Moscow flights could be a key to saving money
With new fuel surcharges and new flight taxes being added all the time, it can feel impossible to find a good deal on a long-haul flight. But at the same time there are new low-cost carriers entering the business (for some reason) so those who are creative can still find great bargains if they know where to look.
Moscow as a cheap stopover
The economy of Russia continues to create new middle-class citizens almost as fast as it’s creating new millionaires, so air traffic in the country is booming. Thanks to several new low-cost carriers to compete with Aeroflot, it can often be possible to change planes in Moscow and save big money.
As an example I came across just today, I was searching for a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to London next month for a friend. To my horror, the cheapest one-way flight available was over US$1,200, although round-trips are still under US$800. But what if a person doesn’t want to book a return flight soon?
Further research showed that a one-way flight from Los Angeles to Moscow was around US$700, with the flight back to London being only around US$150 itself. That combination may not be viable for this particular trip, but it gave me an idea to continue to research airfares through Russia compared to flights changing elsewhere in the region.
It turns out that the cheapest way from Shanghai to London is to book one ticket into Moscow and then another into London from there. The same is true of many city pairs in Asia and Europe. Flights that are US$900 between, say, Kuala Lumpur and Paris, can be more like US$600 if you stop in Moscow in between.
Moscow on a layover?
I’ve yet to visit Moscow, and I believe there are some visa issues still so you can’t just turn up at one of their airports, but still if you could pay for a 3-day stopover in Moscow by the savings of buying separate tickets connecting there, wouldn’t it be tempting?
Beijing and Shanghai actually have similar deals going, where new low-cost carriers are covering destinations in both directions cheaply enough that you can save money by connecting through China.
The bottom line
When researching flights, especially long-distance city pairs, you can sometimes find great deals by connecting through places you wouldn’t have considered. In some cases the immigration situation is such that you can change planes without a visa, even on different airlines. This is currently true and popular in Malaysia and Thailand, with each having many flights by the wonderful Air Asia that connect the whole region cheaply.
And in other cases you might need a visa to change planes from one airline to the next at a remote airport, but if you know about it in advance you might give yourself an opportunity for a cheap cultural experience and save money at the same time.