Airfares to Europe
 

I am currently planning a 3-week trip to Europe from the last week of May to mid-June, and I have been checking discount websites (airlineconsolidator.com, cheapoair.com, etc.) for open-jaw flights (San Antonio to Rome and returning from Edinburgh, Scotland to San Antonio). Most of the time, I am coming up with $1,500 flights including taxes and fees, although a couple of times I ran across $1,100 or $1,200 fares. Given increasing gas costs and the time of year that we are flying, should I consider $1,100-$1,200 fares the cheapest that we can get? I need to know when to pull the trigger. Thanks!

I hear you and feel your pain - I am dismayed at what I am seeing and don't think there is much hope for much better. Then I have heard that airfares will be? increasing - oh my. I'm interested to hear what other posters are finding - we ended up using FF miles for flights from Atl into Lisbon and return from Barcelona as the fares I was finding were $1300+ in May. I signed up with a notification site but have yet to be notified of any better prices (I do think the site passed along (sold?) my email tho to other travel sites - nice.

My brother and SIL are going on a Scandanavian cruise later this year..June I think. Anyway they need round trip from AZ to Heathrow and my SIL finally sprung for the tickets day before yesterday. She was hoping but it is 1500.00 EACH for them. I say "wowza"!!!!!.

I have to say that I think the prices we have all gotten used to the last 10-12 years are a thingof the past unless one gets very lucky.

Can you be at all flexible with the timing? I am planning a European trip too and found there much cheaper fares if I was willing to leave US just one day earlier (May 17 compared to May 18). The May 17 ticket was just under $900 and the May 18 ticket was $1400.

A website that Arthur Frommer himself shared at a travel show I attended a couple of years ago that isn't as well known in the USA is momondo.com. It's similar to kayak.com but includes also consolidators, Europe budget airlines, and others.

Also, check airline sites directly. For example on kayak.com it doesn't show tickets that bring me back from Europe to JFK but require to get to LGA for the connecting flight home from LGA but the American Airlines website did. It's not ideal but can also save. (And it's really not that expensive -- maybe $30 or $35 or that hard -- just across Queens, we have done it several times.)

Finally check Iceland Air website. They have some very good prices on flights to Europe connecting in Rekyavik. (Until this week when prices dropped on American they were also offering about $1000 RT to many places in Europe from my midwestern city.)

laurie ann, thanks so much for the additional tips. We have a high school graduation on May 19 and realistically wouldn't be able to leave until about 4 or 5 days later, but I will definitely check multiple days of departure and return to see if we can snag a deal.

laurie_ann,
Thank you for the momondo website. I had never heard of it. I have used kayak many times, but as you say, many airlines are not included.

I learned of the following sit last fall and watched it almost daily before booking PIT--->FRA May 24 for $1041.
www.matrix.itasoftware.com
It lists MANY choices and you can adjust the settings to allow for an airport change, # of stops acceptable, and there is a month calendar, where you can switch day by day to learn going prices.
In my case, if we could only leave 2 days earier, we would've saved more than $200!
You cannot book directly on this site, but go next to the airline with the cheapest rate.

Mokka, that is a very good site.
Thanks so much for the info!

ITA provides software for many airlines and its website has become much smoother and more flexible since the company was gobbled up by Google. If Mooka4's link doesn't work for you, try http://www.itasoftware.com/ and click on 'Search airfares now'. Be aware, however, that not airlines are covered, particularly not some of the big European budget lines. I don't know of any single place that covers every airline in the world.

I'm traveling late June to late July and was finding tickets in the $1300-1500 range but found a couple of airlines with significantly lower fares: Iceland Air and Aer Lingus. I actually booked with Iceland Air for $1025 (NYC to London and AMS back to Boston). It is actually almost the exact same fare I had two years ago which I find interesting since most other fares were considerably more.

We are actually going all the way to Slovenia and Italy but prices to Slovenia were truly outrageous so we are flying to London and taking a very inexpensive EasyJet flight. Especially since you are returning from the UK you might consider looking into combinations like that. By not putting Rome into your itinerary you open yourself up to airlines that don't have flights there (they all have code shares with other airlines, but often you can book it cheaper yourself).

Bottom line - I'd jump on those $1200 fares.

isabel-I'm finding the same high prices. I have been checking for airfare RT from Shreveport, LA to Stockholm in late July for a cruise. Average about $1500. I am waiting a couple more months. I just bought airfare from Shreveport to Zurich and returning from Nice. I had been checking for it since November. Last week the price went down over $300. I got it on Delta for $962. And with a $250 voucher, I am happy!

We finally pulled the trigger at $1377 for RT in late May - mid-June (DFW-FCO). I saw so many fares in the $1600-$1900 range that what we paid seemed reasonable. We held out last year for our Greece trip and ended up paying over $1800... :(

I was listening to Clark Howard's take on buying overseas fares.
He said to wait as close as possible to your trip to book tkts.
I find that advice hard to follow....I would be a nervous wreck. :-(

It's a mugs game trying to get the best possible deal. My strategy is to keep a eye on fares for a good while, book when one pops up that you can live with, then forget about it. You can be fairly certain that there will be others on your flight who have paid more, as well as those who paid less, perhaps sitting in the seat beside you.

Maybe you can check flying in/out of London, then from London book your flight to Rome and just take a train or bus there from Edinburgh? There's so many cheap flights that leave from London airports. There's a bit of a hassle doing it this way, but if you do your research right, it does save money.

(My friend and I flew from Toronto-London, London-Venice, Rome-London, London-Toronto and it cost us - no joke - under $500 altogether including taxes)

under $500 each that is.
:)

Good information - thanks to all!!

Not sure if they fly where you are but I just received a "special" from AirBerlin & they had really great rates for spring travel....more along the line of $700 RT

New question: I have been checking several sites daily and have had good luck with the matrix.itasoftware website mentioned above. Most of the flights have ranged from $1,400 to $1,500 or higher, but today I ran across a deal for $1,198 on US Airways. I am ready to pull the trigger, but here is my dilemma: the return flight is 4 legs, and the second leg arrives in Philadelphia at 1:50 p.m. on a Thursday, with only a 1 hour, 35 minute layover before departing for Charlotte. Assuming we arrive in Philly on time, will this be adequate time for us to go through customs before heading to Charlotte? I have no idea what to expect.

laurafromtexas. US Airways might charge you about $35 to ticket you on the phone and they may be able to build you in a little more time.
But it might be worth it. I wouldn't want that short a time in PHL. That airport can be a disaster.
The problem is not that this amount of time wouldn't be adequate IF the flight arrives on time, the problem is that this airport is known for flight delays in and out.
Good luck.
On another note what time would the flight arrive in PHL and how many flights are there after that time to Charlotte that they could book you on. Would that be a concern? A possible delayed flight on the final leg?