Positioning Flights: How a €25 Flight Unlocks a €150 Long-Haul Deal

The cheapest long-haul fares from Europe frequently depart from airports that are not your local one. Amsterdam to New York might be €480. London Heathrow to New York on the same dates might be €320. A positioning flight Amsterdam to London costs €29. Total: €349 versus €480, including the extra flight.

This is positioning — deliberately travelling to a different departure hub to access a cheaper long-haul fare — and it is one of the most effective, underused strategies in budget long-haul travel.

Why some airports are cheaper than others for long-haul

Long-haul prices are driven by competition. Routes with more airlines fighting for passengers are cheaper than routes where one carrier dominates.

London Heathrow and London Gatwick have the highest concentration of transatlantic competition in Europe — British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American, United, Delta, Air Canada, and several others all fly to New York and other US cities. This drives prices down.

Dublin is similar: Norwegian, Aer Lingus, and others compete fiercely on transatlantic routes, and Irish aviation tax policy keeps fares structurally lower. Dublin–New York has historically been one of the cheapest transatlantic routes available to European passengers.

Paris Paris CDG, Frankfurt, and Lisbon also benefit from high competition and multiple carriers. Rome Fiumicino is often underpriced on long-haul routes to North America and Asia due to ITA Airways competing with network carriers.

When the numbers work

Positioning makes financial sense when the saving on the long-haul leg exceeds the cost of the positioning flight plus any additional hassle cost you assign to extra travel.

A rough framework:

• If the long-haul saving is €100+, positioning almost always makes sense if a <2 hour positioning flight exists for under €50.
• If the saving is €50–€100, it depends on the routing and the connection time.
• If the saving is under €50, the complexity is rarely worth it.

The key variable is connection time. Positioning works best when you can take an early morning flight to the hub and connect comfortably to the long-haul departure, rather than requiring an overnight stay.

Best positioning routes from the Netherlands

Amsterdam to London (LHR or LGW or STN): 1h15 flight, frequent services from Ryanair, easyJet, British Airways, and KLM. London is the most useful positioning hub for transatlantic travel. Ryanair from Eindhoven or Schiphol to Stansted is often under €25. Once in London, you access the most competitive transatlantic market in Europe.

Amsterdam to Dublin: 1h50 flight. Ryanair and Aer Lingus both operate this route. Dublin is particularly useful for transatlantic routes where Irish tax relief and competition from Aer Lingus and Norwegian keep prices structurally low.

Amsterdam to Lisbon: 2h30 flight, often under €40 on Ryanair or TAP. Lisbon is an underrated hub for routes to Brazil, West Africa, and some North American destinations on TAP Portugal, which prices competitively from its home base.

Amsterdam to Paris CDG: 1h15 flight or 3h15 by Thalys train — the train is often faster door-to-door and cheaper. Air France prices long-haul from Paris more competitively than from Amsterdam because it is their hub.

The risks to manage

Separate tickets. Positioning flights and long-haul flights are almost always booked as separate tickets. If your positioning flight is delayed and you miss the long-haul departure, the airline owes you nothing on the long-haul ticket. You need to allow sufficient connection time — at least 3 hours at a major hub, more in winter.

Baggage. With separate tickets, you need to collect your bag at the hub airport and re-check it for the long-haul flight. This adds time and makes tight connections riskier. Factor in the re-check time.

Travel insurance. Good travel insurance covering missed connections is essential when positioning. It is cheap and eliminates the worst-case scenario.

The return trip. Positioning works for the outbound leg. For the return, you either position back (arriving at a hub and taking a short flight home) or accept a non-optimal return route. Some trips are asymmetric — cheapest option outbound via London, most convenient return direct from the destination.

How to find positioning opportunities

The workflow:

1. Identify your target destination (New York, Bangkok, Cape Town, etc.)
2. Search for that route departing from major European hubs: London, Dublin, Paris, Lisbon, Frankfurt
3. Find the hub where the long-haul fare is cheapest
4. Check whether a positioning flight to that hub exists at a cost that makes the total cheaper

FairFares alerts on long-haul deals from multiple European airports, which surfaces positioning opportunities automatically — when we spot a cheap Bangkok fare from London, that deal may be accessible to Amsterdam-based travellers via positioning even though the origin airport is different.

Is it worth the effort?

On a long-haul fare of €800 round trip, a saving of €200 via positioning represents a meaningful return on a couple of hours of extra travel. Frequent long-haul travellers who positioning consistently save several hundred euros per trip.

The strategy requires flexibility about departure airports and sufficient buffer time at connections. If you have those conditions, positioning is one of the highest-leverage tools available for reducing the cost of long-haul travel.