I am planning a trip to London in summer 2006; it will be our first trip without kids (thanks grandma !!).

Right now, airfare from Raleigh to London (non-stop on American) is $1200 (leaving late June, returning early July - so peak time). ButI can get one frequent-flier ticket, so that's 1200 for both of us. Still, $1200 feels steep. Should I buy now, or would you recommend I wait a few months & hope fares go down ?


Sunil

Hi sunil, well gazing into my crystal ball this is what I see. Who knows, LOL. With the cost of fuel increasing every week etc. I do not think that airfairs will be less expensive for next summer. Having said that I have never personally purchased an airline ticket so far in advance. But in that you can get one FF ticket and the two of you can fly for a total of $1200.00 I would probably grab it. But I don't know if this is the best advice quite frankly. Hopefully someone else here on Fodors can give you better thoughts. Best wishes.

Get the FF award ticket first, and then just wait a while - late fall to early spring - to get the paid ticket. Don't worry, there will be seats...

Yes - just get the ff ticket now. June really isn't peak time. The highest fares don't usually kick in until early July (through about the middle of Sept).

Most years you can find really good bargains in June. But fuel surcharges and various airline financial problems could mean anything can happen next year. I'd start looking for sales around late Oct/Nov and through the winter.

And sign up to be emailed about sales and specials. Pretty much every airlines offers a mailing list for that.

I agree with everyone as far as getting the "free" ticket now. But don't wait too long for the paid ticket. The international connections from RDU are so limited - and this flight is especially difficult to get a good deal on.

This isn't advice really, since I don't fly out of RDU, but just wanted to say "ouch". It is really hard to make any predictions this far in advance, what with the volatile factors involved, but that does seem pretty high to me. The advice to get the FF ticket now sounds like a good plan to me.

It's hard to believe that price, considering that we paid about the same price, $1200-ish, for a last minute, must-have, full fare to Australia a little over a month ago. Paid the same rough price again very recently for an open jaw flight in premium economy from St. Louis to Bangkok and home from Phnom Penh, Cambodia for january, which is high season there. Those all on AA and partners.

I think I agree that I'd keep shopping for a little while for the paid ticket. Either way, have fun in London! Great town.

If you're willing switch from nonstop to 1 stop, you can save $150-200--that'd be worth it for me. Another option might be to use a regional airline (like Southwest) for a flight to a larger airport, such as BWI in Baltimore, and then take the American nonstop from there. SW is showing ~$100 round trip from RDU to BWI.

I just went through this myself, actually.

Had enough miles for one FF award ticket to London and had to decide whether to purchase the paid ticket now or wait for the fares to drop. My round trip HNL-LHR ticket was pricing at a little over $1400.

I ultimately redeemed the miles and secured the FF ticket and decided to play the fare watching game. This was last Friday, before Katrina.

I did have a bit of pause Monday after seeing the news and reading about the impact Katrina will have on airfares - but too late now. I hate to think that in a few months I'll be wishing I paid the $1400 when I had the chance. I can't imagine the fares going even higher - but then again, I never really thought I'd be paying $3 a gallon for gas, either. Just hoping for the best.

I agree with g33kgrl; I would probably consider flying (or driving, if within driving distance) to another city that would probably have cheaper flights to LHR. If you can get to another city on the East Coast you should be able to save quite a bit of money. We always consider this as an option if the flights are too expensive.

Good luck!
Tracy

Why hurry? Even if you buy your non-stop ticket just a few weeks before travel next June, it'll not be much more than $1,200. Meanwhile, lot of time and many opportunities to buy it cheaper.

In worse case, find a cheaper one-stop flight somewhere else and redeposit the miles for a fee. Still comes out ahead.

<b>Absolutely no reason</b> to buy a $1,200 fare to Europe right now.

I totally agree with rkkwan - - I would not buy a June 2006 ticket right now. . Moreover, I'm not so sure I would cash in those FF miles. How many is that? 40-50,000? or 80-100,000? In my book, they would be worth more than the money (which could end up being only $900 or less).

But a compelling reason in my book is other general uncertainty about a trip for two, that far away. Any chance you will regret locking in a purchase that big? Job 100% secure? Grandma's health &quot;perfect&quot;? Are you sure that gasoline won't go to $7.00 a gallon in the next 6 months? Will this purchase today look smart then? (the fare might be decent, but will the trip be a good idea?)

I would plan on buying in Jan, Frb or March - - unless you absolutely hate following the roller coaster ups and downs of available air fares. - - or if your dates are so inflexible that you feel that this ticket is the &quot;perfect&quot; match for some stringent requirements.

Best wishes,

Rex

Spending about 50K miles for US-Europe coach is not the best use of FF miles - international business/first class travel, or last minute domestic will be - but it's also not the worse. If one has some miles to spend, then perhaps.

And don't worry too much about grandma being sick. Miles can be redeposited, or the itinerary can be changed, for a fee. So, you won't lose it all.

How about flying up to either Boston or JFK and taking BA. We got fares for next May at about $830 each coach.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

I agree - it is way too early to lock down a $1200 airfare. I was just so excited at the prospect of a vacation without the kids that I couldn't help start planning as soon as I heard grandma was willing...

My hope is to win the Wimbledon lottery (for a one day ticket) - that will just about make this a perfect trip for me, and will also define my travel dates pretty well.

The Frequent Flyer ticket is for 60K miles plus taxes ($139) - feels like a good deal given $1200 airfare. I will probably lock in a FF ticket in the next few weeks - I am not sure how long those will be available...

Thanks again for all the responses !


Sunil