Jim

My wife and I will be flying from Florida into Vienna mid-June, and back home out of Zurich in mid-July. I've been studying prices for about a month and the best I can find is $1100 (and that's the over-62 rate) on Continental. British Air and United are $1300-1400. I suppose the fact that it's an "open-jaw" rather than a round trip makes it higher (but only about a $100 which won't buy a train ticket back to Vienna). A couple agents told me that most airlines had removed flights and had their planes sitting in the desert since traffic is down (and probably so rates can be higher with the reduced capacity). <BR> Anyway, the "low-priced" seats are filling up and I think I need to make a purchase since June/July are heavy travel months, but it just seems like these are way to high; I'm used to paying $600-700 for this type of ticket. Does anyone have any advice or information that I should consider? I've looked at Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity and called the airlines directly (so far calling the airlines directly has resulted in the lowest prices). Thanks for any help you can provide.<BR> Jim

Simone

What is going on with ticket prices? My June trip to London booked last month costs the usual $800 (from the midwest) and in September costs $1300!!Does anyone have a clue as to why?

Wilma

try www.travelteam.com. Miami to Vienna June 12-July 12 came up at $646.

Colleen

Try AirlineConsolidator.com. I booked a direct flight from Boston to Milan in September for $762 all inclusive. Bestfares.com also has good prices but you need to be a member to use their services. You might also try a general search of airline consolidators to see what you come up with. Good Luck!

Vita

I just booked a ticket to London inMay with flights.com, another consolidator. It's the first time I've used a consolidator, but it seems that others on this forum have used them with good results.

jason

Seems rather high even for a summer month. Maybe because your open-jaws cities are not the most popular gateways on the continent. Have you looked into flying in and out of Munich? It's centrally located between the two cities. You're flying out of Florida, too bad Lauda Air phased-out their Miami-Munich Route, got it for $400 last spring.

Anna

I've had good luck with www.onetravel.com which is another consolidator site.

Jim

Thanks for all the helpful responses. Wow, I didn't know there were so many consolidators. I've tried to follow up on your suggestions. The price I have now from Continental is $1091. Here's what I have found out so far.<BR> - Jason: the best Munich round price that I found is $1098<BR>- Colleen: AirlineConsolidator showed a $1032 price, but I need to call them to get flight details<BR>- Vita: flights.com shows an Iberia flight at $935 plus taxes and an Austrian Airlines flight at $988 plus taxes (how much are those? need to call them for details). <BR>- Wilma travelteam says to call them; need to wait until tomorrow<BR>- Anna: I just saw you post about onetravel, will try them<BR><BR>So far it looks like the price is between $1030-$1090 which seems high. I realize the risk is that as soon as I buy a ticket the prices will go down, or with my luck they'll go up if I don't buy now. I guess that's the air-travel world we live in right now.<BR> Thanks for all your help. Jim

Jim Rosenberg

Those prices do look a BIT on the high side, but perhaps only by $100-$150 per person for high season and open jaws ON A PREFERRED CARRIER. By a preferred carrier, I mean one on which you would earn miles and status that are useful to you. If you have to make compromises such as a consolidator, no miles, etc., then it is probably too high by as much as $300 or more. A couple of things I would suggest, in addition to the excellent advice the others have already given:<BR><BR>-- You say you are flying "from Florida". Are you flying from the very best and most competitive international gateway available to you? We recently helped a Minneapolis traveler who was coming up with high fares like yours by nesting a cheap roundtrip to Chicago O'Hare around a low-rate international fare that was available from that highly competitive gateway. Can you find great fares out of other airports -- say, even Atlanta, for example and then do the same thing?<BR><BR>-- Your summer fare probably isn't truly "in season" for the very best fares yet. That said, you are correct in the observation that you run the risk of it going even higher and IF a sale does surface, the cheaps seats are going to be sucked up very quickly. In working with your travel agent, can you arrange for a fare drop to be paid to you in the form of a credit voucher from the airline? You can use the technique of simply re-booking at the lower fare (if seats in the same class you purchased are available) and paying the change fee. That would protect all but $100 per person against steep drops, if it can be done. <BR><BR>-- Is it possible that you can book some land arrangements that would be useful to you in order to access lower fares through an airline-affiated tour packager?<BR><BR>-- Are you being rigid with dates/days of the week for your trip? A little flexibility can go a long way, in some cases. Staying 31 days instead of 29 can even have an impact, with some fare rules. Be sure you are giving yourself the very best opportunity for the best fare by being willing to compromise around the edges, if you can.<BR><BR>I must tell you that although there have been some deals around that I'm using this spring, they were purchased in November. The airlines seem to be doing a little better at holding their fares up this spring, in many instances. The occasional dirt-cheap fares that show up seem to go very quickly and if nothing shakes up air travel over the next several months to dampen demand, I'm not sure that we can be very optimistic about significantly lower fares going forward. I hope I'm wrong about that!<BR><BR>Good luck and Happy Contrails!<BR><BR>

Jim

Jim, that was really a helpful response. In Florida, the Jacksonville airport is the most convenient for me, but I have mainly been looking at Orlando and Miami (although parking at those airports will be around $200, whereas we can get a ride to/from Jacksonville). Also, I really do want to use a "preferred airline" and I like a minimum number of intermediate stops, and I must admit that I am more comfortable on Boeing aircraft - all of which makes me a bit uncomfortable with consolidators where I may not have as much choice. I have checked fares from Washington DC and Chicago also, as we would consider driving to either of those locations to visit friends/relatives, but surprisingly the fares were not much different. As you suggested I need to check Atlanta also (but again I would have parking expenses that might make up for any lower fare). I like your ideas about looking at all flexibility options and also the possibility of re-booking and paying the change fee if prices drop later on; that's a bit of a "safety valve", but as you point out (and I hadn't thought of), any future lower priced seats might likely get purchased before I even find out about them. <BR> Thanks again for your post. I'll make good use of the information.<BR> Jim

Betsy

Jim, if you end up leaving from Orlando or Miami, phone an airport hotel and ask about their parking fees. Sometimes if you stay there overnight prior to your trip, they'll let you park there for free or for a small fee while you're on your trip. At least this is true of some of the hotels around SFO.