msloderb

I am flying around May 20th from Kansas City to Munich. Should I book now or are price likely to go down closer to that date. I am seeing about $900 right now.

witteke63

Hi

I fly to Europe about twice a year and never book more than 3 months out. Lokk for specials on airlines websites but the key is: be flexible with your dates. Can save you a lot of money. Check nea, expedia, orbitz and travelocity regularlu and educte your self. Sign up for trvael alerts of fare watchers. it helped me

rex

A better message header woiuld be a common courtesy here.

But that aside, it might be worth your while to post this question also on the Cheap Flights forum of www.eurotrip.com and hope for the famous bargain-finding wizardry of Don, the moderator there.

If I had to guess, you have about a 40-60 chance of an "upside-downside" probability of $150 over the next 60 days (i.e., 40% probability of finding $150 cheaper, and 60% probability of getting stuck paying $150 more by failing to buy "soon&quot. But these figures are pure guesswork on my part... nothing scientific. And a good chance that you will find the same fare anytime you want it, over the next 60 days.

Best wishes,

Rex

tcreath

I have to admit that $900 does seem kind of high. I'm not sure how flexible you are, but searching surrounding airports can also lead to savings from time to time. For instance, we were trying to find a decent airfare last may for roundtrip between St. Louis and Munich. By checking the surrounding airports, we found a much better deal (about $250 savings per person) by flying into/out of Nuremburg, an easy couple of hours from Munich by train or car.

I would also consider the airport you are flying out of. As mentioned above, we fly from St. Louis. We are going to Italy in March and saved about $300 apiece on our tickets by flying out of Chicago instead. The flight from St. Louis to Chicago should be under $100 a piece, or we could just deal with the 4-5 hour drive. Regardless, the minor inconveniece is worth the savings. I have noticed in the past that flights from St. Louis tend to be cheaper than flights from Kansas City, so that could be an option as well.

As mentioned above, I would also use the "fare watch" feature of Travelocity.com. I'm sure other websites have similar features. Basically you plug in what you are looking for and how much you are willing to spend, and they will notify you by e-mail you when a flight comes up that meets your requirments.

Usually it just takes a lot of diligent searching...hopefully you will end up with a price you are happy with.

Good luck!
Tracy

Intrepid1

All the recent posts here citing "outside industry sources" have indicated that air fares to Europe will remain at the least, "flat" this Summer; that airlines have diminished their capacity for transatlantic flights, and that the number of people traveling trasatlantic will increase, if anything, given the weakness of the Dollar against the Euro.

I have yet to see any documented evidence that someone here or anywhere else "knows" for certain not only IF an airline sale will take place or WHEN.

Yes, being flexible about your dates is a strategy that often works but just how flexible do you wish to be: by days..or months...etc.

OR you can buy it now and forget about it assuming the cost will only rise; wait and actually watch it rise; wait for a sale and hope it is for your timeframe.