Cheap airfare to Europe?

Old Feb 6th, 2016, 09:16 AM
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Cheap airfare to Europe?

We notice airfare from Houston to London is extremely high in May ($1500). But airfare to Barcelona, via London on the same exact flight, is significantly cheaper ($800s). Does anyone have insight as to why we see such discrepancies? Any suggestions on European locations with reasonable airfare? We are planning to travel in May. Thanks
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 09:56 AM
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Supply and demand, capacity control determine the airfares. I'd suggest you simply search for the cities you are interested in or nearby cities. The airfares change minute to minute. That said, London seems to be the most expensive city from many gateways.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 10:02 AM
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Normally I can get to London cheaper than almost any other gateway city, but this summer fares into London seem extraordinarily high.

I'm going again in August and the friend traveling with me had to pay $1800 in coach - not even economy 'plus'. Interestingly, my business class fare was a little less than what I paid last August and in December.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 10:04 AM
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Oh -- if he had wanted to play around with some of the discount carriers he could have saved a fair amount but he wanted to fly AA or UA because he wants the miles.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 10:28 AM
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We are using Turkish Airlines for our flights which are the following:
SFO to Paris with an Istanbul transfer, Zurich to Sofia with an Istanbul transfer, Budapest to Istanbul, Istanbul to SFO for $906 per person leaving April 17 and returning June 1.

Prices will undoubtedly go up as summer approaches. The one problem with a Turkish Air itinerary (I do not mind the extra time spent transferring via Istanbul as long as it is the same day) is that a Budapest to SFO flight would take 30 hours with a layover in Istanbul that would be a waste of time. But since we wanted to go back to Istanbul anyway, we split up the return from Budapest by staying in Istanbul for 4 days.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 10:59 AM
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It isn't only supply and demand but also the amount of competition on any given air route. I'm assuming you are looking at all airline routes besides a N/S to London from Houston.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 12:10 PM
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Thanks for the replies. Yes we were looking at all airlines. We figured supply and demand plays a huge role but were surprised how going to Barcelona, via the same exact flight through London, plus an extra leg into Barcelona, would cost significantly less!
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 04:01 PM
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Beccalau, oddities like that are why we're driving 5 hours to fly out of Toronto rather than fly out of Detroit for our upcoming trip. It saves us $600 to $700 per person.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 04:34 PM
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The next time you look for cheap airfares try including looking on sites alternate to Kayak etc., such as skyscanner.com
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 04:40 PM
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My friend bought business class tickets on Monarch out of Sanford, fl. It was a good price. She has a lot of Delta miles but didn't want a layover. This was into Manchester as that is where her family lives but they fly to London also.
My family drives two hours to Montreal to get great prices from there to Europe sometimes if Albany is pricey or they go to NYC. We are lucky that we have so many flights from Orlando.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 06:16 PM
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I am seeing very good prices $1000 +/- to Paris and AMS but was surprise to see how high London was....
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 06:52 PM
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http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-to-spain.cfm

This is a current topic on Fodor's as well.
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Old Feb 6th, 2016, 08:19 PM
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I love to go to Europe, and generally plan my trip around wherever the flights in and out are the cheapest.

There are some incredibly cheap advance-purchase fares in Europe, as in $50 or less for a 1,000 mile flight. I find it best to pay a bit more to fly with one of the major carriers and not have to pay an extra fee for luggage. So if you want to go to London, fly to wherever it's cheapest, enjoy the sights for a day or two, then on to London.
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