so i have a friend in sie deutschland und i wanted to go see him either this summer or during christmas and im having a hard time finding a flight there. is there a flight that is a straight away? or will i have to be stuck in a airport on the east coast while i wait for refueling or another plane? anyways like i said he is in hessen germany and i am completely ignorant of german airports. is there even one in hessen or do i have to go to berlin or munich or someplace? also i wanted to do it early enough as to get a cheap flight there and back. i only want to go for a week seeing as thats how much ill have open during christmas. (i prefer then but ill have longer if i go this summer sooo) i speak some german but thats why i wanted to go to have my friend help translate things i cant.
Portland - 2 Answers
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1 :
Hesse ("Hessen" is a modification of the base word) is a German state which contains Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Hanau, Gießen, Wetzlar, and Limburg. Frankfurt a.M. is probably the most connected airport from the U.S., but tends to be more expensive from PDX than Munich. Since a train ride from Munich to Frankfurt is about $60 round trip per person, it's usually much cheaper to fly to Munich and take the train—a scenic farmland route of four hour or so. Lufthansa used to have a daily direct flight from Portland to Frankfurt, but they discontinued service September 2009. The lowest fare I see for the next few months is $874 departing Monday, June 7 for a seven night stay. (This is out of a full calendar at $1400+ of the lowest fare for each day. It peaks at $1500 for Fridays in August.) The $874 is Alaska Air AS2450 to Vancouver BC with a 7 hour layover and Condor Air DE1071. Return is the same route on flights DE1070 and AS2451. The price doesn't drop below $900 until the last week of October when it is $814 weekdays. That prices holds for Sun through Thu in November and December, mostly, except Dec 19 through 23. Use the ITA link below to check yourself. Fares change several times per day, even for flights 7+ months away.
2 :
I'm a German national from Hessen, living in Portland... :) Hessen boasts one of Europe's major transportation hubs, Frankfurt International. There's great public transit options from the airport to almost any place in Hessen thanks to the local operator (RMV). Until a few years ago, Lufthansa offered a direct 747 from PDX to FRA, 12 hours nonstop, but they stopped that route some time ago. I guess there just wasn't enough demand. This was the only direct flight to Frankfurt from Portland, it may have been the only direct route to Germany from here. When my mom comes to visit, she usually goes through Cincinnati or Chicago, with stopovers having lasted anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. Those routes seem pretty reasonable both budget and travel-time wise. Schoenen Urlaub in Deutschland! (Und das Aepfelwein trinken nicht vergessen! ;)
