Lufthansa is running a fare sale until March 12 for travel from their USA gateways to destinations throughout Germany. By far and away the best fare available in this sale is a $619 Roundtrip fare between New York and Dusseldorf. Dusseldorf is a great gateway by which to enter and exit Germany since it is far less busier than Frankfurt and Munich and offers excellent connection capability to destinations throughout Europe. There have been a few instances where I used “DUS” because of weather and operations delays that would have led me to have missed flights had I been flying through Munich or Frankfurt.
Otherwise the fares to other German cities from the USA are normal for Spring travel and range from approximately $900 to $1200 from most US cities. What is unique about this fare sale compared to others in the past is that departures from the West Coast are not any more expensive than departures from other cities such as Chicago or Washington, DC. In some cases, with the proper fare classes for economy you can earn more frequent flyer miles for the same fare if you don’t mind repositioning to airports in the western USA. Especially helpful is if you are an elite member of most Star Alliance plans since that would earn you additional bonus miles in addition to your elite qualifying miles (EQMs). But wary of the fare classes that you are booking since some of them may credit less than 100% of the miles you fly.
Terms and Conditions apply and are as follows:
Tickets must be purchased by March 12, 2013
You must depart between March 10 and March 31, 2013
A 7 day advance ticket purchase period is in place.
Fares valid on Austrian, Swiss, Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, Air Canada or United (hint, try to fly one of the first 4!)
Saturday night stay is required
Weekend departures may incur a surcharge of up to $70.
Maximum stay is one month.
Date changes allowed before and after departures: $250 per change.
