I am traveling to France in October. I am staying in a small village about an hour south of Toulouse, France and 3 hours north of Barcelona. I have been told that it is really inexpensive to fly within Europe so possibly I should fly to a cheap destination and then get a short flight to Toulouse or Barcelona. So my question is, when is the best time to find good prices for a flight and where is the cheapest place to fly into? I know it can be a guessing game but if anyone has any suggestions to help, I'd sure appreciate it!!
Best time and location for flights from US
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It may be cheaper to include Toulouse in the original trans-Atlantic flight. The extra $50 compared to getting an intra-European flight for about $100 with its luggage restrictions and potential transfer headaches is money well spent.
Thus NYC-Toulouse might be not much more than NYC-Barcelona Barcelona-Toulouse. Train fares from Paris to Toulouse are very cheap if purchase 3 months in advance, but this may involve getting into Paris (some trains do leave from CDG, but I do not think that it is the case for Toulouse) and spending another 4 to 5 hours on the train after a trans-Atlantic flight. Add to that the trip to the village.
You could use www.skyscanner.net or www.whichbudget.com in reverse to find out what budget flights are available FROM those two cities.
You say you are traveling to France? From where? What would you do if you could get a cheap flight to one of those cities from London? Could you fly there?
There are airlines which fly direct to Barcelona from some US cities.
Thanks for the advice. Definitely will target Toulouse as I checked air prices today on SkyScanner and they were within $15. Barcelona vs Toulouse. I have family members flying from Denver, CO and Chicago, IL. Now I wonder, is it too early to be booking? It seems like the flights are targeting spring and summer. Won't Fall be cheaper so I should wait until summer? I certainly don't want to pay $300 - $400 more now and then regret that I didn't wait. I'll also check the London idea! I'm open to anything!!!
The cost of your flight will depend on where you are flying from and how long your trip is, but no, with the consolidation of two more airlines (US Airways & American), the cost of the flight will be going up and the number of seats available will be going down as the airlines move to increase their profits.
The cost of international flights this year are already a couple of hundred dollars more than last year and low season seems to be getting shorter and shorter, so I would go ahead and buy my ticket as early as possible, once you've figured out where you want to fly from and two.
If cost is a major issue, then you may want to check with a ticket consolidator (travel agent) who knows the ins and outs of obtaining the best priced ticket. It may not always be the best time or most direct route, but it can save you money.