So I made the call today to Delta Airlines with just guesstimated dates of travel. I told them May 14th with a return of June 12th. (I can always hope it will be less than a month right?) So round trip without overnight layovers from SLC to Paris to Kiev is roughly $1, 345-$1,375 and one way back home for my Alex is $1,962. Yes, that's right, it will cost more to get him home then to get James and I back and forth. So the sweet Delta agent put me on hold to see if there were any discounts for adoption travel and came back with this option:
The adoption rate for a round trip ticket is........$2,196!!
BUT you can change your dates as needed with no charge. (Where as the other option is a $200 change charge plus the difference in fare) HOWEVER, the other part of Delta's adoption discount is fabulous! They will only charge your child 1/2 the price of whatever ticket price you paid to get over there (be it the regular rate or the adoption rate) to get them home. So, if I elect to go with the original rate, Alex can travel back for 1/2 that rate. Simple math tells me that the original rate even with paying for a date change would be better than the adoption rate for me and make Alex's ticket roughly $680-$690. That is a substantial savings! Thanks Delta!!
Someone told me that flying into JFK as one trip and then flying to Kiev would be cheaper. I ran this through the Delta representative and it would be about $15-$20 dollars cheaper. But it's possible that they would only give Alex the 1/2 rate discount back to JFK and not home to SLC. So I'd probably end up paying much more for his ticket to SLC, canceling out any savings I made by splitting up my flights. Oh...I know I'm losing some of you on this post..it's getting pretty hairy.
ONE OF THE CATCHES of the adoption discount is you have to fly Delta, no connecting flights on France Air or anything. So flying from SLC to Pairs and taking a connection to Kiev on France Air is out. You have to fly into JFK and then on to Kiev and I didn't actually get a quote for that flight now that I think about it. Good gravy....
OF course this is all speculative and my made up dates did involve weekend travel to come home and it is about $30 cheaper to fly out during the week then the weekend. Again, I didn't actually get the quote for the SLC-JFK-Kiev flight. But at least I have an idea of what kind of money we're looking at.
I asked about bags and you get to check two bags under 50 pounds per person for FREE, have one carry on and one personal item. Extra bags are $200 for the first and $350 for the second.(Zikes!) As mentioned we'll have extra bags with the humanitarian donation from our Stake. I guess James will have to only pack ONE bag and bring a bag of socks & underwear for the orphanage? I hope Jen's husband can do the same.
Meanwhile, I had sent an email request to Golden Rule Travel which is a referral I got off of another families blog. They "specialize in international adoption, humanitarian, and missionary travel". I typed in my requested dates and places and apparently a real person is going to get back with me via email or telephone.
I've tried a number of those sites that compare rates and give you the best rate (with the best rate being about $1,150) but most everyone is giving me Delta flights with overnight layovers and I'm thinking the "adoption discount" is not something you can do over the Internet as it took the representative at least 10 minutes to figure it out while I sat on hold. Besides, I'd just like to get there directly without staying the night anywhere else and come home even faster!
I'll let you know what I hear back from Golden Travel. If anyone has any other ideas, suggestions or frequent flier miles they want to part with (I'm kidding) .....let me know!!
**************2:24 pm Update********
Golden Rule Travel just emailed me and for the same guesstimated dates they can fly us from SLC-O'Hara-Kiev for $1180 round trip (no overnight stay) AND Alex's ticket will be about $600 AND changes to the return date are $50 plus any fare increase. (Sweet!)
I have tentative bookings for these tickets and they will hold them up until 14 days before departure. I was told, "For adoption travel to Ukraine, we rely mostly on our humanitarian contract with Lufthansa/United" So I take it were flying United? Then Lufthansa?
Golden Rule asked who my adoption agency was, I told them Adoption Way and they said, "I'm glad to hear that you're with Adoption Way. They have an excellent reputation." (That's always good to hear!) I told this travel agent I'd pass his email along to other families so email me if you'd like it. I think this is who we'll be flying with unless anyone comments and tells me horror stories or experiences. (Please don't be shy.... tell me if you have any!!)
I had a mom call that read my post this morning. She flew Delta and loved the service but said to get your children a ticket before you get there. Decide on their name and purchase them a ticket in their new name because the adoption discount only applies if they have certain seats available and if you wait until everything finalizes in the Ukraine, by the time you book your flight home those seats may not be available. It cost her $2,400 for each child to get them home OR she could have stayed an extra week in the Ukraine to get the 1/2 price rate later.
She also mentioned that the "adoption" fare is a waste of money. (Just like my simple math concluded!) But did speak highly of Delta as far as service.
I also asked her if she had any other tips for our travel and she said when you get into Kiev you have to get through immigration on your own and they're going to ask where you'll be staying. You will not have met the driver or anyone form Adoption Way at this time nor can you as you're behind security. The answer is put the SDA, Kiev on your form. Good thing to know!
Thanks so much! We adoption parents need to stick together. Anyone else out there with suggestions, ideas or warnings?
The adoption rate for a round trip ticket is........$2,196!!
BUT you can change your dates as needed with no charge. (Where as the other option is a $200 change charge plus the difference in fare) HOWEVER, the other part of Delta's adoption discount is fabulous! They will only charge your child 1/2 the price of whatever ticket price you paid to get over there (be it the regular rate or the adoption rate) to get them home. So, if I elect to go with the original rate, Alex can travel back for 1/2 that rate. Simple math tells me that the original rate even with paying for a date change would be better than the adoption rate for me and make Alex's ticket roughly $680-$690. That is a substantial savings! Thanks Delta!!
