Suzy,

We have flown form PDX (Portland Oregon) to Ireland twice since 2006. The first trip was PDX, to Chicago O'Hare, to London via American Airlines. Spent 2 days in London, then  on to Dublin on Aer Lingus. The return trip was just the reverse. We felt that 2 stops was one too many, so the next time we chose Delta. It went PDX-JFK-Shannon, and return. The down side of that was a long 7 hour layover at JFK going, and a 5 hour layover coming back....but that is just the way it was using Delta to Shannon.

For our next trip coming up this March, we booked another Delta flight....PDX-JFK-Dublin with a 5 hour layover. We elected to do an open jaw, and will return Shannon-JFK-PDX, with another 5 hour layover. We booked this trip back on July 30th....I know... a long time in advance. Well....as best laid plans go, they have been suddenly changed by Delta. Friends of ours who are flying out of Phoenix and meeting us at JFK and joining us on the flight over the Atlantic and will be with us the entire trip, received notice before Christmas that their flight has been changed. They now fly through Detroit to get to JFK. One week later, we received an email from Delta that we likewise have had a schedule change. We will now have to fly PDX-Minneapolis-JFK-Dublin. I was very upset. I called Delta and asked them the reason for the change. Their excuse, (which I DO NOT believe) was that the FAA took their Sat slot (route) away from them! They offered to fly us out 1 day early, or 1 day later to omit the Minn stop. Of course, my job won't allow that...I'm already using up all my personal leave days for the 1st 5 week days of the trip. (the 2nd week is spring school break). Of course we were unwilling to give up a day in Ireland and fly 1 day later.

The only other thing they could offer was a $100 voucher added to my Skymiles account. I had pointed out that I could have originally gotten a better fare (about $100 less) by selecting a route with the extra stop. Now we have  only a 1 hour layover in Minneapolis....a little scary in late March....Murphy's law says there will be a blizzard and I'm afraid of a late arrival in Minneapolis.  Worse yet, our friends only have a 45 minute layover in Detroit. I checked, and there is one later flight out of Minn, but then it only allows a 2 hour layover in JFK....a little scary again, since I usually opt for a 3-plus hour layover in the USA departure city.

I am beginning to think that a non-stop Seattle-Europe or Portland-Europe would be better, and then change planes in Frankfurt, or London, or Amsterdam, or Paris  and then into Dublin/Shannon....so will look into that next time. Airlines that do that (or use to) are  Air France, British Airways, SAS, Lufthansa, and recently Icelandiar. I have not checked on which airlines offer a non-stop to Europe for over a year, so that could have changed.

I am very disgusted with Delta over this schedule change....but what can you do? The fine print in the agreement allows them to do that. I think it is an ongoing process of dropping/combing routes. Fewer airplanes, means fuller airplanes and that is their bottom line $'s and cents solution, in my humble opinion.
Hope this helps and gives you some ideas to think about.  When we went in 2008, I had nearly booked a Air Canada flight, but the 2 stop trip from SEA or PDX went to Vancouver BC, then Toronto, then Shannon.  The price was good, but I didn't like the idea of 2 stops.

Hope this helps....Dan

Thanks Dan, it gave me a lot of information to work with. If I have any more questions I will let you  know.

Dan,
Thank you so very much for taking the time to check the air fares for the route(s). I will not beable to purchase the airline tickets until sometime in early to mid Feb. So Dan do you think that Continental is a good airline to fly?
Again thank you very much for all your information.
Suzy

Dan,
Thanks once again for the information. I sounds like you live in Seattle, I live in Portland.  We will likely be flying out of PDX because we would have to pay additional money to get from Portland to the Seattle airport, rather it be flying, train or automobile.
Suzy

Thanks Dan for the tips,if you think of any more please post them. Thanks again for all your help.
Suzy