe, preferably on the coast; Lisbon, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Milan, and Barcelona. Initially, I could not find any cheap flights to Western Europe until I found that you can fly from Boston to Dublin for $562.

The cheapest place to travel to in Asia is Thailand and the cheapest place to travel to in North Africa is Morocco. The reason that these places are cheaper to travel to has all to do with tourism. They are not geographically closer than many other places in Asia and Africa, but have lower costs because of the number of tourists that fly to each area.

Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to Europe

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Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to Asia

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Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to South America

One-week trip to Bogota, Colombia from August 25th until September 1st. The total trip duration (there and back) will be 23hrs.

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Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to Africa

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Sum total of all four airfares

Europe: Omaha-Boston-Dublin, $809

Asia: Omaha to Bangkok, Thailand, $783

South America: Omaha to Columbia, $617.

Africa: $911

Total price: $3120


Submitted by Tim Callahan on May 11, 2020.