Seattle Roundtrip Flight Questions

[WhiteLotus]

This question is for those of you who have travelled to and from Seattle for your Camino. My daughter and I are walking the Camino beginning next May 2020 and plan to fly out of Seattle to Paris then a flight from Paris to Biarritz then the train to SJPDP so my questions are....where do you fly home from back to Seattle how do you book return flights if your flying into Paris but not flying back out of Paris or are you? So my question is what’s the best way to do this and where do I book the Biarritz flights and train tickets to SJPDP. Got so much great advice just reading everyone’s posts the last few years so thank you in advance for any info!

 

[trecile]

This question is for those of you who have travelled to and from Seattle for your Camino. My daughter and I are walking the Camino beginning next May 2020 and plan to fly out of Seattle to Paris then a flight from Paris to Biarritz then the train to SJPDP so my questions are....where do you fly home from back to Seattle how do you book return flights if your flying into Paris but not flying back out of Paris or are you? So my question is what’s the best way to do this and where do I book the Biarritz flights and train tickets to SJPDP. Got so much great advice just reading everyone’s posts the last few years so thank you in advance for any info!

You can book a "multi city" aka "open jaw" ticket, which is usually much cheaper than two one way tickets. Use Google flights to search, but please book directly with the airlines.

You can fly into Paris, then home from Santiago, Madrid, Porto, or? I found it quite easy to fly home from Porto. It's about a four hour bus ride from Santiago, and there are many buses every day with either Alsa or Flixbus. You can even take the bus directly from Santiago to the airport in Porto.

 

[calmeg]

Or you can go on to something such as expedia: On the left side instead of roundtrip select multiple city. Put in SEA to Paris for the first flight and on the return from wherever you find the cheapest flight back to SEA. You can also add in a middle flight Paris to Biarritz, then Santiago to SEA. LAst year it was cheaper for us to fly Vancouver-Munich-Pamplona, and then Porto back to Vancouver. If you find something like that there is an easy bus from Pamplona to SJPP or Irun.

 

[Deleted member 67185]

This question is for those of you who have travelled to and from Seattle for your Camino. My daughter and I are walking the Camino beginning next May 2020 and plan to fly out of Seattle to Paris then a flight from Paris to Biarritz then the train to SJPDP so my questions are....where do you fly home from back to Seattle how do you book return flights if your flying into Paris but not flying back out of Paris or are you? So my question is what’s the best way to do this and where do I book the Biarritz flights and train tickets to SJPDP. Got so much great advice just reading everyone’s posts the last few years so thank you in advance for any info!

Usually Madrid.

 

[Deleted member 67185]

Or you can go on to something such as expedia: On the left side instead of roundtrip select multiple city. Put in SEA to Paris for the first flight and on the return from wherever you find the cheapest flight back to SEA. You can also add in a middle flight Paris to Biarritz, then Santiago to SEA. LAst year it was cheaper for us to fly Vancouver-Munich-Pamplona, and then Porto back to Vancouver. If you find something like that there is an easy bus from Pamplona to SJPP or Irun.

A word of caution about using 3rd party booking sites. If you run into issues regarding changes in flights due to delays or extensions or the need to head home early, etc., it can cost dearly. The airlines tend not to provide a 'surcharge' for a change, but can charge you 100% of the fare.

Airlines look at these passengers who book thru third party sites as customers of the third party sites, NOT the airline. Third party sites are given discounts that show up as a 'cheaper' fare, but in exchange for that savings you are not the airlines customer, only their passenger.

 

[Donjek]

Biarritz Airport has airline contact information here: https://biarritz.aeroport.fr/en/

Santiago Airport has airline connection information including airline contacts and links to other Spanish Airports here: http://www.aena.es/en/santiago-airport/index.html

You might want to consider Santiago to either Barcelona, Madrid, or London and then onward to Paris if there is not a direct flight.

If you have time there is Renfe trains from Santiago to Irun/Hendaye or Barcelona and SNCF trains from Irun/Hendaye or Barcelona to Paris.

Porto Airport here includes links to Lisboa Airport.

Home | Porto Airport

Official website of Porto Airport – Departures and arrivals in real time, airlines and destinations, access, parking reservation and much more. Have a nice trip!

www.aeroportoporto.pt

There are Autna (Vigo to Porto) and Monbus (Santiago to Vigo) bus and Renfe/CP trains connecting Santiago to Porto via Vigo.

