Get Europe on your way to Asia, or add Asia to your Europe trip, and save a bundle with this FCF trick ticket.
The team here at FCF loves a lateral solution to a problem. And here we have another beauty. I’m talking about linking Asia and Europe, which are generally considered east and west from the U.S. Maybe it’s the way we’ve been conditioned to read maps that has us thinking east and west. The “Far East”? It could also be called the “Far Northwest” from the U.S. as the crow flies (hope that crow has mittens).Go ahead, have a play with the earth here and see what I mean.
So, back to Europe and Asia. Instead of either going to one or the other, or thinking about them as geographic opposites, why not make them geographic allies and join them together? In this case, a right angle that links the U.S., Helsinki, and Asia.
Who Wins With FCF’s Stopover Strategy?
Here’s looking at you, cheap elite credit collectors. Or you, low-fare foragers. Even you, exotic city sightseers. Yes, this stopover strategy ticks a lot of boxes.
Fares to Asia right now can be especially expensive in Business Class. They can easily be in the $5,000 to $9,000+ range if you fly nonstop or in a westerly direction.
But if you add a stop in Europe (here we’re looking at cool Helsinki, Finland, from which you can easily bounce around to anywhere in Northern Europe, even the must-do St. Petersburg, Russia, just a 3.5-hour train ride away), you can save up to 61% on your fare — and you’ll get a stop in Europe for free.
To be clear, it’s still farther than flying from the U.S. to Asia direct, but the savings are head (and globe) spinning. Plus you’re up in Business Class enjoying amenities that pass the time comfortably. You can even stop in Europe coming and/or going, if an epic trip tastes appetizing to you both ways.
FCF’s Over-the-Top Number Crunch
The New York-Helsinki-Hong Kong-Helsinki-New York fare is $3,730 on Finnair, for example.An over-the-top savings, literally.
The chart below shows round-trip flights on Finnair from Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York to Helsinki, as well as the prices when you add an Asian stopover. In most cases, you save money to add on the Asian city.
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Where does this work?
Finnair’s Business Class Cabin
