How long should I wait for a Lufthansa sale?
 

Hi, can you frequent flyers help me decide when to buy tickets?

I'm going to Rome from PDX for a week in early April, and the dates needed are pretty much set. I usually go to Europe via Seattle on BA, but am looking for an easier, less exhausting flight. Lufthansa has a one-stop at a good time of day from Portland --but I'm holding off buying tickets, having heard that they often reduce prices in late February.

If you were waiting for the best price, would you buy now for April 5, or wait? If you'd wait, how long?

Thanks so much for any input!

Right now, the sales are for up to around March 22. Can you wait a little longer?

What fare do you find now? I can only find something in the $1,400s. I wouldn't buy them at that price, that's for sure.

The last 2 years we've gotten good fares on LH in early spring but that was for travel in the summer.

I just got mail (yesterday) from Lufthansa announcing a spring sale: purchase by Feb 21 and depart between Mar 25 and May 15:

http://tinyurl.com/34s9js

Are you committed to Lufthansa for any particular reason? I see that one-stop (via AMS) on Northwest are going for around $1050 for your dates. The timing is only off by a couple of hours. Unless I had frequent flyer considerations, I would most definitely take NW over Lufthansa for a coach ticket, due to the better-equipped plane and the easier connections via AMS.

Delta and Continental are also pricing out around $1100 for one-stops, but they connect stateside, whereas I prefer connecting in Europe. I also prefer NW's international product to either CO or DL.

If you are committed to Lufthansa, then I would only give them another week or two, at most, but I would be surprised to see them come down from their current price. My recommendation is to just jump on the NW fare and be done with it.

<i>&quot;I just got mail (yesterday) from Lufthansa announcing a spring sale: purchase by Feb 21 and depart between Mar 25 and May 15:&quot;</i>

With this new information, I amend my recommendation. It should now read:

I would give up on Lufthansa and just book on Northwest.

This is because it is pretty clear that the $1400 is a sale fare and unlikely to come down. Waiting will only risk you paying more than $1050, which is a fair price for Italy, as Italy always seems to price higher than some other destinations in Europe.

This is great news! Thank you, Travelgourmet; I had chosen Lufthansa because I thought it was the only direct flight to Europe from Portland without a stateside connection (a route I also prefer.)

When you say &quot; would most definitely take NW over Lufthansa for a coach ticket, due to the better-equipped plane and the easier connections via AMS&quot; that's really heartening! (The last time I took NW the plane and crew were so ghastly I thought I was in a National Lampoon movie, but that was a few years ago, and connecting through Detroit.)

Rkkwan, the $1400 fare was what I was getting, and it seemed way too expensive, as you said, but I thought LH was my only option from Pdx to avoid a stateside connection.

Thank you very much Wally and dfr. I may wait a little while indeed, but it's just great to know there's another option!

The best news is that I have some unused miles on NW (thought I'd donate them after my last bizarre flight) so now I'll see if I can get a mileage trip!

You guys are the greatest. :)

What about using some miles for an upgrade? It looks like there are 4 upgrade seats available for the flight on 5 April. Buying up to an upgradeable 'B' fare for the outbound segments, which you will need to upgrade, &quot;only&quot; increases the price to around $1400.

I think around $400 + 20k miles (I think it is 20k miles, at least) is an absolute bargain for an upgrade on the overnight leg. And NW biz class is a very nice product. I don't see anything available on the return, but I don't usually mind coach for the day flights and upgrading would be more miles and more money.

If you need some more specifics to help you book the upgrade, just let me know, because you will want to be prepared when you call to book the tickets. You will have to book over the phone, because you want the two legs in different fare classes so you don't overpay.

One hint, is to not sweat it if they say they can't upgrade the AMS to Rome leg, because the business class on that leg is no better than coach, literally. You want to be in biz for the PDX to AMS leg.

For straight mileage redemption, there are coach seats for the departure on 5 April. Not sure when you want to return, but there are seats on the 12 April, as well.

Wow Travelgourmet, you are an expert! :) Now I have more questions:

Here's what I did -- last night I got a NW flight coach ticket PDX to Amsterdam with my Alaska mileage. It was for April 4, as they told me they had no mileage redemption tickets on the 5th. AND it was to Amsterdam only, as a KLM connection, they said, would cost me another 30k miles. So my plan was to find my own Amsterdam/Rome rt, and spend the night of the 5th in Amsterdam.

Where did you look to see what days are available? Do you think it's because my miles are from their partner Alaska rather than NW itself, that there was nothing for me on the 5th?

