Why and How I Booked My World Cup Flight in February.
Last week when I wrote about World Cup accommodations in Qatar, I received some questions and comments about flights into the country, so I wanted to share my thoughts and plans.
There are limited options to travel to Doha. Since Qatar is a small peninsular nation that shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia, driving from a neighboring airport is not a convenient option. Damman and Riyad are four hours and seven hours away, respectively. A two-hour ferry ride from Bahrain would be a great choice, but the long-rumored service has not yet been established. That leaves two options - purchase a ticket with a final destination of Doha or fly to another city in the region and hope to find a good deal on the remaining segment into Doha.
A ticket from your home to Doha is a relatively straightforward decision process - simply compare the different fares using dollars or miles. Unfortunately, those fares for World Cup dates are now expensive or unavailable. Currently, the cheapest one-way flight from my home in Las Vegas to Doha during the first week of the tournament is $1055 on Royal Jordanian.
Flying through a neighboring country would be a great option any other time of year than the month of the World Cup. As an example, here are the cheapest fares to Doha from some of the popular destinations in the region for the first week of the tournament, depending on which day you want to travel: Abu Dhabi $384-904, Dubai $338-855, and Tel Aviv $446-548. Within the next month, flights from these destinations are as cheap as Abu Dhabi $94, Dubai $101, and Tel Aviv $151.
In addition to price, there are a couple of other considerations regarding early bookings. First, there will be a surge of fans booking flights immediately after the draw. Next, many airlines have changed their cancellation fee structure due to the Covid pandemic.
Here was my strategy when booking flights back in February:
1. I knew the first U.S. game would be between November 21-24.
2. I knew one of the cities I wanted to visit was Beirut.
3. At the time, the rewards tickets from the U.S. to Beirut were widely available.
4. Daily flights from Amman to Doha were for just under $200.
5. I booked a fully refundable rewards ticket to Beirut for 44K miles on a route with a full day stop-over in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Ethiopian Airlines offers a hotel room, transfers, and coordination/payment of the necessary transit visa.) Other flights with short stops in Europe were also available.
6. I booked flights from Beirut to Doha on two separation days for $200 with $20 cancellation fees. Hopefully, the U.S. will get a later date for their first game, and we will spend more time exploring Lebanon, possibly even making a day trip to Damascus, Syria (depending on the safety and political considerations at the time). But if the first game is earlier, we are covered. The $20 cancellation fee was a great deal - the cheapest flight from Beirut to Doha has already gone up to $438.
Here are My Recommendations for Booking World Cup Flights :
1. Consider booking NOW if you can find fully refundable flights that may fit your schedule.
2. No matter when you book, explore options for other Middle Eastern cities.
3. If you plan to book after the draw, do your research now and consider pulling the trigger as soon as the balls come out of the pot.
One final thought is that having a flexible ticket can be a huge bonus when you don’t know the full tournament schedule for the USMNT. In 2014, we scrambled to reschedule flights to stay in Brazil to see the round of 16 match against Belgium. Our flight home was booked with United reward miles with a $100 change fee, and we found a flight allowing a stop-over in La Paz, Bolivia, for fewer miles than our original ticket going directly home from Brazil. So we ended up in Salvador watching the U.S. and then spent two nights in Bolivia exploring La Paz. We even made a day trip to Lake Titicaca.
Salvador, Brazil
La Paz, Bolivia
Day Trip to Lake Titicaca