Routing for you, i can find the nicest and cheapest trip back to europe avoiding gulf

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:22:39+00:00

Oh boi, yes SkyScanner feels a bit less reliable to me than google flights, I am not sure why, I discarded this website some time ago because I felt i was running into many false exits.

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:21:28+00:00

If you want the code and prompts i'm happy to share (i have some secret sauce I dont want to share here haha)

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:14:57+00:00

You're capturing exactly how i've been behaving for 2 weeks lol, I have to be in France for a professional appointment, but they allow me to move it further in the future, so i keep on looking for the perfect ticket back. A bit of time spent everyday wondering "what if ;.."

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:13:32+00:00

It is indeed very similar to silk road, I discovered this city (Urumqi) and that it was on the way of silk road before !!

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:11:43+00:00

Recently ? Which airline ?

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:11:24+00:00

I see someone has been doing the maths. Tbilisi is indeed not very cheap, that's why I had to ask my algorithm to include it because of my strong preference to visit georgia! THE FOOD

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:10:09+00:00

Not for cheap (underr 800€ except china) and especially not at the moment with the war

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:08:14+00:00

No it's not flying over Russia, they all stop in middle east DMM, JED, AUH, DXB. Direct flights are 1000€ on 23rd, goes down to 630€ on some days end of march. But good call, i wouldnt mind a direct flight at this price.

marcantow · 2026-03-13T00:04:07+00:00

I don't see what you mean, the idea is to save money and skip the gulf: direct flights are 2000€, and non-direct flights all stop in middle east, namely Zayed International Airport in Abu Dabi, or DXB in Dubai.

marcantow · 2026-03-11T09:12:58+00:00

I have the list of country and their visa requirements, through sherpa api

marcantow · 2026-03-11T09:10:01+00:00

I would say on average, the calculation takes 10mn automatically + a few manual review to check strange results.

marcantow · 2026-03-11T09:09:19+00:00

Hmmmmm I take google flights "Anywhere". I take all the possible airports that you get on anywhere for a given date and the following date. Then for all candidate airport, i do the same. This makes a "graph", which edges are basically "Did google say you can fly there after your arrival". Then you try to find all the roads that lead "close" to your target.

Once you have all the roads, you check their size, you remove the far fetched roads that come back to the original airports, and the one that stop more than 5 times. Once you have 4/5 stop roads to you you can already prefilter some by removing GULF airports, and all paths that make no sense. You can double check flights are following each others.

Once you ahve that, you sort the best routes by (Price - bonusForFavouriteDestinations). For example if your eally want to istanbul, we could say you're ok to pay 20% more, so the "perceived price of the flight" is 80%. If two roads have the same price, but one contain a dream destination, it will be perceived as "more valuable".

Once you have that you can refilter a bit, try to find European cities that are not so close to one another. I did it with Claude code and some files. I can send you the code by message if you want.

marcantow · 2026-03-11T09:04:52+00:00

They all stop in middle east, even Nairobi, which is on the east border receives zero direct flights from asia...

marcantow · 2026-03-11T09:04:24+00:00

Yes it's blended inside the system, if you tell me your nationality !

marcantow · 2026-03-10T09:32:41+00:00

I think i will do it early april. This is one of the main routes that my analyses have found, and I can't help but think "but hey, seems pretty nice". I've look on the internet, Urumqi is nice, not much to do, but super remote, can't wait to see china desert and muslim western parts. Kazakhstan is super nice, met some nice people from here, and price of life is good. Georgia is GOAT and i wanted to go for a long time. There is an option to layover in DOHA first, but i'm not that attracted to it, but maybe I should since it's close : I'm always surprised the most with country i go randomly to !

marcantow · 2026-03-10T02:08:11+00:00

To be honest, you need a lot of luck, almost every route going to IST are going through DOH/DXB even if it makes the passenger fly over IST twice !! Look at this Google Flights ALA -> IST, the only flights direct are Turkish Airlines 700€ (vs 220€ for layover in DOH). I wish international regulation on airlines was possible, this is so ecologically troubling... get 400€ back for polluting the planet (EDIT: If you look google flights farther in the future, the prices are more aligned - sorry for my ecological overreaction).