As for upgrading to business, I've been thinking about it -- I have some mileage in another account I could use for that. However there was only a business/first seat available for the outgoing flight (admittedly the most important one.) You're of course right about the Amsterdam to Rome flights; I don't care what class they are, but in this scenario I'd be paying 30k miles for only one-way business on the ten-hour leg. (I'm returning on the 13th.)

I have until the 18th to change this ticket without penalty; I'd like to check tomorrow to see if the 5th has opened up, if business class has opened up, etc.

Yes please, any and all advice is appreciated! Thank you again so much.

<i>&quot;Where did you look to see what days are available?&quot;</i>

For award tickets, I just search on the NWA.com website. For upgrade availability, I use ExpertFlyer, which is a paid service - not worthwhile unless you are obsessive like me.

<i>&quot;Do you think it's because my miles are from their partner Alaska rather than NW itself, that there was nothing for me on the 5th?&quot;</i>

That is all I can think of, because seats still show on NWA.com for the 5th. You might try calling again, to see if another agent has more luck.

<i>&quot;However there was only a business/first seat available for the outgoing flight (admittedly the most important one.)&quot;</i>

But, don't you have to pay each way for the upgrade? To upgrade both segments would require double the miles, and double the fare premium. To get a B fare for both legs would price out around $1800. This is why I usually only upgrade the overnight leg.

&quot;For award tickets, I just search on the NWA.com website.&quot;

I didn't even see that! Right now it looks like the 5th is available.....AND it looks like a flight all the way to Rome is available too. I wonder why the agent told me I could only get as far as Amsterdam. I'm going to phone again!


&quot;But, don't you have to pay each way for the upgrade? To upgrade both segments would require double the miles, and double the fare premium.&quot;

By upgrade, I meant changing the award ticket to Business Class. When I do that with BA (using Alaska miles) the entire flight is upgraded. Maybe NW has a different system.

Anyway, I'm going to keep phoning. Thank you so much for your invaluable help! I'll come back and report. :)

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&quot;<i>I wonder why the agent told me I could only get as far as Amsterdam.</i>&quot;

This could have to do with Alaska's award charts. They charge 50k for a US-Europe award on NW, but 65k on KLM. Since the AMS-Rome leg is on KLM, I think this may be increasing the cost of the whole award.

&quot;<i>By upgrade, I meant changing the award ticket to Business Class. When I do that with BA (using Alaska miles) the entire flight is upgraded. Maybe NW has a different system.</i>&quot;

Wish I could answer this. I almost always use Continental miles to book NW tickets, which does let you fly biz one way and coach for the other, but I don't know about NW or Alaska.

Good luck.

Thanks to you, Travelgourmet, I phoned back and got my ticket on the 4th changed to the 5th -- they did indeed have an opening! :)

The agent told me that KLM and Northwest were &quot;no longer partners&quot; and that's why I couldn't get all the way through to Rome without using an extra 30k miles to buy the KLM leg. Since I'm seeing flights for around $300 KLM to Rome RT, I decided just to buy one.

I'm absolutely delighted that I can fly nonstop to Europe without paying Lufthansa prices, and very glad to know that NW is using this new Airbus 330. (I took an Airbus on SAS once; it had great legroom and individual TV monitors in the seats -- hoping this is similar.)

Now I'm off to &quot;Europe Forum&quot; to ask an Amsterdam hotel question.

Again, I can't tell you how grateful I am for the guidance!

Glad I could help. FWIW, the agent is wrong to state that NW and KLM are not partners, as they are significantly more than partners, going so far to operate all of their trans-Atlantic service as a joint venture. This means you should be able to through-check all of your bags, and maybe even get boarding passes at check-in for your NW flight.

What I think is happening, though, is that they can't combine two different carriers on one award. As such, they are offering you an NW Europe award (50k miles) + an intra-Europe award (30k miles). This would make sense.

Regarding the plane. All seats have in-seat video, with on-demand audio and video. The front half of coach has power ports that take regular plugs - no adaptor needed. Legroom is decent, if not spectacular, unless you can get an exit row, in which case it is basically unlimited; you will need to be a SkyTeam elite to get this, I think.

TG (may I calll you that? :)) that's more excellent news. I was thinking of getting an Alitalia flight from Amsterdam, but now I'll go for a KLM one -- from Expedia or something. My one worry was having some sort of coordination between the two flight; if they could ticket me for both in Portland, it would be a relief!

I'm soo glad the seats are good, and hope I might get an exit row, although I'm not elite anything.

I'm off to look for a KLM flight and report back. Can't tell you how grateful I am for your expertise!