Least Expensive Airfare to Four Continents

Least expensive air travel from Omaha to four continents - Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

Outline

1. Ground rules
2. Method
3. Influence of travel dates
4. Least expensive round-trip to Europe
5. Least expensive round-trip to Asia
6. Least expensive round-trip to South America
7. Least expensive round-trip to Africa
8. Sum total of all three airfares

Ground rules

This is somewhat of a competition. I give extra points for the person with the least total airfare to all of these continents. All airfares must be roundtrip from Omaha, and must for be a three-week period from now until Sept. 1. It can be two different airlines, in which case you would present two different graphic files. The timing must be such that you can make the connection. Provide at least 3 hours. If the connection has you spending the night at the airport, you must include the cost of a hotel.

Generally, the least expensive fares to these destinations are from coastal cities in the US, like LA and New York. In order to get the lowest fare, you need to find the least expensive coastal city and the least expensive flight from Omaha to that city. Sites like Kayak and Expedia won't do this automatically. There may be some ground transportation involved in transferring to a nearby airport. Include the ground transportation cost and associated graphics. Bigger cities have multiple airports so don't get confused. New York, for example, has five airports: JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, White Plains, and Newburgh. Only three offer international flights. The cheapest flights are often from the smaller airports that charge a lesser fee for landing.

You don't need to check luggage but you do need to include a carry-on bag.

Prices vary widely during this period. They also vary by day of the week. You must present screenshots of the airfare with sufficient detail to verify the dates, connections, and price - including taxes. Use only commercial airlines - you can't use military aircraft or family connections with commercial companies. The flight leaves from Omaha – you can't drive to another city.

Method

I used the Hopper app, Google flights, and Expedia for the assignment. I found that google flights was consistently the easiest to use and cheapest.

Influence of travel dates and cities

I planned for travel April 2^nd - 30^th to Madrid, March 14^th - April 5^th to Shanghai, March 19^th to April 9^th in Cancun, and March 18^th - April 9^th for Fes. March and April were consistently the cheapest. I’m not sure if those months are always the cheapest,  or if they were just the right amount of time ahead for a good deal.

Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to Europe

Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to Asia

Least expensive roundtrip from Omaha to South America

 

Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to Africa

 I calculated the cost of the hotel twice to include leaving & returning but didn’t include both graphics it felt redundant.

 

Sum total of all four airfares

Europe: $631

Asia: $673

South America: $490

Africa: $614

Total price $2408

Submitted by Taylor Kocina on (2/08/2019).