bardo1

I am starting to look at our trip to Bavaria and dates are somewhat fixed. We can leave 5/27/2010 or 5/28/2010 and return 6/7 or 6/8. We already have fixed tickets to the Passion Play in Oberammergau. In either case, we would like to stay 10 nights (in addition to the overnight outbound flight). We want to go non-stops.

Right now inclusive prices are about $1350 on either UA or Lufthansa. Which seems very high to me. The same 11 day flight leaving 2 months earlier (3/28/2010) is $535.

On to the advice part: I have put in for a Kayak alert if this flight goes below $1000. Is $1000 a reasonable figure for the alert? Should I be using other alerts? If I go ahead and book with UA, will they refund me the difference if the price drops?

dfr4848

$1000 still seems high to me, but you can't compare spring with beginning of summer, which of course are usually peak travel months. And it's too early for airlines to have any summer sales - assuming they will. They won't have any feel for traffic patterns until the spring.

Kayak should be fine. If you get an alert that fares drop below $1000, whether you take it or not depends on your nerves. I usually pick a figure I'm comfortable with, buy and then don't look back - especially if you've got some dates pretty well set which it appears you have.

Can't help with UA's refund policy.

FWIW, as between UA and LH, I'd take LH anyday. Our experiences with them over the past several years has been very good.

rkkwan

I think at this early stage, you can set yourself to buy at say $800. Chances are you should get something for that price before end of February. If not, then you need to prepare to pay more or go with connecting flights possibly on other carriers.

ms_go

You can only get a refund if it is a refundable ticket. For non-refundable tickets, you can get a voucher for the difference, less a fee. The fee is $150 for domestic tickets; the website only says that the fee for international tickets varies (I would expect it to be equal to or higher than the fee for domestic tickets). United used to offer vouchers for the entire amount (no fee), but that policy was changed earlier this year.

There's an FAQ page on this somewhere on the United site, but I can't find it right now.

yestravel

I've been tracking fares for a couple months on kayak and bing from IAD to CDG for this winter. Both have proven unreliable in notifying me accurately of air fares. They both missed a sale that UA just had for 4 days. Yapta used to do a good job of tracking fares, but I have not used it recently. And fare compare also can be good with notifications. As a side note, I learned about the UA sale in the Sunday Travel section of the Washington Post.

On the fare price, I'm going to Spain in May and we recently got a fare sale on UA when they first started service to Madrid -- its $625 including taxes and fees roundtrip.

Good luck!

mrwunrfl

Expect the fee to be $250 on United.

bardo1

Non-stop RT IAD-MUC is now down to $1158/person for 5/27-6/7. It's tempting but I get the feeling it's still too soon. Should I wait for Jan., Feb., or even March to buy?

hsmithcr

I also had problems with Kayak fare alert. I was watching a fare to Buenos Aires and did get a Kayak fare alert that the fare had been reduced about $5 but was supposed to go up really soon! So I went directly to the airline website and found a deal for $275 LESS than the Kayak fare. (Needless to say I bought it then and there and even checked the next day to make sure it wasn't an OOPS kind of thing.) If I were you, I would pick two or three airlines (I also luv Lufthansa) and check with them about twice a week.

I would wait until sometime in March, sooner if you run across a really good deal. I think you can do better that $1158. I flew IAD to FRA in October of 09 for $550.

Don't know how you would feel about this - but if you check Frankfurt and the fare is considerably lower, you might fly into FRA and take the "bullet" train to Munich. Of course, you would have to see what the train ticket would be. Sometimes you can run across a great tourist deal they put on for people that have "other than German" passports. You can check the train website at http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

I wouldn't get too excited about the prices right now - it is pretty early. But keep looking.

yestravel

I usually find sales for Spring/summer fares during the Winter. I think $1158 seems high, but who knows what the airlines will do. Have u looked at the fare history to get a good sense of what the fares for your dates have been? I'd hold out a couple more months and keep checking the airlines websites.

mrwunrfl

That $1158 is a booking class V fare on United. It is on the high side of UA discount economy fares.