Flights to Reunion

December 30, 2011 9:19 AM

Idle travel dreaming question: what is a good approach to booking a flight from the U.S. to Mauritius or Reunion?

I don't have any pressing needs to go there such as business or family. Let's assume I'd be going for vacation, want a reasonable economy-class fare and have many months in advance to plan. U.S. starting point would be Minneapolis/MSP. My mental idea of 'reasonable' for this would be roughly in the $1500 range. If this is just unrealistic, that's also useful info to get.

Don't need a specific plan this moment, and don't need the absolute rock-bottom price, just tips on general strategies beyond the Travelocity/Orbitz/Expedia level. Thanks.

posted by gimonca to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total)

I flew from New York to Reunion two and a half years ago. I went through Paris, spending a couple of days there before taking a second flight to Reunion. I think, all told I spent about $1800 on airfare. If I remember, I decided since I was constrained to go through Paris (and I flew Air France but I think there is another company, India Air(?) that also flies from CDG to St Denis), and it's a 12 hour flight from Paris to St Denis, I opted to just book two separate flights and spend some time in Paris. Totally worth it though, Reunion is more of a mountain vacation spot rather than a beach one, which I did not realize at the time (it is beautiful). I understand that Mauritius is a more traditional tropical island beach vacation.
posted by TheTingTangTong at 9:41 AM on December 30, 2011

ITA's Matrix search can be helpful for getting fare data for a month at a time. As ITA does not handle ticketing, you will need to purchase the tickets on the airline's website or use a travel agent.

For example, MSP to MRU, departing March 10, 2012 and March 19, 2012 (seven days) is USD 1739 on Swiss International Airlines (with a few codeshare segments).
posted by UrbietOrbi at 4:36 AM on December 31, 2011