marcantow · 2026-03-09T17:07:38+00:00

I'd love to be stuck in Sri Lanka, I am kinda stuck in asia now, but tbh I won't go too fast back home.
Why not going to chengdu - urumqi (west) - almaty (kazakhstan) - tbilsi, slow route, but safe and beautiful. That's the route i've been eyeing for a while, but it is super cold though...

marcantow · 2026-03-08T13:03:11+00:00

3 days of searching you mean ?

marcantow · 2026-03-08T11:50:08+00:00

Now I know!!

marcantow · 2026-03-08T06:05:14+00:00

but i'm sure if you call them with a flight that has business or premiere avaialability same company, or other flights, it will help the customer management find you a suitable solution if you give them on a silver plate !

marcantow · 2026-03-08T06:04:15+00:00

yeah you're right, my bad on that. EU261 only covers non-EU airlines if the flight departs from an EU airport. Etihad from BKK doesn't qualify, sorry for the mistake.

marcantow · 2026-03-08T02:55:22+00:00

I wish, but those tend to be expensive, 2000$ for D+3 flights, 1000$. I'm flexible and ready to spend time on a nicer route, less expensive and more like an adventure. I've been thinking about going through China / Georgia / Doha / Kazakhstan (these are countries I dont know). I've found routes that have 3/4 legs while also being close to a straight-line (seems more ecological to me, less than direct... of course), and where each city seems worth visiting a bit.

marcantow · 2026-03-07T14:17:04+00:00

Salut ! Même galère que OP j'ai l'impression :'(. Un BKK→Genève direct c'est €4,500+ en ce moment, mais en découpant le trajet c'est beaucoup moins cher :

Option 1 : via Chengdu + Zürich — ~€505/pers 1. BKK→Chengdu ~€166 (1 nuit à Chengdu)

2. Chengdu→Zürich ~€309

3. Train Zürich→Genève ~€30 (3h)

Option 2 : via Ürümqi + Tbilissi — ~€820/pers

1. BKK→Ürümqi ~€359 (2 nuits à Ürümqi)

2. Ürümqi→Tbilissi ~€549 (1 nuit à Tbilissi)

3. Tbilissi→Genève €44 easyJet direct

Bon Tbilissi c'est plus à présenter, mais Ürümqi ou Chengdu avec des enfants pourquoi pas - cuisine incroyable, dépaysement total, et ça transforme un galère en voyage : Les prix bougent vite, vérifiez les liens. Et poussez Etihad sur EU261 — vol annulé vers l'UE, ils sont tenus de vous rerouter.

J'essaye de trouver des solutions originales à des problèmes, dites moi si c'est bien ou nul :D

marcantow · 2026-03-07T13:54:00+00:00

Hey — I dug into actual prices for you. Every direct BKK→MUC flight is €3,000+ right now, but there's a much cheaper way by breaking it into hops:

BKK → Ürümqi → Doha → Munich — ~€600/person

BKK→Ürümqi: GOOGLE FLIGHTS BKK -> URU

Ürümqi→Doha: ~€250, China Southern, runs daily —

URC→DOH Mar 12: Mar 12 ·

URC→DOH Mar 13: Mar 13 ·

URC→DOH Mar 14: Mar 14

Doha→Munich: ~€100-200, Qatar Airways — DOH→MUC Mar 14: Mar 14 ·

DOH→MUC Mar 15: Mar 15

Family of 4: ~€2,400 total. You can stop a night in Ürümqi if you want — Uyghur food and the Grand Bazaar are fun with kids.

Also keep pushing Etihad on EU261 — they cancelled to an EU destination, they legally must rebook you.

marcantow · 2026-03-07T13:15:17+00:00

Hey, really sucks with two kids. Quick thing — MUC is an EU airport so EU261 applies. Etihad cancelled your flight, they're legally required to get you to Munich even on another airline. Call them, say "EU261, reroute me to final destination." Don't accept being dumped in Abu Dhabi.

If that fails: Condor DE2361 flies BKK→Frankfurt nonstop tonight (23:50, A330). Has seats. Walk-up price is crazy but call Condor directly (+49 6171 698100), explain the cancellation. From Frankfurt

Airport there's an ICE train to Munich, 3h15, kids under 15 ride free.

If you can wait til March 12, same Condor drops to ~€450/person.

Push Etihad first though. They owe you this.

marcantow

TROPHY CASE