Kathy

Anyone know when the "cheap fares" begin in the fall of the year? I'd like to go in early September. Any recommended airlines, travel agents, web sites for purchasing tickets? Since I'm located in Kentucky, I'll have to make my way to the east coast for reasonalbe rates. Thanks.

Mel

You don't say where you're going or how you define "cheap," so my answer will be general. The windows for cheap fares keeps widening and you can't count on certain times of the year for being significantly less OR more, as used to be the rule. The closest I think you can come to counting on the cheapest fares is between Nov. 1 and February 28. Having said that, I have found the last few years that you can get East coast to London/Paris very reasonably through March, but they often aren't announced until January 1. As for your departure city, consider Cincinnati. Delta has a hub there. I live in Ohio and have found that getting to Newark, NJ can cost as much as my flight overseas, so I've been looking at Cincinnati, Chicago and Washington, D.C. because I can drive to Cincinnati (as can you, of course) and hops to Chicago and Washington have been running $79 RT lately. So you might consider driving to Chicago, Cincinnati or Columbus to make your connection. Everyone will offer differing views on whether to purchase via Web, TA or directly with the airlines. I've done all three and don't find significant differences.

Annette

Check out economytravel.com. Yesterday I bought a NWA Seattle-London, depart Sept 13 - return Sept-25, for $594.00. That includes all taxes, except for $8.00 shipping fee. Sometimes it is cheaper booking online, sometimes cheaper with their toll free number. It can vary $15.00 either way, so call to be sure. Some of their fares are better than others so it might not work for you. Last year I found that at the end of August, British Airways and Northwest had sales - others too, probably. Also check out www.eurotrip.com for their cheap flight forum. Don over there is really helpful, as are other forum contributors.

Annette

Kathy, in my haste to brag about MY fare, I forgot to add that those late summer fare sales will probably be starting for OCTOBER departures, usually, so I think you should start looking for September fares now. If you play around with the eurotrip.com cheap flights forum archive you will come up with a big old list of air fare consolidators you can call or contact on the web. Good luck!

Rex

I second Annette's opinion that Don, of http://www.eurotrip.com walks on water when it comes to finding unbelievable air travel deals. I found the best airfare deal of my entire life there - - now added to Don's "life top ten" - - $899 for business class, Detroit-Rome - - and what amazed me the most was being able to find six such seats on the dates we wanted. <BR> <BR>I am still in the learning process about consolidators, and may be using one for September travel. I'll report back here, if and when I do. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

zz-top

Kathy: <BR> <BR>I haven't tried this yet --- Peter Greenburg, a "travel guru" who's written a book & frequently appears on morning "Today" show gave this advice during a recent appearance on the Oprah show on how to get information from the airlines on the best airfares. <BR> <BR> <BR>Here it goes: <BR> <BR>You call the airline & use following script, " I want to go to _________, but before you ask me when I want to fly, could you please punch up every published fare on the ________ to ____________ route. I'll wait. <BR>Scroll down to the bottom of the list. Tell me what's on the bottom." <BR> <BR> ========== <BR>He explained that whenever you call the airlines, they always ask you where you want to go & when --- and by circumventing this questioning & requesting they pull up published fares (obviously the cheapest fares are listed last), then you’re able to find out deals that may exist & not be advertised. From my own personal experience it's virtually impossible to ask them to search for "sales" or better prices; so I’m certainly going to give this a try. And if I may also add my own suggestion, I’ve found it best to call airlines late at night (anytime after midnight) as the phone traffic is substantially less & the agents are more willing to “chat” with you. <BR>

Rex

In general, Travelocity does this now - - for a time range that can be one or several months in length. <BR> <BR>but consolidator tickets - - and weird, little known sales (as appear on the eurotrip website) may still not show up with either of these strategies. <BR>

Christina

I haven't flown in Sept for a few years, but the last time I did (east coast to Paris), the air fares dropped significantly about the second week in Sept. That year it was the day after Labor Day, but Labor Day was late, I think. So if you can be even a little bit flexible, check the latest date you can go. I just checked Air France's site as they had an ad for very good summer fares recently, and their lower season rates begin on Sept 4th, this year which is the day after Labor Day.

Ann

Fares usually drop around Sept. 15, but that can vary. Wait a little longer. Fares are still expensive now for fall, unless you come across a good sale.