I have spent countless hours on the net searching nearly every single travel site from Expedia to Orbitz and found the RT prices for airfare to Amsterdam from the US are prohibitive for travel in September.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with booking flights later in summer for fall travel and if the prices normally go on sale. Currently all the sales seem to be for spring/summer travel.

What have others experienced and would it be better to wait till summer to book hoping the prices will fall ?

Currently, fares for RT travel from my airport for spring/summer travel is $740. In the fall if I book ahead it is nearly a
$ 1,000.

Any else who has a few tricks or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks ahead of time.

You should keep looking. September fares are generally going to be less expensive than summer, once they come into "season". It just too early right now. Stay on it and be ready when your opportunity arrives, since these things can sometimes be fleeting. If I was guessing, I would say your best chance will after the Fourth of July -- but there is no way to truly anticipate such things with any degree of accuracy. (If you tell people what your "home airport" is, they can be more helpful in terms of knowing what would be a good fare. "From the U.S." is way too vague because a good fare from a regional airport in the west can look a lot different than a good fare from JFK.)

Chring,

I would visit the websites of the airlines that fly your route, daily.

If you see a good price on a flight you want, take it right away. It may not be there when you look again.

Keith

Flyboy:

Thanks for your response. The departing airport code is " TRI " ( Bristol TN ) or commonly refered to as Tri Cities Airport.

I have already set a "Deal Tracker" on Orbitz but have no idea how well it works.

What is amazing is that your booking way ahead like this, paying for your ticket, the airliners get to invest that money yet they charge more versus waiting till later to book it. Airlines drive me insane anyways with their pricing strategies. It seems to never make sense.

One other thing I have noticed is that these travel sites like Orbitz and Expedia seem to have " prefered " airlines as a search at one site will not show the same airline at another site.

Thanks for the input Flyboy.

Hi CH,

From where are you leaving.

I see flights for EWR/AMS in mid Sept for $545.

Airports like TRI will typically be $200-300 higher than bigger origination airports like ATL, CLT or Washington. It's more of a psychological savings than "real" money (depends on how many are traveling - - and how you value time versus money), but any chance you have family or friends in a bigger city that you could drive and go see, to use an alternative airport? Kills two birds with one stone, to see people that you don't get to see often enough, and maybe they can let you park your car free instead of airport parking.

Best wishes,

Rex

At many hub airports, there are hotels that cater to situations such as Rex describes by offering free parking if you stay over the night before your flight. They'll take care of your transportation to and from the airport with a complimentary shuttle.

Another fare montior service in addition to Orbitz is available through Travelocity's Fare Watcher. You can plug in up to five itineraries, so you could choose different origination airports such as TRI, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Knoxville, etc. You can decide, based on what you're willing to do.

There are times and carriers for which there may be no fare "punishment" for starting out at your home airport and other times when the difference can be quite significant. (I often use zone fare coupons where this is the case and even in head-to-head comparisons, a regional airport with several competing carriers can often produce better fares than you can pick up out of a "fortress hub" dominated by a single carrier.)

Chring, I figured Northwest was probably a good bet, as they have a hub here in Memphis and another in Amsterdam, with non-stops in between. Commuter flights between here and Bristol. In checking directly on their website, they're showing $840-ish for mid-Sept, mid-week flights. I'd guess those will drop some as summer progresses.

www.onetravel.com is showing the same dates at $760. They're being cagey about who the carrier is, but the flights are through Detroit to AMS, so I can pretty much guarantee that it's Northwest as well. It seems that different ticket/consolidator sites get different deals with different airlines. Orbitz has a lot of AA deals, Travelocity with Delta and I see NWA flights a lot on OneTravel.

Oh, the prices I was listing were from Bristol, not Memphis.

Hi ch,

At http://airtravelcenter.com/onetrav.htm
I found $750 for TRI/AMS through MEM in mid Sept.

Strongly agree with the "fortress hub" comments. Note that I did not list CVG as a choice for Chring for this reason. but you have to keep your eyes open for all new developments. Dirt cheap fares CVG-AMS in May (new route).

My experience with Travelocity's Fare Watcher is that it takes too long to send a notice. By the time it goes out, the fares is often (usually) gone.

Keith

I don't know if you have to travel in Sept. or if you can delay your trip to November. I have gone to Europe the last two Novembers and the price dropped basically in half. Weather won't be as nice as Sept. but it isn't that bad. The airlines like to extend their summer prices until 31 October.
Of course, you may find a great deal and save some money.

Enjoy your trip!

We are very flexible in our departure date. Actually anytime in August/September will work for us but we would like to leave on a Thursday or Friday and return on a Sunday ( two weeks later ) which will give us more time in Europe because of my wifes work schedule.

I did the scenario of flying from JFK, Laguardia, Newark, DC, etc. and while the fares are much cheaper, by the time we get a commuter flight there we have negated our savings.

It looks like I will roll the dice and wait till the airlines start offering fall sales during the summer months. Well let me correct myself, I will HOPE they run sales for travel this fall.

Thanks again everyone for all your input and advice.

Just one suggestion. If you could leave on Mon,Tue or Wed, it may save you few pennies. Thu is ok in many cases but sometimes not. Fri is a no-no. It will add a nice chunk to your fare. On the return try to avoid Sat and Sun. Again it's probably the busiest 2 days for leisure travelers, so the airlines hike the fares appropriately. If you don't have a choice, pick Sun as your return day.

I go to Europe every Fall and rarely find a good deal before July. My experience is to wait in/after July and good fares will start opening. Have a fun time in Amsterdam, I was there last fall and LOVED IT!