 

[spreadsheetdirtbags]

I flew from Canada (not Seattle), but same continent! I flew Calgary-Montreal-Paris. Then I took the train from Paris to Bayonne, and transferred to another train for SJPDP (same train booking through oui sncf). I'm not sure if you have a specific reason for flying to Biarrtiz, but I really enjoyed the train from Paris to Bayonne. I landed in Paris midday Paris time and made my way via regular buses (the airports have buses to downtown) to a hostel that was walk-able to the train station. It was easy to find the 'bus to downtown' at the airport. I enjoyed the afternoon in Paris, and then slept at the hostel. I woke up and walked to the train station for an early morning train the next day. I got to SJPDP that afternoon, where I had time to explore and go to the office. I liked this breakup because it allowed some 'buffer' for delays, since the bookings (flights vs trains) are through different agencies (the train doesn't care if your flight was delayed, etc). It also allowed me to acclimate a little to the time difference (west coast NA to Europe is enough to mess you up!).

On the way home, I flew from Santiago to Paris, and then from Paris back to Montreal. I took a bus from Santiago to the airport (again, very easy to find...literally anyone can help you find it). I had a very long layover in Paris (again, intentional so if the Santiago flight had issues, I had buffer). I had originally planned to sleep in the airport in Paris. However, I felt I had spent less than expected on the walk, and found through (I think just google? maybe hotwire?) that there was an airport hotel across the street from my terminal that wasn't too expensive, as they had those tiny rooms that are clearly designed for 'sleeping only'.

That was probably a longer story than you wanted, but there you have it! It was long on both sides, but compared to 6 weeks of walking, it wasn't too long! I liked having the low-stress, spaced out itinerary. Also, trains are SO COOL. I love the high speed rail in Europe =)

P.S. I booked my flights through 'kiwi', which is a 3rd party booking agency that 'combines' itineraries from different airlines. I do not recommend this. I had no issue with it, and it was cheap and it all worked out well...but I still don't recommend it. One of the airlines I flew on since went out of business I'm pretty sure. I booked the flights ~6 weeks before departure. I was only comfortable with this because I wasn't going to be heartbroken if it all went belly-up (I made my peace with that). That's why I don't recommend it - this type of flying can totally ruin your trip if someone goes out of business, or there's 'incidents' that aren't covered by the 'terms and conditions'. HOWEVER. You should be able to find overseas flights through a hopefully-stable-ish airline, and then do your own separate booking for the Santiago connector flight as long as you give yourself a day's buffer. Just my (way more than) 2 cents for ya!!

BUEN CAMINO!

(I'm taking the train to Seattle tomorrow morning for a bike adventure! Haven't been in years. Very excited!)

 

[trecile]

P.S. I booked my flights through 'kiwi', which is a 3rd party booking agency that 'combines' itineraries from different airlines. I do not recommend this. I had no issue with it, and it was cheap and it all worked out well...but I still don't recommend it.

I'm happy to hear that you don't recommend them. Sure, many people have no problem with tickets purchased through Kiwi, but you can have big problems with them because they book your journey as separate tickets - meaning that you have no protection if there is a problem with "connecting" flights. Each flight is independent of the others, so if your first flight is delayed you are sh!t out of luck.
If one wanted to combine tickets from different airlines (and accept the risk of not having true connections) you can do it without paying a 3rd party to do it for you.

 

[lt56ny]

A word of caution about using 3rd party booking sites. If you run into issues regarding changes in flights due to delays or extensions or the need to head home early, etc., it can cost dearly. The airlines tend not to provide a 'surcharge' for a change, but can charge you 100% of the fare.

Airlines look at these passengers who book thru third party sites as customers of the third party sites, NOT the airline. Third party sites are given discounts that show up as a 'cheaper' fare, but in exchange for that savings you are not the airlines customer, only their passenger.

That is 100% correct!!! If anything happens including weather related you can be screwed! A few years ago I was doing the Camino. My flight from Puerto Vallarta went to Mexico City (I have no choice) - Miami - Madrid. I was lucky enough to be going as a hurricane was approaching Miami and my flight was cancelled from Mexico City to Madrid. The website gave me no refund. I would not have gotten a refund even if I got insurance from the website. Iberia refunded me a part of my fair (about 30% of my fare). I had buy a one way ticket from Mexico City to Madrid when I arrived in Mexico City for a flight the next day. The price almost put me in the hospital!