Someone told me that flying into JFK as one trip and then flying to Kiev would be cheaper. I ran this through the Delta representative and it would be about $15-$20 dollars cheaper. But it's possible that they would only give Alex the 1/2 rate discount back to JFK and not home to SLC. So I'd probably end up paying much more for his ticket to SLC, canceling out any savings I made by splitting up my flights. Oh...I know I'm losing some of you on this post..it's getting pretty hairy.
ONE OF THE CATCHES of the adoption discount is you have to fly Delta, no connecting flights on France Air or anything. So flying from SLC to Pairs and taking a connection to Kiev on France Air is out. You have to fly into JFK and then on to Kiev and I didn't actually get a quote for that flight now that I think about it. Good gravy....
OF course this is all speculative and my made up dates did involve weekend travel to come home and it is about $30 cheaper to fly out during the week then the weekend. Again, I didn't actually get the quote for the SLC-JFK-Kiev flight. But at least I have an idea of what kind of money we're looking at.
I asked about bags and you get to check two bags under 50 pounds per person for FREE, have one carry on and one personal item. Extra bags are $200 for the first and $350 for the second.(Zikes!) As mentioned we'll have extra bags with the humanitarian donation from our Stake. I guess James will have to only pack ONE bag and bring a bag of socks & underwear for the orphanage? I hope Jen's husband can do the same.
Meanwhile, I had sent an email request to Golden Rule Travel which is a referral I got off of another families blog. They "specialize in international adoption, humanitarian, and missionary travel". I typed in my requested dates and places and apparently a real person is going to get back with me via email or telephone.
I've tried a number of those sites that compare rates and give you the best rate (with the best rate being about $1,150) but most everyone is giving me Delta flights with overnight layovers and I'm thinking the "adoption discount" is not something you can do over the Internet as it took the representative at least 10 minutes to figure it out while I sat on hold. Besides, I'd just like to get there directly without staying the night anywhere else and come home even faster!
I'll let you know what I hear back from Golden Travel. If anyone has any other ideas, suggestions or frequent flier miles they want to part with (I'm kidding) .....let me know!!
**************2:24 pm Update********
Golden Rule Travel just emailed me and for the same guesstimated dates they can fly us from SLC-O'Hara-Kiev for $1180 round trip (no overnight stay) AND Alex's ticket will be about $600 AND changes to the return date are $50 plus any fare increase. (Sweet!)
I have tentative bookings for these tickets and they will hold them up until 14 days before departure. I was told, "For adoption travel to Ukraine, we rely mostly on our humanitarian contract with Lufthansa/United" So I take it were flying United? Then Lufthansa?
Golden Rule asked who my adoption agency was, I told them Adoption Way and they said, "I'm glad to hear that you're with Adoption Way. They have an excellent reputation." (That's always good to hear!) I told this travel agent I'd pass his email along to other families so email me if you'd like it. I think this is who we'll be flying with unless anyone comments and tells me horror stories or experiences. (Please don't be shy.... tell me if you have any!!)
I had a mom call that read my post this morning. She flew Delta and loved the service but said to get your children a ticket before you get there. Decide on their name and purchase them a ticket in their new name because the adoption discount only applies if they have certain seats available and if you wait until everything finalizes in the Ukraine, by the time you book your flight home those seats may not be available. It cost her $2,400 for each child to get them home OR she could have stayed an extra week in the Ukraine to get the 1/2 price rate later.
She also mentioned that the "adoption" fare is a waste of money. (Just like my simple math concluded!) But did speak highly of Delta as far as service.
I also asked her if she had any other tips for our travel and she said when you get into Kiev you have to get through immigration on your own and they're going to ask where you'll be staying. You will not have met the driver or anyone form Adoption Way at this time nor can you as you're behind security. The answer is put the SDA, Kiev on your form. Good thing to know!
Thanks so much! We adoption parents need to stick together. Anyone else out there with suggestions, ideas or warnings?
6 of my blog friends said something...:
We went thru Delta adoption rate, don't use that.You have to have the child's passport before you can get the ticket for him. If they don't have the special adoption seats(I think they are c seats)you will have to pay full price.Our seats roundtrip were $1850 each, but since they didn't have c seats our kids tickets one-way were $2400 each. We would fly Delta again but book our tickets and the ticket for our adopted child at the same time. We liked flying into JFK. If you want more details let me know.
I'm not planing on paying for the adoption rate airfare and they did say that they would ticket Alex but we would have to pick it up at the airport so they can print his legal name. Does that sound right? They didn't mention anything about C seats only that his airfare home would be half what we paid round trip?
well good luck with making all the travel arrangements.
Good job Wendy! I would like the email for the Golden Rule guy. We'll compare what they can get us with the sky miles we have built up on our own.
Wendy, We went through Golden Rule (Eldon). He was awesome. We did a lot of checking around and they were the cheapest flights. (Quite a few of us used Golden Rule). The only bad part of the whole thing was a 5 hour layover coming home in Frankfurt but that went by really pretty fast and it was a nice airport. Lufthansa was a great airline. We both felt like the flight was great. We highly recommend that. Eldon is really great in trying to save you money. We had to change our flights and it didn't cost us much at all, not as much as it would have to stay another night in Kiev. Also the information that you need to know at the Kiev airport is true. Just have the address of where you are going with you. We just put the address of the orphanage, as we didn't know the address of the apartment. Good luck. Lots of decisons to make. Ann
I don't think this will help. Sounds like you have got it all figured out for the most part. But when I was moving back from NY I opted to purchase a round trip ticket (even though I wasnt going back) because it was cheaper than purchasing a one way ticket.....
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