What is a good site to view all routes to a given place without firm dates?

[cgichard]

I find it frustrating that if I want to view all routes to a given place the search engines expect me to enter firm dates. I am planning a visit next year to Georgia (the country), not on my own but with a tour group, and my tour options are in June but with no firm dates scheduled yet. So how do I find what airlines fly to TBS and what routes are possible for MEL to TBS? One of the tours has inclusive pricing for group flights LHR to TBS at the start and end of the tour, but I'd like to be able to compare the total cost and travel time of that option (MEL-LHR-TBS) with going directly from MEL to join the group in TBS, as another of the tours expects participants to make their own way to TBS.

I am a KrisFlyer member so my preference is to fly with a Star Alliance partner; I have a good number of FF miles to use for an award flight, perhaps at least as far as Singapore.

 

[opusman]

The ITA Matrix can search for a whole month rather than a specific date - just select the "See calendar of lowest fares" option and put in June 1st as the starting date.

 

[dajop]

I use kayak.com, setting location to country of origin (i.e. For MEL kayak.com.au). Whilst you do need to enter dates, you can search +/- 3 days so gives a good overview of what fares you can get there and who operates the flights. My gut feel is for Georgia, Turkish may be worth a look and even SQ who seem to be codesharing with Turkish now to various places connecting with their IST services.

 

[cgichard]

Many thanks for the prompt responses, opusman and dajop. I'll try those sites. Any idea how MEL to TBS return would compare with MEL to LHR return in price (the group fare LHR to TBS return is a tiny part of the total tour price).

 

[RooFlyer]

Not a perfect solution, but I look at the OneWorld and Star Alliance route maps (probably one for Skyteam as well).

OneWorld click on the city to see all routes, or search a city pair

Star Alliance

Curiously, these sites have changed recently to be virtually identical in format!

 

[dajop]

My gut feel is that because of competition it will be significantly cheaper to get to London. But also unless wanting to visit Western Europe there's lots of backtracking.... Sort of like traveling from New York to Brisbane via Perth...

 

[cgichard]

My gut feel is that because of competition it will be significantly cheaper to get to London.

Yes, that's what I've usually done in the past, with the added benefit of being with the group from the start so that any delays are shared with them, and travel to and from the airport is included. If however, - when I know the dates - I opt for the tour that has no inclusive option (because most of the participants will be from the States), I would save time, but probably not money by going MEL-TBS-LHR and then return direct from LHR so as to add in a visit to family in the UK.
Any idea why Kayak shows a good (relatively quick and cheap) connection via BKK (Thai), then IST-TBS, that doesn't show at all on the ITA Matrix site?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Maybe a European Airline like AY (OneWorld) LH (Star Alliance) or KL (Skyteam) as they're more likely to 'common rate' more European destinations with HEL/FRA/AMS for example which are the respective hub cities of the above airlines.

I think it would be cheaper to find an airfare that will get you all the way to Tbilisi rather than London only and electing to pay a sector fare LHR/TSB/LHR. I would ask the tour operator for a ground only price ie the cost of the tour component only ex TBS.

One site I often look at is FlightStats - Global Flight Tracker, Status Tracking and Airport Information then enter the city & view the departures & arrivals tab to see what airlines fly into/out of that city & from where plus what aircraft type.

For example looking at arrivals into Tbililsi Airport between 0000-1200 shows the following flights. You can only look a few days ahead or in the past so while it won't show you exactly what flights will be operating next year it will give you a good idea of the airlines who fly there.

If I was the traveller I would select TK386 ex IST on a 738, LH2556 ex MUC on a 319 or AZ550 ex FCO on a 320. LO623 ex WAW is maybe a second choice due to an older 734 plane. Some of the other carriers I would travel on in a pink fit.

		On-time		Arrival	Term
Origin	Flight	Rating	Airline	Sched	Actual	Gate	Status	Equip	Track
SVX Yekaterinburg	U6 2911		Ural Airlines	12:05 AM	1:10 AM ~		En Route 65 min
SAW Istanbul	TK 380		Turkish Airlines	12:25 AM			Scheduled	738
TLV Tel Aviv-Yafo	A9 696		Georgian Airways	12:50 AM			En Route	737
DOK Donetsk	UJX 510		Atlasjet Ukraine	2:35 AM			Scheduled	320
MSQ Minsk	B2 735		Belavia	2:50 AM	2:38 AM		Landed On-time	E95
MUC Munich	LH 2556		Lufthansa	3:00 AM	2:56 AM	103	Landed On-time	319
IST Istanbul	TK 386		Turkish Airlines	3:20 AM	3:27 AM		Landed On-time	320
WAW Warsaw	LO 723		LOT - Polish Airlines	4:00 AM	4:29 AM		Landed 29 min	734
FCO Rome	AZ 550		Alitalia	4:00 AM	4:10 AM		Landed On-time	320
IST Istanbul	TK 384		Turkish Airlines	10:20 AM	10:32 AM ~		En Route On-time	319

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Another option would be to fly on Qatar Airways then credit to a OW program AA, QF etc via Doha. Interesting that BYOjet | Cheap Flights Australia | Australian Travel Agency advertises MEL/TBS as "one stop" via DOH however the DOH/TBS has a tech stop in GYD (Baku, Azerbaijan) which in my book makes it a two stop flight. Obviously BYO Jet consider a single flight with a tech stop en-route as non-stop.

You LHR was common rated with TBS you could always do an open jaw ticket MEL/xDOH/TBS /- LHR/xDOH/MEL on the return but you may need to book through a TA for that routing as some websites would charge to two one way fares which is unnecessary purely because their booking engine isn't smart enough to calculate it correctly as a return airfare with a surface sector at point of turnaround/destination.

Adult $1,768 per person including taxes

Flights Out Departing Melbourne (MEL) Wed 17 Jun 2015 22:55 Qatar Airways QR905 Economy Class Boeing 777-300ER Arriving Doha (DOH) Thu 18 Jun 2015 06:10 (Next Day) Departing Doha (DOH) Thu 18 Jun 2015 07:25 Qatar Airways QR251 Economy Class Airbus A320 Arriving Tbilisi (TBS) Thu 18 Jun 2015 13:30 Technical Stop at Baku (GYD) 1 stopDuration 20h 35m Flights Back Departing Tbilisi (TBS) Sat 27 Jun 2015 20:00 Qatar Airways QR254 Economy Class Airbus A320 Arriving Doha (DOH) Sat 27 Jun 2015 23:59 Technical Stop at Baku (GYD) Departing Doha (DOH) Sun 28 Jun 2015 00:55 Qatar Airways QR904 Economy Class Boeing 777-300ER Arriving Melbourne (MEL) Sun 28 Jun 2015 21:25 1 stopDuration 19h 25m

 

[MEL_Traveller]

googleflights is an excellent source for multiple airlines and dates. Very simple to use. Prices quoted in USD.

 

[cgichard]

Wonderfully detailed information, ozbeachbabe. Thank you for going to so much trouble for me. Just a pity my plans are still so fluid. That's a good connection on Qatar; I generally prefer to avoid going via the Middle East, but I should look to see how they are rated as an airline.
Thanks also, MEL-Traveller. I'll add googleflights to my list of sites to check in due course.