 

[Anniesantiago]

This question is for those of you who have travelled to and from Seattle for your Camino. My daughter and I are walking the Camino beginning next May 2020 and plan to fly out of Seattle to Paris then a flight from Paris to Biarritz then the train to SJPDP so my questions are....where do you fly home from back to Seattle how do you book return flights if your flying into Paris but not flying back out of Paris or are you? So my question is what’s the best way to do this and where do I book the Biarritz flights and train tickets to SJPDP. Got so much great advice just reading everyone’s posts the last few years so thank you in advance for any info!

I live in Portland, Oregon and fly in and out of Madrid instead of Paris.
I get off the plane and onto a bus to Pamplona. I take 2-3 days in Pamplona to rest and adjust to the time change, then hop a cheap bus to SJPP. Then when walking back THROUGH, I can skip Pamplona b/c I have already seen it, and get BETWEEN the busy pilgrim stages. When in Santiago, take 2-3 days to see it, then hop a train to Madrid to catch the flight home.

I have tried the Paris route and don't like it as much.

 

[WhiteLotus]

Biarritz Airport has airline contact information here: https://biarritz.aeroport.fr/en/

Santiago Airport has airline connection information including airline contacts and links to other Spanish Airports here: http://www.aena.es/en/santiago-airport/index.html

You might want to consider Santiago to either Barcelona, Madrid, or London and then onward to Paris if there is not a direct flight.

If you have time there is Renfe trains from Santiago to Irun/Hendaye or Barcelona and SNCF trains from Irun/Hendaye or Barcelona to Paris.

Porto Airport here includes links to Lisboa Airport.

Home | Porto Airport

Official website of Porto Airport – Departures and arrivals in real time, airlines and destinations, access, parking reservation and much more. Have a nice trip!

www.aeroportoporto.pt

There are Autna (Vigo to Porto) and Monbus (Santiago to Vigo) bus and Renfe/CP trains connecting Santiago to Porto via Vigo.

Thank you so much for all these links!

 

[WhiteLotus]

A word of caution about using 3rd party booking sites. If you run into issues regarding changes in flights due to delays or extensions or the need to head home early, etc., it can cost dearly. The airlines tend not to provide a 'surcharge' for a change, but can charge you 100% of the fare.

Airlines look at these passengers who book thru third party sites as customers of the third party sites, NOT the airline. Third party sites are given discounts that show up as a 'cheaper' fare, but in exchange for that savings you are not the airlines customer, only their passenger.

Yes I agree I always call the airlines direct when booking flights!

 

[WhiteLotus]

I flew from Canada (not Seattle), but same continent! I flew Calgary-Montreal-Paris. Then I took the train from Paris to Bayonne, and transferred to another train for SJPDP (same train booking through oui sncf). I'm not sure if you have a specific reason for flying to Biarrtiz, but I really enjoyed the train from Paris to Bayonne. I landed in Paris midday Paris time and made my way via regular buses (the airports have buses to downtown) to a hostel that was walk-able to the train station. It was easy to find the 'bus to downtown' at the airport. I enjoyed the afternoon in Paris, and then slept at the hostel. I woke up and walked to the train station for an early morning train the next day. I got to SJPDP that afternoon, where I had time to explore and go to the office. I liked this breakup because it allowed some 'buffer' for delays, since the bookings (flights vs trains) are through different agencies (the train doesn't care if your flight was delayed, etc). It also allowed me to acclimate a little to the time difference (west coast NA to Europe is enough to mess you up!).

On the way home, I flew from Santiago to Paris, and then from Paris back to Montreal. I took a bus from Santiago to the airport (again, very easy to find...literally anyone can help you find it). I had a very long layover in Paris (again, intentional so if the Santiago flight had issues, I had buffer). I had originally planned to sleep in the airport in Paris. However, I felt I had spent less than expected on the walk, and found through (I think just google? maybe hotwire?) that there was an airport hotel across the street from my terminal that wasn't too expensive, as they had those tiny rooms that are clearly designed for 'sleeping only'.

That was probably a longer story than you wanted, but there you have it! It was long on both sides, but compared to 6 weeks of walking, it wasn't too long! I liked having the low-stress, spaced out itinerary. Also, trains are SO COOL. I love the high speed rail in Europe =)

P.S. I booked my flights through 'kiwi', which is a 3rd party booking agency that 'combines' itineraries from different airlines. I do not recommend this. I had no issue with it, and it was cheap and it all worked out well...but I still don't recommend it. One of the airlines I flew on since went out of business I'm pretty sure. I booked the flights ~6 weeks before departure. I was only comfortable with this because I wasn't going to be heartbroken if it all went belly-up (I made my peace with that). That's why I don't recommend it - this type of flying can totally ruin your trip if someone goes out of business, or there's 'incidents' that aren't covered by the 'terms and conditions'. HOWEVER. You should be able to find overseas flights through a hopefully-stable-ish airline, and then do your own separate booking for the Santiago connector flight as long as you give yourself a day's buffer. Just my (way more than) 2 cents for ya!!

