Airfare to London this summer is ridiculous
 

Does anyone have any ideas for airfare deals? My dates are flexible. 1000 all summer long is crazy!

Er, book earlier next time ? I usually try too book a year ahead, or as soon as flights go on sale if later ?

Fly to Dublin (flights in July for $690 on Kayak) and then take the train/ ferry to London?
You might save $200.

Did you try the airfare search on ITAsoftware.com? A friend of mine just flew on Iceland Air to London from the US on what he thought was a good fare. They're a new airline, but I don't know much about them. I like the Dublin idea... I might look into that myself.

From Where? Virgin had some good fares a week or so ago

I don't think $1000 is ridiculous given the current cost of fuel, and fares were high last year, also.

My friend flies Icelandair and likes them a lot, they usually go through Reykyavik to other cities, so you have a stopover, though. But they have some good fares if you are near an airport they fly from. They aren't a new airline, they've been around for years and years.

Just try kayak.com

FYI, IcelandAir is not a new airline. They've been around for over 50 years and flying to the US since the early 2000s. I've flown them three times in the last 6 years.

Christina, great minds think alike! ;-)

I will try all the above suggestions. I was just laid off so I have a lot of time and just a little money. Virgin was even 1000

GO to itasoftware.com or Kayak and use the MONTH-LONG feature

Give us some specific dates that you are looking for and we can give you better advice! Are you flying in/out of London or doing multi-city, etc. This would help.

And where you're flying FROM would be nice to know as well.

Try through Lisbon with TAP or Barcelona with Iberia.

Other than that try not to be victimised. we are not going the other way this year for the same reason. £800 is £300 too much. I have never paid more than £500 and never will.

Always pay £40,000 for a family car. Audi didn't come to me this year and ask for £70,000.

Stuff you BA!

Sardinia here we come.

Jet2 : £89 return.

I flew Icelandair from Luxembourg to JFK via Reykjavik in 1991. There was a looooong layover for passengers to buy all sorts of overpriced Iceland stuff.

I am always on the hunt for a good fare to AMS or CDG. Delta seems to be the best lately.

Don't you folks recall the price of summer tickets pre-9/11? They were typically in the $1,500 range, even from consolidators. The airlines have learned how to jam more seats on a plane and sell them all in high season. Don't expect any good deals until after Christmas.

Flew Icelandair from Seattle to Paris, and back from Amsterdam last month for $829. Only a 45 minute stopover in Reykjavik, so the flight was "only" 11 hours 35 minutes long, compared to 15 - 16 hours for other one stop flights. Only problems were that NOTHING is free, and the poor quality/strange meal was stupid expensive. The other problem were the seats. Pitch was a standard 32", but the hard leatherette seats themselves were obviously built for short hauls.

Most uncomfortable seat our posteriors have ever experienced.

Bring food and a pillow.

sort of crazy I know but

airtransat.ca has YTO LGW

July Aug for $260 each way on sale all in

pretty awesome deal...

might be worth heading north to save...

www.airtransat.ca

similar deals to all over europe

might play around there with the sale offers

find something that will work...

for YTO u can fly into BUF take a bus from $10 to YTO

Airtransat doesn't seem to fly from any airport called YTO but is that YYZ? And their fares from Toronto to LGW are more like CA$901 RT when you include taxes on the dates I checked in July/Aug, which is US$921? Their taxes are higher than the fare.

of course not sure we know where the departure city is, you won't save anything by having to get to Toronto first, I imagine.

I am leaving from NY I am looking for any days in July I am going to do more research tonight after I talk to my friend!

tinyteacup, IcelandAir flies out of JFK, so I highly recommend that option. Don't worry about what might seem to be tight connection times there in Iceland...the terminal (yes, one terminal) is very small and connection time for me has always taken 10-15 minutes, tops!

I would avoid a Canadian carrier if only because of the exchange rate. Fares may look good, but are stated in Canadian $, not US$.

well, the Canadian and USD are about equal now, so they aren't that big a difference, that isn't the reason I wouldn't do it. If it actually saved you money when including all taxes and whatever it costs to go to/from Canada, I might if I really saved a bunch.

