Jenn

Hi - Please tell me what a "good" price range would be to fly from San Francisco to
Heathrow. I am looking for flights in late
June '05 and have been checking several times a week for pricing. Always seems to be around $944.00 per ticket. Seems a little high to me ... but I have nothing to compare it to. Can anyone help ?? Will there be a time when pricing comes down ??

ira

Hi Jenn,

Look for discount fares around Nov-Dec.

Robespierre

Check out

<b>http://www.ba.com</b>

They have winter fares around $400.

rex

She wants to travel in JUNE.

I agree that you may be able to find slightly better(? $750-850), but it will require diligent watching on your part starting about December through February. Sign up for fare watcher on Travelocity, EXpedia, etc.

And ask for advice on the cheap flights forum of www.eurotrip.com

Best wishes,

Rex

Gardyloo

Also look at cheap domestic flights to Boston or NYC then transatlantic beyond. Often the best prices show up on carriers that don't serve the west coast. But next year summer fares are going to stay high until later this year. Don't expect miracles for June flights, though.

Robespierre

Jenn asked &quot;Will there be a time when pricing comes down ??&quot;

The answer is: Yes. But not in high season, which includes June.

rex

Pricing comes down for flights at all times of the year. And (at least portions of) June, in particular, will occasionally be included in some of the late spring promotions.

suze

I fly British Air when going Seattle/London/Geneva. I've given ~$1200 RT summer-fares which has been about fairly constant over the past 10 years.

I have never tried for bargains, because I really like the overnight flight best to get me west coast to Europe. I hate fly in the daytime and/or to stop anywhere within the U.S. along the way (will not consider going thru O'Hare, JFK, etc.).

welltraveledbrit

Jenn,
I live in the Bay Area and I travel SFO-LON regularly to visit family... I must admit I normally try to aviod the summer months because of the fare increases.

However, I bounght my mother a fare from the UK to the US last May and she went back in June, as I remeber it the cut off for the fare was the 15th of June...it might be worth pricing fares before the 15th if that would suit your schedule...

Another thought is to consider a package and then just add on time without any further hotel nights.

Hope that helps

Jenn

Thank you all. I will continue to watch and hope for a drop in fare's
later in the year. I guess the $944.00
cost is not that bad.

Margie

Can you use JetBlue out of Oakland to JFK and then try to hook that up with a good airfare to LHR? Virgina Atlantic often has &quot;specials&quot;, as does BA. Would this work? Virgin has some very good air/hotel packages if they fit your needs.

Betsy

Margie, your strategy is great in theory, but maybe not in practice. Someone posted a trip report a few days ago in which her flight from the West Coast (?SFO) was delayed. She missed her connection in NY and had to ante up more than 8K$ for last minute tickets for her family to continue their trip. If you plan to do this, you probably should plan to overnight in NY. I must admit I've given more than a passing thought to doing the same thing.

Betsy

Margie, here's a &quot;copy and paste&quot; from the post I mentioned above. I overstated the amount she was required to pay on the spot--it was over 6K$, not 8K.

&quot;But inspite of all this planning, we managed to miss our Air France flights out of NYC due to tremendous thunderstorms over JFK making it impossible for our JetBlue (from Oakland, CA) and United (from Los Angeles) flights to land on time. 40-50 other flights circled the NY skies with us. By the time we got to the Air France counter, we have 15 minutes to spare -- but our flight was closed for boarding. DRAT! AF said they would give me credit for our missed flight, but that I would have to purchase new tickets at the day-of-departure price (!) -- an extra $1084 per person for a total of over $6500 -- Geez! They say had I not separately booked connecting flights, they could've given me a simple change of reservation... say what? So... I swallowed this bitter pill and whipped out my credit card... I didn't even want to argue with them at this time... it was like being between a rock and a hard place... no way I can cancel our trip now -- but how would I absorb such a steep penalty?&quot;

Robespierre

<b>There's a great general travel principle here.</b>

Make sure that none of your arrangements depend irrevocably on any others. Planes, and even trains sometimes get delayed (SouthWestTrains entire network in Britain got scrambled last summer by a fire near the main line). Car rental agencies run out of cars. Hotels lie about availability. Wildcat strikes happen. It's a jungle.

<i>Read the fine print.</i> What cancellation/change policies are you agreeing to? If you can't avoid contractual obligations that could get messy in the worst case scenario, pay a few bucks for travel delay insurance - that's what it's for.

Margie

Betsey, yes unforeseen delays, etc., can happen; it's all part of travel and something that must be taken into consideration when making ANY travel arrangements. A longer than normal layover would be something that might be able to be planned to possibly avoid missing a connection on another airline if you flight is delayed. Also having travel insurance that cover delays (as stated above, read the policy carefully) might help. If you take the risk, have a few alternatives/contingency plans in your back pocket incase there is a screw up. Be ready to go with the flow.