Great Star Alliance Fares (Europe – USA)

I’ve been guilty of neglecting all the Star Alliance loyalists for quite a while now (I fly, primarily, on OneWorld airlines so I tend to notice what happens with them more) but hopefully this will make up for it.

A Vacation Smarter reader, Matthew, posted a comment on the “Staggeringly Cheap Fares (Europe – Los Angeles)” blog with a great fare from Oslo to San Francisco using OneWorld airlines (they’re still there so take a look for yourself if LA isn’t your thing). And that got me thinking – I never remember to throw Oslo into the hat when considering European departure points. So I decided to see what I could find.

This time, rather than focusing on OneWorld, I decided to see if the Star Alliance airlines could offer any great prices to the US…. and they didn’t let me down.

There are a number of great fares out there right now (in the low $600’s) departing from a variety of European cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Rome and Milan amongst others). Most involve United & Lufthansa, but there are other airlines available too (click to enlarge)….

But, as I found out thanks to Matthew, Oslo was the key to the GREAT fares:

That’s $374 or approximately £245/€345 for Oslo to San Francisco Return!

Here’s an example of the flights on offer (click to enlarge):

If you’re looking to do a quick turn-around you may have to hunt around a bit but the good fares are available for a variety of stays:

And the great prices aren’t limited to just a few flights although the cheapest fares do have a few stopovers (click to enlarge)…..

The good fares aren’t limited to November. Here’s February….

and here’s March….

In fact, you’ll find some pretty great deals from September 2015 right the way through to March 2016. There are still a few nice fares around in April and May but the choice of dates and flights is a lot more limited.

Flight prices from Oslo to Los Angeles aren’t too bad either…

Here’s an example of a flight on offer (click to enlarge):

If you don’t mind a bit of rain then there are some decent fares to Seattle as well (albeit not quite as good as to LA or San Francisco):

The fares to the West Coast may be the best deals if you’re looking to maximise out miles per dollar/pound/euro spent but the East Coast has some great prices too….

Pre-Christmas shopping in New York?

And if LA is too far for you to go to catch some winter sun, how about Miami?

If the US isn’t for you and Canada is more your thing then Star Alliance can help you out there too….

The fares to Canada are higher and far less plentiful than those to the US but, if you look hard enough and if you can be flexible with your dates, you may just find something that works for you.

As I always say in these posts, if you’re not sure how to replicate my results on ITA Matrix then the following blog posts may be of help:

ITA Matrix Airfare Search – The Basic Search
ITA Matrix Airfare Search – Advanced Options

So, what have I learned from all this?

• Pay attention to what readers say in the comments section
• Always add Oslo in to any searches departing from Europe
• Don’t forget about Star Alliance, I may prefer to travel on OneWorld (I’m addicted to American’s systemwide upgrades) but there are a lot of other options out there.