Yup, got the same thing in 2006 for June tickets from Miami to Ireland - one day sale on Travelocity for Virgin non-stop to London for $580, then an Aer Lingus flight for $80. (all including taxes). The $800 deal mentioned above was for this June, and I'm very pleased!

However, I had been looking at fares since last June, at least once a week, and then every day since January. I ended up finding it because of an automatic fare lookup service at Farecompare.com.

Dawnnoelm, $1100 does seem steep for Dec 2009. Maybe you should wait because that is low season and fares should go down some between now and then. I can see that for summer but not for December unless you are going for Christmas.

Rebecca,

What I've found with airfare is that is is almost always possible to get a good deal, regardless of the time of year, if you are willing to put time into it - sometimes a *lot* of time.

And there's the rub. Is it worth 40 hours of your time searching the internet to save $2-300 on tickets? Is it worth $2-$300 in savings to maybe drive a couple of hours to a different departure airport?

Only you can make those decisions If you are willing to spend that type of time, there are lots of methods you can use to decrease what you pay. I'm one of those types of people and will spend countless hours looking for good fares (for both air and hotel). Not so much to save a few bucks, but because I really enjoy the "thrill" of getting a good travel deal.

However, if you are like many, your time is more important to you than a couple of hundred bucks. In that case, just buy the tickets

Kevin

agilepagile:

I believe dawnnoelm and her family are going Chritmas week <b>2008</b>, and she's coming from the West Coast.

RebeccaM:

We've always vacationed in Europe during the summer (very little choice when you have children), varying from early June to Late June and I have seen fares really go up especially the last year or so. $1000++ is not unreasonable unless you are flying from the East Coast to London.

JoyC, You are correct. I actually meant 2008. She said this coming December. No where did she say for Chritmas. I thought she meant December, which I believe is still low season. I live on the West Coast and believe $1100 in December is a terrible deal.

Rebecca~ Obviously every one has to make their own call on this, but for myself, I'm skipping Europe this summer. I was invited to Switzerland (friend lives there) but between the high airfare, exchange rates, and costs in Switzerland, I just don't feel like spending that much for a week. I can take 2 vacations for that price by going to Mexico or Hawaii instead.

My advice, book as early as possible in advance! I bought my europe tickets in October for my trip this May. I paid 1700 for two roundtrip to London. I was shocked at first too, at how high airfair was, but it unfortunatly looks like this is to be the norm.

Thank you, everyone! Your replies have given me a reality check. Of course today the fare went up again, after going down yesterday. We'll keep looking and book soon. We have to come back from Hanover because of plans we have there. Will keep you posted. Thanks again.

I was sort of locked into certain days and flights because of a situation with Orbitz and Airfrance. I thought it was a lot too - I watched the fare climb hundrds of dollars - and like others I played with it and it would change in a matter of hours!

I could not take the chance that he would not get on our flight with us so I went for it.

Yes, we are traveling December 22 - Jan. 2. 2008 and people here have been FABULOUS about helping me figure our mess of a trip out!

oh and yes, LAX is our departure airport.

wow, I have never paid more than $700 for RT airfare from Charlotte or Atlanta (both are within equal driving distance for me) to any location in Europe. However, my flights are always for May, which is a GREAT time to tour Europe. Do you ever check vayama.com? I got RT tickets from Atlanta to London and then Dublin to Atlanta for $610.00 grand total this year. I usually buy 4 months in advance.

If only it was so cheap for us Australians we have to pay double that !

Like a previous poster, those of us 'Downunder' are envious of you all up there! Here in NZ the best return flights are equivalent of 1250Euros return (ie NZ$2500).After 20 odd years my husband and I are returning for a european holiday and have been lurking around this site for months. Many, many thanks for all you 'frequent' travellers with your valuable tips (esp.Stu Dudley!. We're so lucky to be able to travel!

If you are stopping in Amsterdam, consider getting to Europe on KLM/Northwest. They'll let you stop in Amsterdam (on one leg only) for free.

Also as a word of general advice: People should keep in mind that Europe is VERY compact compared to North America. That being the case, if you are headed to a city like Hanover, which doesn't really have a wealth of international arrivals, and finding tickets expensive, consider flying to a nearby hub city and taking the train. Flying from Vancouver BC to Hanover is pretty expensive, but flights to Frankfurt or Dusseldorf can be among the cheapest on the continent.

Another solution can be to get the ticket return ticket to London if makes sense and rest to work with EasyJet, Ryanair etc.

Last year while everyone flies for about 80-200 Euro range a last minute ticket from Turkey cost me 400 Euros return to Greece....

From Istanbul to Athens is 55 min. From Cappadocia to Istanbul flight is 1 hour 15 min. Today I can fly both destination almost for same fare. So I do not think only reason is fuel prices but international landing -takeoff taxes counts as well.

Happy Travelling,

Murat

Our trip is in about two months.
About two months months ago, I registered with [email protected]. I get e-mails from faretracker every day.

This is for Atlanta to Malpensa.
The basic cost of $1,200 to $1,300 has stayed pretty constant for the recent sixty days (it peaked at $1,500 and bottomed at $1,000 - this $1,000 was available very briefly). What has changed is the number of stops. 60 days ago, the low price was a multi legged, 24 hour flight Atl to Chi to Mxp. Then, Delta's non-stop Atl to Mxp flight was the low-price leader for a couple of weeks.

However, we booked with a consolidator a week or two ago, one stop, thru Phil, US Airways for less than $900 per person, all-in.

So faretracker from sidestep is neat and might be helpful, but it's no substititute for a little work.

And now (April 10th)the non-stop fare is available for $882 all-in.
It seems to be bookable where as previously, I had not moved fast enough to actually get the bargain fares.
Delta and Alitalia code share the flight and very similar pricing.

Last Friday I called United about the new fare IAD-AMS being $281.61
less than what we paid for an April 22 departure. The wonderful rep took all the information and told me the travel vouchers, good for one year, would sent out within thirteen working days.

They came in todays mail. I'm impressed.

i'm looking at fares from ord to cdg and am getting about $1250 pp., non stop to paris, 1 stop on the return. it's been the same price now for almost a week... i have flights holding but continuing to check until i have to book. it's probably as good as it's going to get.

OK, so after a lot of back and forth, including deciding *not* to go this year and, instead, go to Vieques, we ended up deciding to go to Europe after all! We got flights on Continental for $1120 each, to Amsterdam and returning from Hamburg instead of Hanover. In the end, we said to ourselves, &quot;if not now, when?&quot; Finding affordable hotels has been another challenge, but I think it's all working out in the end (if the exchange rate behaves). So thanks for the encouragement and great advice. We're excited!