Expert: Roberto Gomes - 9/8/2010

Question
I would like some advice; I sure hope this doesn't fall into the "best airfare" category that you didn't want to answer...I want to travel to Central Europe next late summer/early fall (Austria, Germany and Switzerland). and go from place to place via rail.  Since I'll be going independently (I've always done tours before) I have no firm date for departure, and no particular city or cities to land or depart from...  I'm entirely "open" but what I'd like to do is check for the best airfare(s) and make a quasi-itinerary after choosing a flight.  The problem I have is that I don't know how to find a flight since I am so "open".  I'd like to find the best fares but sites like Expedia etc. don't let you put your destination as "Germany", or to set a range of 30 days for departure!  Is there any way that a person can really get information on the fares to Europe from the US on all airlines, to a particular country but not city, during a period of time rather than a set date?  (Whoa, that was an oddly-constructed sentence!  I sure hope that I'm making sense..that you can understand what I'm getting at.)  If I knew that I wanted a R/T to Munich leaving on August 30, 2011 and returning 10 days later, it would be no problem! But I don't necessarily need to go to Munich if Frankfurt would be less expensive...I don't have to go on Delta if Air India (for example) is less expensive...  Just how do people find this information?

Answer
Dear Gina,

Although your question is on the category that I do not answer, let me give you some information.

I really appreciate your approach (I guess a feminine touch) but your openness on dates and places its not related on how the airlines work.

They need to know a particular date, the departing city and the arrival city. With this you can choose different flights if there are more than one. Some airlines have a mark (or a box) that you can check when you are looking for available seats often named as I AM FLEXIBLE WITH DATES. But the results will be shown from A to B.

So my advice since the countries you mentioned are close is to choose a entry gateway from the US, ie Frankfurt, check trains at

www.raileurope.com

to make your internal European tour and choose a exit gateway back to the US, ie Zurich or Geneva or even back to Frankfurt.

Hope this helps.
Enjoy your trip.
Kind regards,
R. Gomes