Amazed at the high faresshowing up for overseas trips. Any clue why we are seeing these? Have been reading about how airlines are losing money, yet the fares keep going up, and the perks keep going down.

It is called supply and demand. There are fewer flights now.

It depends on when you are flying and from/to where you are flying. We've flying from Washington D.C. to Madrid, Spain roundtrip for $358 each in April and from D.C. to Munich for $623 each in June--seems reasonable to me.

If you try to make reservations too early, you'll see high prices unless some airline needs a sudden cash infusion. Of course, if you try too late, then flights might be full or almost so. You just have to keep looking until you find a price that seems reasonable to you.

When is your trip, and where are you flying from/to.

itasoftware.com

use the month-long view, too

Also, when (the period of days you want to stay) you book also matters. In order to get the best fares some airlines require you to stay over the weekend, so if you are doing a trip Sun-Friday you may be finding fares are higher.

To piggy back off of what Bobthenavigator mentioned. Supply & demand. If you are leaving from the states during May, June, July and August airlines know this is high demand, vacation time. Prices are always higher then.

What's the OP's definintion of "high"?

I have to agree that fares are higher this year. We've been flying EWR-CDG (not an expensive route usually) in May for the past few years, and this May fares have doubled. I have great flexibility in travel dates and usually fly mid-week. There's been very little "play" in fares until this week, when they've dipped a bit, but still much higher than in prior years. EJ

It's possible that airlines tired of losing money on trans-Atlantic routes, cut capacity using smaller aircraft, and brought fares more in line with expenses which have risen dramatically.

It's also difficult to really know what your trip will ultimately cost due to "value added pricing" (paying to check in luggage) and enticement fares that do not include all fees, service charges, and taxes. Prices for tickets requiring several en route stops are generally less than prices for non stop flights. All of these criteria should be consider when comparing ticket cost vs. value.

I believe round trip, non stop tickets from origination cities other than those of the north east coast should be considered a good value if they can be obtained for less than $1,000 inclusive of all costs. There may be some cheaper fares for those departing from Boston or New York but the days of the widely available $500 round trip are most likely behind us.

I fly from Atlanta.

For years I had a BUNCH of non stop options from Atlanta to London on Delta. Now.....it's down to two. (And that's actually up from a few months ago when it was one)

Still a big plane, but it's about three planes less then last year.

So....they can charge more for the "remaining" flight.

I think that folks need to realize the "super cheap" airfares of the past few years are not a sustainable model. A business can't stay open if it sells the product for less then cost!

Looking at the revenue optimization point of view would help make sense. If a particular airline is losing revenue due to competitions, then yes, lowering fare would help them with the market share.

But that is not the case for 2010.

There are less people flying and what's left are likely to be the people who must travel: business people and the Fodors travel addicts . In this case, the airlines see no incentive to lower prices.

I have noticed, however, that if planes are not filled sufficiently about 30 days ahead in off season, they still offer price reductions. However, it also appears that airlines are aggressive in canceling insufficiently filled flights. It is a bad deal for travelers in many ways.