Flights (Oktoberfest 2015)

Spr1ngsteen

Heading over to Munich for Oktoberfest with a group of friends this year. Have accommodation all sorted - next up is flights.

A few of the group are starting to panic, as the flights to Munich for the dates we are going are quite steep at the moment.

I was thinking that the prices may come down a bit as we get closer to the date (do Aer Lingus / Ryanair not run sales every quarter i.e Spring Sale, Summer Sale etc etc?). Would we be better waiting a little while?

I'm in the "relax, give it a little time" camp, while most of the rest are "WE NEED TO BOOK RIGHT NOW!"

Any insider info into how airlines roll out flights/offers; or frequent flyers advice greatly appreciated.

Currently the dates we are looking at are in and around the 250 euro mark...

AgileMyth

Leave it a while. If it doesn't come down fly to Frankfurt and get a train.

Jamie2k9

If the Aer Lingus prices are starting to creep up recently it means they will be a sale coming up.

keithclancy

AgileMyth wrote: »

Leave it a while. If it doesn't come down fly to Frankfurt and get a train.

False economy. The ICE around then is not cheap

kindalen

If you fly with Lufthansa can you not add train from Frankfurt cheap enough? Rail and fly or similar.

munchkin_utd

I'd not worry too much at this stage.
Flights will not be cheap, but they should be available for less at some stage in the couple of months.
Going via frankfurt (or cologne which is a new route with ryanair) should be kept more as a backup plan should your game of chicken with aerlingus direct to munich doesn't work.
If I were doing it I'd even consider a night in cologne (ryanair flight gets in quite late on Thursday or Friday nights) which is a decent town for going out in, with a train then early morning to land you to munich for a day at the fest. Whether accommodation would be needed at all depends on how much stamina you have!
Looking at trains a couple of months out, the Saturday morning trains are available from €29, with second and subsequent passengers only €20. For Oktoberfest those deals will book out early so you'd want to be on the ball 90days beforehand when the seats go on sale.

spurious

If it's a weekend, up to five of you can go Frankfurt to Munich on the slower trains (not ICE) for 24 euro total. Schoenes wochenende ticket.
If you do choose to go via Frankfurt i can give you the name of a very cheap (but not nasty) hotel about 300m from the train station.

munchkin_utd

spurious wrote: »

If it's a weekend, up to five of you can go Frankfurt to Munich on the slower trains (not ICE) for 24 euro total. Schoenes wochenende ticket.
If you do choose to go via Frankfurt i can give you the name of a very cheap (but not nasty) hotel about 300m from the train station.

But....
It's very important to know that ryanair "frankfurt" is nowhere near frankfurt and is nearly 2 hours farther away towards the luxembourg border.

spurious

munchkin_utd wrote: »

But....
It's very important to know that ryanair "frankfurt" is nowhere near frankfurt and is nearly 2 hours farther away towards the luxembourg border.

Oh yes, that would mean flying Lufthansa to/from Frankfurt. They give you a big baggage allowance for free too, if that's important.

munchkin_utd

have ye looked at Ryanair at all to Memmingen.
I see that its only €112 return for the last weekend of the fest from Friday to Monday, or say €87 if you were to make a long weekend of it for the first weekend.

with the extra time you could go to Nürnberg which is a great city, or even head up to Bamberg which is the centre of the Franconian beer belt and has dozens of breweries within a 10mile radius of the town. And its a unesco town so a lovely place for a pint!

spurious

Memmingen's a lovely spot to visit of itself, but there are easy bus connections to Munich from the airport too.

munchkin_utd

spurious wrote: »

Memmingen's a lovely spot to visit of itself, but there are easy bus connections to Munich from the airport too.

There is, and that adds to the cost reducing the advantage compared to using munich proper, but if with a group you can get a taxi to the station costing a couple of euro each and then a "bayern ticket" that works out at 8 or 9 euro each which covers trains to munich and public transport in munich till 3am.

I had a look and there's also great deals from Shannon to. Memmingen (munich west) during the Oktoberfest. Flights only on Thursday Saturday and Tuesday but they are cheap, and (again) if you've a few extra days to burn you can stay in the likes of Memmingen for next to nothing in a b&b or basic hotel.

oldspice

Hey what dates are ye heading?

I've mine booked (Hostel Haus Int. Munich 10 mins from city centre) in Munich for 4 Nights ( 23/09/2015 - 27/09/2015).

Plan to to head into the festival 4 of the 5 days (into the tents and the likes etc..)

Unfortunatley my friends are all 50/50 which is basically 20/80 ie. more hope if getting blood from a stone than gettin' some of these lads to fork out cash.

I'm 23, lad, going alone. If anyone is going around this time and has space for a +1 let me know I'm not even too bothered by even 3rd wheelin'

Cheers

munchkin_utd

if stuck then checkout the munich fourm on tripadvisor as theres often folks with spare reservations looking for people to sit in with them.

Tables are sold as a unit, so you either book 10seats or nothing, which explains why people have the spare places. Theres no reservation fee, just about 30euro per place paid in advance for 2litres of beer and a roast chicken (and sometimes a little more in posher tents/ better seats, where a starter might be thrown in too)