Non Rev travel to Italy or France questions.

Lee D

Lee D

Well-Known Member
All of my non rev travel has been in the US & I've never been to Europe. So next summer I am thinking of taking my wife to either Italy or France for about a week. (I'm leaning towards Italy.) I would rather not break the bank. Any of you non rev gurus have any advice? Going from SLC to Paris or through JFK to Rome most likely. I suspect loads in the summer might be tricky.
I'm thinking I'll use trains to get around.

Interline or ID90 any good for finding deals?

What to expect in cost per day with average hotels and food.

. I'm certainly not asking for anyone to do research, but if any of you have done this your advice and ideas would be helpful Thanks!
 
Delta SLC-CDG is a good one when the weather is not so hot. A lot of non rev have been kicked off because it is overweight and it often stops in CVG for fuel. If you don't mind fly to Amsterdam, there are a lot of seats from ATL, MSP, and DTW.

ID90 just sucks IMO.

Depends do you want to live like a rich person or a poor person? Stay in a hostel and eat cheap, that would be around 50 bucks a day almost for hostel and food.
 
I've nonreved to both places but your questions are kind of open ended... as a rule, you will spend more $$ than whatever you plan for. Not breaking the bank is hard in Europe where the exchange rate is nearly 1.5 to 1 these days. wotif.com is great for hotels. The loads can't be trusted until literally a few days before. Rule #1 is be flexible, if you can't match your schedule to the loads you need to be ready to go to Timbuktu if the loads are bad for your first choices.
 
And think about alternate airports. Want to go to France, but the loads stink? BRU is your friend as you can hop on the TGV.

Trying to get to Milan, but Alitalia finally went under and sent all of their pax to your airline? STR, MUC and ZRH are great launch points to hop on the train to get into continental Italy.

You can travel inexpensively (good!) but traveling cheap (bad!) can leave you on the toilet for a few weeks and battling bed bugs, so be careful! ;)

Hints for your first trip:

1. If you've got the time, take only one credit card and if you're in a credit union, get a secondary account with a dedicated ATM/debit card with no overdraft protection AND tell your bank what countries you'll be traveling to. So if you get drunk and sober up sans credit card, well, they don't clean out your primary banking account and you still have your other credit card for a backup.

2. Unlocked cellphone and pick up a prepaid sim card in Europe if you need to call home.

3. Travel buddy! If you're non-revving, perhaps find someone with similar travel benefits that would be able to check loads and other travel options from the US if you're in a bind and have no way of logging on. Zap him/her a quick SMS from your regular phone or your unlocked phone with a European sim card and perhaps have them send load information.

4. Don't be afraid to call the hotel that the airline you flew lays their crews over at for discounts. I've stayed in some killer hotels for prices often lower than what you'd expect to pay for a bare floor in an opium den! :sarcasm:

5. Probably most importantly, before you go to a foreign country, spend some time and research a little about the customs of the country you're flying to, especially in France and Italy when it comes to dining.

Keep asking questions!
 
Learn the language! When I went to Paris in June, it was my first trip to Europe. I thought that I "knew enough" of French to get by, WRONG!!! It helps so much just to know a few greetings and what to say in a restaurant. Oh, and try not to keep a schedule. Have a couple of things you want to get done, but don't get so wound up in an itinerary. You won't enjoy the country as much with your head in a tour guide. Also, talk to the locals. Find out where they go for dinner, drinks, etc. And lastly, always have an idea of the people around you. I don't know about Italy, but in Paris rush hour, the metro is packed. It can be very easy to be pickpocketed and not even realize it. So just know your surroundings. Hope you have a good time! And post pictures when you get back!
 
I would also add, don't use the currency exchange places, they are a rip off. Instead just withdraw from an ATM, the bank charges a small fee but otherwise as far as I know the exchange rate is what it should be.
 
Thanks for the replies. Good stuff! Sorry to give somewhat open ended questions, I just am not sure what to expect. I hope I can make it work.

