jaydh42

Any comments on best direct airfares from Heathrow to Vienna in July. Seems as though British Air consistently is best at around $215 RT followed by Austrian Air. Other airlines go as high as $1,000. Can you believe that? Would like to continue with a few more comments on whether to buy now or wait a few months for a sale or is that just wishful thinking? Why do you think that BA is consistantly the lowest fare carrier for this route? Appreciate comments!!

BTilke

That price doesn't sound too bad, really. I flew from Heathrow to Vienna last year and the best RT economy price was about the same, although the company ended up buying me a biz class ticket because they wanted my schedule to be fully flexible.
You might want to wait, it's a little early, special fares might show up next year. Or they might not.
You could also consider flying Ryanair to one of its Austrian stops...Linz, Graz, and train from there. You might save a little money, but it would take more time.
I'm going back to Vienna again this winter and although the flight from Heathrow is the easiest, I'm going to take a train from Cologne (London to Brussels to Cologne)--I just enjoy the scenery en route too much. The total cost for a RT first class ticket PLUS an overnight at the Ibis in Cologne's train station for that route is still less than a biz class flight from Heathrow (about $1000 RT).

flanneruk

Only BA and Austrian fly the route. Other airlines you might be finding are hokey codeshares or are going the scenic route. The only direct London-Vienna low costs are Air Berlin from Stansted.

Why is Austrian dearer? Depends on the day of the week. Austrian promote this route heavily to the business market as the most reliable way to get to tricky places in Eastern Europe, so are naturally fuller on working days.

Or a bit of dust might have got into someone's yield management machine. Either way, £130 strikes me as pretty good, and I wouldn't get into a game of rate chicken you could easily lose.

TimS

According to the Ryanair Web site, Bratislava is the closest they get to Vienna (flying from Stansted). There is bus service to Vienna for as low as 9E and the trip takes about 90 minutes.

jaydh42

Thanks all for your thoughts. I'm not going to fool around and will take the easiest, most direct way to Vienna and that's with British Air. I really can't envision the price going anywhere but up from here on in. We are very fortunate in that we have very good Austrian friends, almost like family, that we will be staying with.