PDX to ZRH July-January
New Member
Posted on: Tue, 10/06/2008 - 21:08
-I am flying out of Portland, Oregon on the 16th/17th of July and hoping to arrive in Zurich
-I am flexible however (depending on rates), Paris is another option as is any European city with cheap connection flights to Switzerland.
-Returning to Portland 6/7th of January
-I believe I qualify for student rates (I am 18 though not enrolled in college)
The cheapest flight I have found so far was $1,253 (on Kayak.com)
I know I’m flying in peak season and flight prices have been steadily rising due to fuel prices, but this is insane…
Any tips or advice from more experienced flyers would be greatly appreciated.
I found $1046 PDX-ZRH 7/17-1/6 by going directly to Orbitz (not sure why Kayak isn’t finding it). With the combination of leaving in peak season, fuel prices, and the fact that you’re staying longer than 30 days I’d book it ASAP.
They’re telling me this flight is no longer available and costs $200 more. I found the same flight on cheaptickets.com (also more expensive) and on ITA. I just found $1,173 on costjet.com but I’m planning on calling wholesale retailers tomorrow morning.
Ok, it seems to be doing that annoying thing Orbitz does by displaying fares that aren’t actually available. When I click on it it says it’s increased to $1256. I’ll keep looking elsewhere, but haven’t had any luck so far.
Okay, gotta start with my spiel about allowed tourist days and visas….
Are you a Swiss or other European citizen? If not, do you have work or residence permission (visa)? Without these, US passport holders only get 90 days to play tourist in Switzerland, and 90 days within the Schengen border. (And 90 days UK, and 90 days Ireland).
Google Schengen if you’re not familiar with it. You don’t get 90 days per Schengen agreement country; you get 90 days total in the combined area of countries.
You can not leave for a day, then return to the same area or country with a fresh 90 days; it’s 90 in/90 out, or not to exceed 90 in a continuous 180 day period.
I’ll be checking back here.
Yes, I know all about visa regulations. I’m planning on spending a few weeks in Berne with a friend, then traveling through the EU for 2/3 months then attending language classes in Italy. I was told I needed to purshcase tickets/have proof of enrollment before I could obtain my Italian student visa.
Technically you need your visa in-hand when you check in for your flight departing from USA. The airline is partly liable if you get denied entry, so they are also supposed to check for proper visas if staying longer than 90 days.
However… If you get an open-jaw ticket, that is arriving Switzerland but returning from Italy or another Schengen agreement border country, then it would be easier to justify 3 months Switzerland then 3 months Schengen. Be sure to check the “nifty visa checker” link, top of this forum, for summary of entry requirements to Switzerland and to Italy.
Also, try ITA using many cities (to ZRH;BSL;GVA
AR;MIL for example) to sniff out the cheapest cities around your dates, then also try the student sites listed in our new user thread, top of this fourm.
So… if I flew in from Zurich and flew out of Italy (with a plain ticket out of Zurich after 3 months) I could forgo getting a visa and most likely continue with my aforementioned plan?
Because I am only planning on staying in Switzerland for two weeks.
Don, I don’t know how much you know what Italian visa regulations but I did have another question. I know that it is possible to stay for 90 days within a 6 month period, but this 90 days can also be extended for another 3 months once in the country. In order to do this one must go to the police station and have proof of sufficient funds. How can this be explained at the airport? Secondly, without a student visa secured in advance is it still possible to enroll in a language school once IN the country?
Thank you so much for the help! I really appreciate it.
The airline probably isn’t going to press if you have an open-jaw ticket—arriving CH, return from IT or another Schengen country, because it’s a simple explanation—3 months each, since you’re staying 6 months.
You don’t necessarily need a plane ticket out of CH; you just need some proof of onward travel. That could be a hotel reservation in Italy, language school registration and receipt, or a train ticket to Germany within 90 days—for example.
I’ve heard of the language course thing for Italy, but I don’t know what the actual regulation is regarding it as applied to overstays. What did the visas link say regarding entry requirements?
I purchases my ticket today from JetCombo, it was 1,170 which I think is a decent deal… in any case it was the best I could find and I didn’t want to wait any longer.
In any case, the only information I was able to find is that a 90 day tourist visa can be extended one time in Italy but is has to be done while in the country. I think my best bet is to write directly to the language schools and ask them if a student visa is required for attending.
This is what I found: SWITZERLAND (CH)
Visa not required if holding confirmed onward ticket and all
documents required for next destination.
WARNING: For passengers arriving at Basle/Mulhouse (BSL) or
ITALY (IT)Geneva (GVA) airports, please see: For details, click here item 2.
Passport required.
Visa not required for a stay of max. 90 days.
Visitor can extend length of stay by applying to the local
authorities.
Visitor must hold: – return/onward tickets and all documents required for next destination; and/or – sufficient funds, unless a sponsor can guarantee for passenger at the airport upon arrival.
The “Warning” about BSL and GVA airports is probably that there are 2 ways for passengers to exit—either to France, or to Switzerland. Since FR is Schengen and CH is not, there is border control for those arriving CH from outside of the country. From my own recent research, I found out that Basel Aiport is actually on French soil, with a secured access road straight to Switzerland (just an interesting tidbit FYI—maybe helpful to someone out there).
I think you did pretty well on price. Best I see is $1054 total PDX-ZRH around your dates, from Vayama.com.
Yes, I kept seeing that price at well but when I went to select it wasn’t available… anyway, thanks for all the help!
Hmmm… I just tried Vayama.com again for you, 16jul-7jan, and it’s $1054 r/t total showing seats available for booking all 4 flight legs of this journey. I did a “dummy-booking” up to the point of having to make a login-id for them, and the price is sticking at 1054. Did you make a user-id with Vayama and then they put the price up on you?
No I didn’t, but I just searched and the price was 1,234 something or another. In any case, I’ve bought my tickets now and trying not to do that crazy making “Oh, I could have spent less money” thinking. This is a good deal for the summer however, and for me Zurich proved to be the cheapest of any city in Europe to fly to (I don’t know how much my 6th month stay factored in of course). People, if you are looking for deals to Europe in the summer – try Zurich!