sandi_travelnut

My husband and I have not travelled internationally since 2007 and plan on making another trip to Italy in sept or oct of 2017 for our 25th anniversary. It's obviously been a long time since I search for airfare and am looking for the latest tips. How far in advance would I normally get the best deals? What's the best airfare consolidator website these days?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

candj83

I watch some different pages on Facebook (The Points Guy, Fare Deal Alert, The Flight Deal, etc) and they are great about posting flight deals as they become available. I typically use Google Flights to search for available options; most often it connects you to the flight carrier (Delta, American Airlines, etc) so you can book and manage your flight directly with the carrier itself. It's worked well for us.

Kathie

Beware "consolidator" websites. Many of these places buy frequent flier miles and use them to get free tickets, which they then see to you. This is against the airlines terms of service, and if discovered you'd lose what you paid for your ticket and have to buy a new full-priced ticket.

Airfare wstchdog will alert you to "deals" on airfares.

I wouldn't use Facebook to find good airfares - too many scams, false stories, etc. The legit ones like The Points guys, etc have their own websites.

dweislaw

Look at Google Flights every day and search for your date and destination.
If you don't live in a major international hub, search for departures from cities other than your own. For instance, in Florida searches from Miami can yield much cheaper tickets than from Tampa.
There are some terrific deals to Italy in spring and fall as of this writing. Miami-Milan $478 September with one stop; non-stop $555
Sign up for alerts - Kayak, airlines, etc.
If you can fly out of NY, look at Emirates Air TODAY; they have a special for NY-Milan for $899 for two for with a lot of available dates. Special ends today and may or may not run again.

bvlenci

The best time to buy tickets is about three months in advance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6646836.html

I often wait even longer.

michelhuebeli

On www.airfarewatchdog.com you input your target cities and you will get loads of airfare alerts. Never spam.

Not all the alerts will be useful - often they are for a quick and limited offer that doesn't extend to your time frame, so you just delete those. But when you get a gem that you would otherwise not have known about, you'll be glad you signed up.

If you don't mind flying indirectly, currently the absolute rock-bottom fares to Europe are with Iceland Air, WOW (also Iceland-based), and Norwegian. Luggage costs extra, and you may have to use sites like skyscanner.net and whichbudget.com to find connecting flights within Europe if one of the above takes you only as far as a hub outside Italy.

Keep looking at the above, and read travel articles and websites including this one, it pays off. When you see something, POUNCE, they don't last. I have just flown from DEN to ZRH for USD398 RT, and paid a further USD88 for a roundtrip ticket from BSL to LiS, including a paid-for seat and extra bag with easyJet both ways. Hard to beat!

mokka4

The industry website is:
www.matrix.itasoftware.com
I start watching aid are about 3-4 months in advance, and jump on an acceptable price if/when it appears. This site lists most airlines. You cannot buy directly from it, but go to the selected airline's website.

michelhuebeli

One of the great features of itasoftware (now owned by Google, it's only a matter of time before it gets absorbed fully and goes away) is the "nearby airports" option, where "nearby" can be thousands of km away. Play with it and you may get suggestions you had never thought of researching.

marvelousmouse

Where you fly into and out of makes a big difference although it shouldn't. I got my tickets through Iceland Air and Norwegian. And I got them fairly low because I played with so many different routes and days. The lowest fares are red eyes, though- so you'll probably pay extra if that's not your thing. I use sky scanner and kayak to search but I usually go directly to the site to buy- the discount fares are usually the same, and I don't like third party booking sites.

AJPeabody

Just be sure you read all the details and restrictions and fees that may be hidden in a less than obvious link on the buying page before you buy. Assume nothing.

ElendilPickle

>>If you can fly out of NY, look at Emirates Air TODAY; they have a special for NY-Milan for $899 for two for with a lot of available dates. Special ends today and may or may not run again.<<

I'll second this recommendation. We took advantage of their JFK to Milan special last year (about $800 for the two of us, IIRC), and were very pleased with our flights. We used a combination of Southwest and Delta points to fly to New York, so those flights were free.

Lee Ann

tom_mn

Last week (Nov 21-23), all of the USA to all of Western & Central Europe was $380-$480 RT and on the main legacy carriers. I booked $455 to Marseille on Delta/Air France. These were the lowest airfares on legacy carriers (that I'd seen, anyway) in about 20 years. These fares were found on Google.com/flights and then with a connection directly to buy on the airline websites. Who knows when such a deal will pop up again, but there's a trend for great airfares to show up these days.

nochblad

Everyone assumes the OP is based in the States. Is this the case?

Fodors is SOMETIMES used by individuals who are not American!