BTW any one want to borrow a few kids for a week? ( Kidding, kidding. :D)
 
Lee D said:
All of my non rev travel has been in the US & I've never been to Europe. So next summer I am thinking of taking my wife to either Italy or France for about a week. (I'm leaning towards Italy.) I would rather not break the bank. Any of you non rev gurus have any advice? Going from SLC to Paris or through JFK to Rome most likely. I suspect loads in the summer might be tricky.
I'm thinking I'll use trains to get around.

Interline or ID90 any good for finding deals?

What to expect in cost per day with average hotels and food.

. I'm certainly not asking for anyone to do research, but if any of you have done this your advice and ideas would be helpful Thanks!
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Take me with you Lee.
 
PS. This E Dawg guy has no clue what he's talking about. And this Doug Taylor......I won't go there. Buyers beware!
 
Lee D said:
Thanks for the replies. Good stuff! Sorry to give somewhat open ended questions, I just am not sure what to expect. I hope I can make it work.

BTW any one want to borrow a few kids for a week? ( Kidding, kidding. :D)
Click to expand...

I think it will be much easier than you realize. As a generalization gate agents abroad are pretty well informed. If there's a seat and you're listed, you get on the plane. Same as domestic.

The only real difference is you can't just walk up to, say Turkish Airlines, show them your badge and expect to get on. Your airline has to have an agreement with them, you gotta get the ZED fare tickets (or whatever you have), and go through the listing procedures which are airline-specific but generally pretty easy.


mrivc211 said:
PS. This E Dawg guy has no clue what he's talking about. And this Doug Taylor......I won't go there. Buyers beware!
Click to expand...

Very true. I learn from making mistakes :)
 
Everyone I know never flies into France, you fly somewhere else and take the train. The French government has just imposed a really pretty costly tax on travelers going to/from France. I think it goes to a good cause, something to do with poverty I think, but its still quite a bit of money. FRA is where a lot of non-revs enter Europe as there aren't a whole lot of taxes and you can probably buy a train ticket or maybe even ZED fare ticket from there.
 
SFCC/UND said:
I thought all Delta connection employees get free DL bennies. We code S3C on Delta and S5 on NWA. I don't remember what my code is on UA.
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You're an 8A on OO, 8C on mainline, meaning you get on after ALL the UA companions get on. DL Skywest is ground handled by DL mainline here so I don't get the bennies since I don't touch the planes. I'm just jealous thats all, because UA treats us like crap and the DL people actually get on BEFORE mainline buddypasses.
 
E_Dawg said:
I would also add, don't use the currency exchange places, they are a rip off. Instead just withdraw from an ATM, the bank charges a small fee but otherwise as far as I know the exchange rate is what it should be.
Click to expand...


I'm a little late to the party, but when we went to BCN this summer I hit the Travelex place in PHL in uniform, and they didn't charge me anything. Actually, I had a polo shirt and my ID on, so I wasn't even in uniform.

We researched the train and found it to be expensive for our needs for three, but you can often hop an EasyJet, TUIFly, Thomson, etc. flight for as little as 29 euros if you need to travel within Europe.

We stayed at an apartment for 300 Euros for four nights. It was small but new and modern and very cool. I think I found that on Hostelbooker.com.
 
ChasenSFO said:
You're an 8A on OO, 8C on mainline, meaning you get on after ALL the UA companions get on. DL Skywest is ground handled by DL mainline here so I don't get the bennies since I don't touch the planes. I'm just jealous thats all, because UA treats us like crap and the DL people actually get on BEFORE mainline buddypasses.
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I don't fly United that much. We have a united/skywest flight from GEG- SEA, GEG-DEN, and GEG-SFO and it pisses UA commuters off when I can bump all UA employees off the plane.
 
Duck_Twacy said:
I'm a little late to the party, but when we went to BCN this summer I hit the Travelex place in PHL in uniform, and they didn't charge me anything. Actually, I had a polo shirt and my ID on, so I wasn't even in uniform.
Click to expand...

The fee is hidden because the exchange rate is not what it should be. Travelex keeps the difference.
 
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