Really? I looked at Air Canada to get to Beijing when I booked back in March and it was enough of a difference to seem misleading to me at the time. Have things leveled out that much in 4 months? <sorry, off topic, I know>

I love the ITAsoftware.com website unfortunately the prices are still really high. Maybe I will go in September.

Hi tinyteacup, I just did a quick search pricing air mid-August and then mid-Sept. and here is what I found:

I used Booking Buddy for my search engine and then compared the same flights and days on: 1) Cheapoair.com; 2) webjet.com) and 3) Onetravel.com

I put in dates of 8/15 from JFK (not sure what airport you would use) and return on 8/29. Prices on British Air, AA, and Virgin Atlantic came up $801 to $836. (give or take a few dollars).

I then put in dates of 9/15 to 9/29 and the prices were averaging around $725. pp. Virgin Atlantic (go direct to their website) had really good fares and showed what dates had the lowest fares.

If you decided to go in Sept., think you could get decent fares. $725. to me would be a good price and flights would be nonstop - a BIG plus.

If you really want to go to London, I would book my flights as soon as possible as I don't think that you will save much money by playing "wait and see". I used to do this and drove myself nuts besides. It is what it is in the world of travel so you just need to take the bull by the horns and go for it.

Hope this helps.

Not sure what price you are willing to pay, but you should know that $1000 is not a high fare these days, and for summer it is actually competitive, $1800 has been very common on Dallas to LHR routes the last 2 summers.....perhaps you need to decide your travel budget and choose your travel destinations based there upon?

tinyteacup, I was speaking w/ a travel agency yesterday as we are interested in river cruises and he told me that air is very high and going higher. Prices to fly to Germany in beginning Dec. were $1200 pp & up so think that if you are serious about going, just find the best air and book it ASAP or you will have to stay home. If you want to go to Europe you will have to pay the high price to get there.

For whatever reason even inner-European flights to London seem to be packed these days. I fly out of and into London on a weekly basis and fares in general have almost doubled vs. 3 months ago. Pretty much all the seats sell apparently, judging from the occupancy levels on the planes.

I have citi thank you points and it will knock 200 off my fare so it makes it more reasonable. I think I am going to book over labor day. ITAsoftware.com is an amazing resource!

Yes, ignore the Toronto-Air Transat option. Like many (all?) airlines, they like to be irresponsbile and not tell you up front the total cost of a flight. I have taken to driving to Buffalo to fly to US and international points.

In a similar vein, it might be worthwhile to consider changing your departure point. If there was a great deal on Northwest out of Detroit, would a Southwest flight from your NYC to there and back be cheaper? Or Boston...Philly...

When and where are you going? You were originally going in August? That might explain high fares. What is your idea of a good price?

For example..if Paris...could fly to Amsterdam/London and take HS train to Paris.

I don't think that itasoftware.com is that amazing... I've been tracking a flight JFK-ZRH, GVA-JFK which it says is $881. However, on United's site, it is $1247.

Luckily, I had been monitoring United's site also and got the ticket for $789 a couple of days ago.

I don't think Yapta is that great either.

joannyc, I have printed out the page with the fare codes from ITASoftware and taken it to a travel agent (yes, an old fashioned travel agent) who gets me those fares. Many times they just aren't available to the public.

How flexible are your dates?

London in September through mid-October is wonderful. Nice weather and fewer crowds.

Plus, with an earlier purchase, you might find something cheaper.

SS

I ended up paying 663 with my points Aug 31 - Sept 9; if I had left out of Boston it would have been much cheaper!

Wow, think you got a great price! Have a wonderful trip.

We just booked a cruise in Sept. leaving from Copenhagen and got pretty decent prices for a one-way into CPH.

Luv2travel15 - thanks for your help and have a great time! What kind of cruise?

We are doing a transatlantic on Princess cruises. It's a fabulous itinerary. We will fly into Copenhagen, then visit Reykavik, Iceland; Glasgow, Scotland; Dublin & Belfast, Ireland; Oslo, Norway, then head back across the Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale.

Have fun on your trip. Do a post when you return so we can hear all about what you saw.