Search an ‘Old Country’ Route for Lower Fares

On a recent trip to Poland, my co-worker Sarah Pascarella discovered it was actually cheaper to fly there from Chicago than her home Boston airport. It may seem odd when considering that Boston is actually closer to Europe, and major airlines offer flights frequently from there. However, Chicago is able to offer lower fares because of its large Polish population. Since there are so many more people purchasing tickets from this airport to fly to their home country, the prices tend to drop.

This is also true of flying to the Azores from Boston. In fact, Azores Express flies mainly from Beantown and Providence because of the high demand from the Portuguese population in the area.

It can pay off to search routes from U.S. cities with a dense cultural influence when traveling to a foreign country. If you’re unsure of where to look, you can always begin by contacting a local travel agency. Just simply ask if there are any deals to your desired location that may be offered from a different airport than your home base. Typically, these deals are offered because of the increased numbers of people flying to that specific locale.

You may find you can cut quite a bit of cost by buying your plane tickets separately from your home airport to the gateway city with cheaper fares to the foreign destination. Compare prices from your home airport to your desired location, and then from the gateway city to see how much you can save.

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