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 Skyscanner and Student Universe in researching this assignment. Skyscanner can be used to find cheap flight days, as well as hotels and car rentals in the area you are traveling. Student Universe is a good tool for students attending a university to get discounts on flights. In order to use Student Universe however, you must be either a student or a young adult under 26.

Influence of travel dates and cities

I found that it tended to be cheaper to travel at the end of March early April. In order to get cheap flights May-July was not an option. I ended up looking at March 22^nd-April 12th and March 31^st-April 23rd. I tried to travel through LAX, JFK, Atlanta, and Houston, all to varying degrees of price.

Least expensive round-trip from Omaha to Europe

To get to Europe I chose to travel through the Charlotte Douglas airport to Munich, Germany. On the way back the flight goes back to Charlotte Douglas.

A screenshot of a cell phone

Description automatically generated