How I flew from KC to Europe for $490 Roundtrip

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Traveling international tends to be more expensive when you live in the midwest. On average, a flight from Kansas City to Europe ranges between $900-$1,500. That price is nearly split in half when you fly directly out of cities with big airport hubs like LA or New York. Although the midwest is more expensive to fly out of internationally, there are still several ways to make it work without breaking the bank. I'm going to show you how I went from KC to Europe and back for only $490 roundtrip. 

Here are the steps I took to finding my $490 roundtrip flight:

  1. I began by searching for flights from KC to big cites near the coast (LA, NYC, Boston, Miami, etc) I did this using Google Flights and Kayak's "Explore" feature. The cheapest city to fly to, at the time, was Orlando, FL via Spirit Airlines This flight cost $88 one-way.

  2. Next, I searched for the cheapest country in Europe to fly into from Orlando. The best price I could find was from Orlando to Oslo, Norway. This Norwegian Air flight cost $165 and was about 8 1/2 hours long.

  3. Now that I knew how I was going to get to Europe, I had to figure out how I was going to get back. I was planning on traveling around while I was there, so I focused on simply finding the cheapest way to get back. *Once you're in Europe, it's very cheap to go from country to country.

  4. Using Google Flights, I searched for the cheapest city to fly back to from Europe. The best price I could find was from Copenhagen to Ft. Lauderdale for $146 on Norwegian Air. *There were cheaper flights from Europe to cities like NYC and Boston, however Fort Lauderdale was the best price I could find that would get me back to Kansas City for under $100.

  5. Next, I searched flights from Fort Lauderdale to Kansas City, and found a flight on Spirit Airlines for $91 one-way.

  6. I went through the dates for each flight and matched up the best prices with the best times and days. Once everything had been double and triple checked, I booked the flights!

2 Things to Note:

  • I flew budget airlines, which meant I was only allowed to bring a personal item (small backpack) without having to pay extra. Stay tuned for the 1 Backpack, 7 Countries post.

  • Two of these flights were booked in different currencies, which saved me over $150.

Interested in flying to Europe for $490 as well? You can! Get started here