Least Expensive Airfare to Four Continents

Least expensive air travel from Omaha to four continents - Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

Outline

Ground rules
Method
Influence of travel dates
Least expensive round-trip to Europe
Least expensive round-trip to Asia
Least expensive round-trip to South America
Least expensive round-trip to Africa
Sum total of all three airfares

Ground rules

This is somewhat of a competition. I give extra points for the person with the least total airfare to all of these continents. All airfares must be roundtrip from Omaha, and must for be a three-week period from now until Sept. 1. It can be two different airlines, in which case you would present two different graphic files. The timing must be such that you can make the connection. Provide at least 3 hours. If the connection has you spending the night at the airport, you must include the cost of a hotel.

Generally, the least expensive fares to these destinations are from coastal cities in the US, like LA and New York. In order to get the lowest fare, you need to find the least expensive coastal city and the least expensive flight from Omaha to that city. Sites like Kayak and Expedia won't do this automatically. There may be some ground transportation involved in transferring to a nearby airport. Include the ground transportation cost and associated graphics. Bigger cities have multiple airports so don't get confused. New York, for example, has five airports: JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, White Plains, and Newburgh. Only three offer international flights. The cheapest flights are often from the smaller airports that charge a lesser fee for landing.

You don't need to check luggage but you do need to include a carry-on bag.

Prices vary widely during this period. They also vary by day of the week. You must present screenshots of the airfare with sufficient detail to verify the dates, connections, and price - including taxes. Use only commercial airlines - you can't use military aircraft or family connections with commercial companies. The flight leaves from Omaha â€“ you can't drive to another city.

Method

I used Google Flights, Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, Kayak, Expedia, and United Airlines. I found Google Flights to be the simplest and easiest method as it compared many different airlines in the simplest format. It made it easiest to compare prices of different dates. It also streamlined the process changing destinations making the searches much simpler than most other sites.

Influence of travel dates and cities

I tried the following three-week periods from now until Sept. 1: February 27 – March 13, May 7 – May 28, April 2 – April 23, April 5 – April 26, June 1 – June 22, July 1 – July 22, March 1 – 22, May 1 - 22. I tried the following cities Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Seoul, Beijing, Taipei, Buenos Aires, Medellin, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Lima, Bogota, Quito, Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Accra, Luanda, Addis Ababa, Madrid, Dublin, Paris, and Manchester.