BUEN CAMINO!

(I'm taking the train to Seattle tomorrow morning for a bike adventure! Haven't been in years. Very excited!)

Thank you so much for all your advice and yes no third party booking for me it’s just too risky. I’m originally from Scotland and loved all my years of train memories as we use public transport a lot over there compared to here in the US. Seattle weather is beautiful right now, enjoy your bike ride!

 

[WhiteLotus]

What a great place this is for Camino advice...thank you so very much to everyone that responded. I will be saving your comments and start all my booking in November!

 

[WhiteLotus]

You can book a "multi city" aka "open jaw" ticket, which is usually much cheaper than two one way tickets. Use Google flights to search, but please book directly with the airlines.

You can fly into Paris, then home from Santiago, Madrid, Porto, or? I found it quite easy to fly home from Porto. It's about a four hour bus ride from Santiago, and there are many buses every day with either Alsa or Flixbus. You can even take the bus directly from Santiago to the airport in Porto.

View attachment 65713

Thank you so much for all your advice, so much to book and make sure all my connections are in line it’s daunting but I know once it’s all booked I can relax. My hope is to keep it as simple as possible with the least amount of changing transport so I’m not worried about the cost at this point as to me it’s worth it. I think I have the journey there all worked out now and just deciding what we choose for the return part!

 

[Rex]

Have done Camino trips twice in last five years. SEA to CDG, then Orly to Biarritz (there is a connecting shuttle bus or a train that will take you from CDG to Orly). I flew Orange one way from Orly. Train ticket can be bought at the Bayonne station for the short ride to SJPDP. Spent the night in Bayonne at Hotel Ibis, about three blocks from the train station.
Booked return from Santiago through Barcelona back to Paris (it was the cheapest option at that time). CDG to SEA was the back end of my round trip.
Last year, I flew from SEA to Lisbon, through ATL. Walked Camino Portuguese, then took a bus back to Porto and spent a couple of additional days, then train to Lisbon. Flight home was through Amsterdam to SEA.
Of the two Camino routes, I much preferred the Camino Frances, but getting there was a more difficult trip and getting home was a bit of a struggle, at least when trying to minimize layovers and keep costs down.
Planning to do another Camino next year, most likely the leg from Geneva to LePuy or on down to the Pyrenees. Getting to Geneva is easy, but getting back home is going to be another challenge. Looks like the TGV from Avignon or Marseille to CDG might be my best option.
Good luck and Buen Camino.

 

[Kitsambler]

most likely the leg from Geneva to LePuy or on down to the Pyrenees. Getting to Geneva is easy, but getting back home is going to be another challenge. Looks like the TGV from Avignon or Marseille to CDG might be my best option.

I've been flying Seattle-Frankfurt for the Geneva route. SEA-FRA-Geneva going in, Lyon-FRA-SEA going home. Easy train connections between Le Puy and Lyon.

 

[RobertS26]

A word of caution about using 3rd party booking sites. If you run into issues regarding changes in flights due to delays or extensions or the need to head home early, etc., it can cost dearly. The airlines tend not to provide a 'surcharge' for a change, but can charge you 100% of the fare.

I always book directly with the airline for one huge important reason. If one of your flights is delayed and you miss your connecting flight, the airline automatically rebooks you on the next available flight while you are airborne.

A year ago, I was flying on Delta from Seattle to Frankfurt with a tight connection in Amsterdam of just over one hour. Our flight did not push back at Seattle for almost 90 minutes because of a mechanical problem with a cargo door not locking properely. Before we began to taxi, my phone dinged with an update on my Delta app. I was already rebooked.

When I landed in Amsterdam, my Delta app dinged again with my new boarding pass and gate number. After our plane parked, there were dozens and dozens of people pushing and shoving to get off the plane as soon as possible. Once the door was open, there was a mad dash to the help desk so people who bought tickets through third parties could rebook their connecting flights.

I casually sauntered past the mob scene at the help desk without a single worry. Less than an hour later, I was airborne on my way to Frankfurt.