As gas prices has gone down recently, does anyone think airfare will come down? I am planning a trip to Europe around Xmas time and am wondering if I should wait to reserve the air part and see what happens.

Ever see <i>Dirty Harry</i>?

Make cancellable reservations for hotel/tours, etc., and then keep an eye open for <b>acceptable</b> fare. Once you see it, purchase the tickets. Most major US based airlines still allow a fare rollback, either CC credit or a voucher for international tickets, so if the fare goes down, you could always ask for the new fare.

I said, MOST, but I'm not sure all still do without a fee. AA still does it for international fares but not for &quot;domestic&quot; fares.

AA has a &quot;funny&quot; take of world geography. Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Caribbean, Bermuda and Central America are all considered &quot;domestic&quot;

OTOH, it has it's AAdvantages......(free upgrades) for their top staus holders and cheap ones for the mid-low level status holders to any of the above mentioned destinations.

Try this site, but as <b>Gardyloo</b> said:

Do you feel lucky?

sorry, forgot to post the link....

http://www.farecast.com/

What routes are you planning to fly and when? What kind of fares are you seeing now?

Hi rkkwan
You helped me on some of my other posts regarding British Airways and their seating assignments. I did decide to go with them leaving Dec. 16-Jan 5th..price is $1151.00..going from SFO to Seville,Spain

Yes, I remember about your trip to Spain. I thought this is for something else.

angy400 - No offense, but you can't have it all your way. You want seat assignments, you worry about connections at JFK, and now you wonder if prices will come down.

Sorry, but for your trip, there are already like 5 threads with a dozen people responding in 20-30 posts. Do you think that's a little excessive? If most people come on Fodors demanding this much, this forum cannot function.

Anyways, my point is this. You seem to be pretty fussy about your airline and connection choices. If you have finally decided on which way to go, please go ahead and book the fare and forget about it. Prices may go up, prices may go down. But unlike some people who will just get a cheaper itinerary if their preferred one stays expensive, I don't think you will be happy with that.

So, please buy your ticket now with the airline of your choice. And pick you seats early. [Though I am not sure what's Iberia's policy.]

Commercial airliners don't use gas; they use aviation fuel. Its certainly possible that if all the refineries started producing more gasoline and less aviation fuel, the price of gas would decline, while the cost of aviation fuel would increase.

Further, many of the airlines were badly hurt when the price of crude oil started to increase, and they did not have long-term supply contracts, so many, if not all, have now switched to long-term supply contracts, which commits them to the agreed price, whether spot prices increase or decline.

Certainly the long term picture is that fuel prices are high, which increases ticket prices, but it is unlikely that anyone would be able to score a good ticket price by watching daily fuel costs.

I think prices are more related to seasonal issues than varying fuel costs, and I would not anticipate that ticket prices for a holiday season would be as attractive as for, say November.

My guess is that you will find the best prices in the next two or three months, and that in October, or thereabout, prices for holiday travel will increase, unless you are lucky enough to come across a sale. Also note that the dollar has been weakening, so the other costs of your trip will likely be higher, leaving less for airfare. Good luck.

clevelandbrown,
Thank you so much for explaining this to me..I appreciate it!

Who says the gas prices are coming down?

Well, they dropped below $3 for premium grade gasoline in my area!!

simpson,

They have dropped quite a bit here in CA too.