am i being unrealistic?
 

i have been searching incessantly for days now.. fares to athens for march leaving between 6-8, coming back between the 14-16. the absolute lowest thing i have found is about $680, and that's with arriving in laguardia and leaving from jfk (what a pain!). these seem high!<BR>i am flying out of dallas or houston, whichever happens to be cheaper.. (situated smackdab between the two).<BR>anyone have any suggestions?

I don't think that $680 is high for airfare to Athens, especially during the high season. That said, you might try connecting in London, instead of JFK, using BA, Virgin Atlantic (my choice!), or Olympic. Or look at a connect to some other city, such as Paris on Air France, or Frankfurt using Lufthansa. You might also try posting this message on the forum for Air Travel, for more information. Those people know their stuff!

March is not high season, but a &quot;good&quot; fare to Greece seems to be hard to find, regardless of the season. Back when BA flew out of PIT, we went from here (PIT) to LGW and then on to ATH, and that (both times) was the easiest and least expensive way to do it. Good luck; you'll have a great time once you get there!

Both of the suggestions from sandy are good. You might find more ideas on the cheap flights forum of www.eurotrip.com - - look for don there, the master guru of finding good air travel bargains.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

topping. for silvana.<BR>

thanks guys.<BR>i will take all these suggestions into account. <BR>airfrance has something for about $750.. it seems the ny thing was cheaper.. but i'm keeping an open mind.<BR>of course i would MUCH rather connect somewhere in europe than here in the states..!<BR><BR>wish me luck.

Check out flying to London and flying with easyjet to Athens (sometimes $80 round trip).

Silvana: Good advice above except for the possibility of considering Olympic Airlines! The absolute worst airline we have ever flown on. Indifferent crew, filthy bathrooms, shabby cabin, and a nightmare at JFK, where we boarded after changing gates three times.<BR><BR>I think $680 sounds like a pretty good fare!

Prices are high because you're looking too far ahead of time. Try about 45 days before your departure date.

I looked on hotwire.com and the cheapest fare that I came up with was $718 roundtrip so the New York &quot;thing&quot; looks like a good deal. However, I would pay the extra few dollars to avoid dealing with the shuttle from LGA to JFK. If frequent flyer miles are not important to you, then you may want to go to priceline.com and put in a bid at about 20% below the hotwire.com price that I found and see if you get lucky.<BR><BR>I would not wait until 45 days before as others may suggest. Lots of folks did that last spring because they just &quot;knew&quot; that airfares would come down in time for their summer plans and they never did.<BR><BR>

up<BR>

As I replied to this question on another thread - try your local travel agent. I found a fare for $475 not including tax for midweek travel (add $20 each way for the weekends) on Delta going Dallas - Jfk - Athens each way. No change of airport. It would come to about $575 with tax and you wouldn't have to switch airports.

Are you sure that you are coming back through Laguardia? That's an NYC airport that does not handle international flights. Your flight may be routed back through LGW, which would be London-Gatwick, but I doubt it goes through Laguardia.<BR><BR>

Dawn, I don't understand the problem with waiting. If you wait for the fares to come down, and they don't, then you pay the same anyway. I've been flying to Europe about 4 times a year since 1989, and last summer was the only time I hadn't seen fares drop as my dates got closer. And I didn't end paying anymore 30 days from my departure date than I would have 4 months ahead.

The other thing you can do is book your ticket now and then keep checking the prices. If the fares go down the airline will issue you a voucher for the difference (you have to call and ask for it). I did this on a recent trip to Costa Rica and got $500.00 in vouchers, and didn't have to worry about missing a good deal.