We often use Google Flights to check for availability and cost of airfares. And recently we were surprised to see that some of the options presented were actually connecting to a train using Lufthansa Rail&Fly.
Upon further reading, it looks like some US airlines are also incorporating bus routes combined with air travel to get to smaller cities. American is providing Landline service using buses for some connections, and United has partnered with Easton Coach.
While this sounds like a negative, we believe that there may be incentives in Europe to lower emissions that result in favorable promotions to incorporate train connections into one’s itinerary.
We were looking at doing a Rhine Valley tour that would depart Miami taking us to Frankfurt or Munich, which are some of the only direct flight routes for Lufthansa from Miami.
What we discovered was that if we looked for a connection to a smaller city, like Cologne, the overcall cost ended up being considerably less than flying to Frankfurt, despite having the same exact flight from Miami to Frankfurt in the itinerary.
Price comparison: Flight only vs. Rail&Flight
In other words, we fly to Frankfurt, and take a train connection to Cologne, and we save a considerable amount when compared to getting out in Frankfurt and renting a car to drive to Cologne which we wanted to visit anyway.
Further, since it’s a connecting itinerary, if you have a train issue or a connection issue, Lufthansa treats it just like two flights. They will automatically book you on the next flight (or train) out.
Conclusion
If you are looking to fly to Europe for a road trip, check out the prices for such a connection using a combo flight and rail ticket. You may be pleasantly surprised.
As an added bonus, renting a car near the train station was also less expensive than at the major international airport (and surely less busy for pick up and drop off too!).
We could not pass up a good deal, so we went ahead with it. We’ll tell you more about how Lufthansa’s Rail&Fly option works after our trip.
Has anyone already booked a combo rail/bus and flight ticket? How has it worked out?
Update: Connecting with a train in Germany actually worked out well for us. It was convenient and it even saved us a few dollars.