Gateway Cities

          A gateway city is one that has a major transportation hub, including a busy international airport.  Airfares to and from gateway cities are often less expensive than fares for smaller cities, based on increased traffic and availability of flights.  Some of the major gateway cities in Europe include Frankfurt, Germany; Paris, France; London, England; and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  In China, Beijing and Shanghai are two of the main gateway cities.  Some gateway cities have more than one airport such as London and Paris.

Choosing a Gateway City

          There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a gateway city, but, of course, the main ones are proximity to your destination, availability of flights and cost of available flights.  Beyond that, the most important consideration is availability of convenient transfer to land transportation.  For example, Frankfurt is my favorite gateway city in Europe because the train stops at a station right under the airport!

Round Trip or Multi-city Ticket?

          Most of the time it will be cheaper to fly in and out of the same gateway city with a round trip ticket, but this is not always the case.  It may be cheaper to fly in and out of different cities with a ‘multi-city ticket’ rather than to retrace your steps to return to your original point of entry.  I discovered this on my recent trip to China where I flew into Beijing and out of Shanghai.  The additional cost was minimal compared to the cost and lost time that would have been incurred if I had returned to Beijing to fly home.

Additional Considerations

          Several additional points should be considered when choosing a gateway city.  It is an added feature for your trip if the gateway city is an interesting destination in itself.  When this is the case, you can spend several days at the beginning and again at the end of your trip exploring this city at a more leisurely pace.  It is an extra bonus if the city you depart from is also a good place to shop.  I frequently save most of my shopping until the last two days, so that I don’t have to carry my purchases around with me during the rest of the trip.

Searching for Your Gateway City

          To secure a plane ticket I recommend starting several months ahead by doing a comparison search on the Kayak website.  Kayak searches most of the major airlines and other travel search engine sites and rapidly displays the results starting with the least expensive.  If you select a flight on Kayak, they may refer you to another website such as Expedia or Orbitz to make the actual purchase.  I have purchased tickets through both Expedia and Orbitz and can recommend them without hesitation.

          It is important to try several gateway cities in the vicinity and try flight dates on different days of the week.  Some travel experts say that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and sometimes Saturday are the cheapest days to fly, while Friday and Sunday are the most expensive.  When looking for a flight on Kayak, try doing your search on different days and at different times of the day and night.  Some say there are certain days of the week and times of the day to search if you want the cheapest ticket, but I have not necessarily found this to be the case.

          After you have done a number of searches you will have an idea what the range of fares is likely to be.  Once you are certain that you want to take the trip, have your credit card ready.  Sometimes when you least expect it a fantastic deal will pop up and you will want to lock it in while you can.  The next time you check it may not be there.

          Using this method in the past few years I have gotten a nonstop round trip fare to Frankfurt for $500.00 on one occasion and for $750.00 on another.  Sometimes there are just no bargains, however.  This year when I went to China I paid almost $1100.00, but I really wanted to go and it turned out to be well worth it!  Just for fun, why not give Kayak a try right now (http://www.kayak.com).  Just enter your dream destination and available dates and see what turns up.  Good Luck and Happy Searching!