elaine

Hi
Just idly wondering if there are any good deals out there. I'm thinking about wanting a 4 day trip, perhaps first week in January, give or take a few days. I looked at air fares for, for example, NYC to AMS, and it's $570. Has anyone noticed any bargains for flights to major European cities at that time?
I've already looked into using frequent flyer miles, that's apparently hopeless.

sandi_travelnut

what cities are you interested in?

elaine

Lon, Par, Ams and
Edinburgh are what come to mind

111op

In the past I usually look about a month or two before.

111op

Did you try London and see what you get for the prices?

I try not to pay over $500 for the low season.

elaine

111OP, you are a jaunt expert
I agree, I'd like to keep the air portion well under $500, under $400 if I can
Maybe I'll wait to see short-notice bargains

Betsy

Have you bookmarked Travelocity's Dream Maps? I'm not sure if you can obtain info for future dates though.

http://dps1.travelocity.com:80/dream...e=dreamMap.pgd

elaine

good idea Betsy, thanks

elaine

I'm afraid this will sound lame, but the url for Dream Maps that Betsy kindly provided doesn't work for me, as the departure city is Dallas. I can't get it to change to a different departure city, I've tried Refreshing, and I've been all over the Travelocity website and get myself fresh into Dream Maps so I can start over and make the search my own. I must say that Travelocity hides the Dream Maps feature very well.
Patience and help appreciated.

111op

Well, I wouldn't dare admit to be an expert, but I usually look at tickets fairly late.

I'm on the mailing list for Travelzoo, so I do look at the specials loosely. But usually I just buy my tickets on Orbitz (or at least check there and buy directly from the airlines).

I think that your schedule is probably more flexible than mine. I must always leave on Friday after work and come back on Monday, so that usually pushes my airfares up.

I think that I paid about $400 for my tickets in January and February this year (the first to Paris and the second for a Brussels/Paris open-jaw).

But who knows what tickets for next year will look like?

elaine

I did find what I thought was the Dream Maps home page, it's part of the Travel Info Center menu, but no matter what I do, the departure city remains Dallas.

sandi_travelnut

I know a lot of travel sites have fare watchers....I'm trying to remember which ones I used. Anyway, put in your proposed itinerary and your fare limit and it will send you a notice when that fare becomes available.

mclaurie

Elaine, you should be able to manually change the departure city on travelocity dream map from Dallas to anything you choose. That said, I don't think it will help you for future dates. It will give you current prices.

Websites to check (that I've gotten as recos here) are

mobissimo.com
http://airtravelcenter.com/onetrav.htm
http://www.itasoftware.com/

There's a link on travelzoo for a sale on a site called faremax.com that has a fare on Virgin to London from JFK of $238.00 including taxes and service fees it's $453.45. (This was for 1/2-1/9) You might do a bit better on the Virgin website.

I think BA and others usually have fare sales that are announced early fall.

elaine

Nope, maybe it's a glitch just today, or maybe my computer is fixated on a cookie (though I've Refreshed several times) but I can't get Dream Map to change departure cities.

thanks for the other suggestions, I'll check kayak.com as well but it may be too early

mclaurie

It must be your computer Elaine. I go to
travelocity.com/dreammaps

Then I change Dallas to New York City (by deleting Dallas and typing in New York City in it's place) I then click update map. Then select western Europe and prices for different cities appear.

You can select future dates but I find that most of the lowest fares are not available. For example the lowest fare appears to be $203 to London via Alitalia but that price isn't available the first 2 wks in Jan.

TexasAggie

Hi elaine,

I got roundtrip Denver-Frankfurt last February for under $400. I know these aren't your departure or destination cities so I mention it only to say that I think you should be able to find comparable airfare flying from New York...

We found our airfare deal in mid-October I believe. I'd keep looking for another several weeks.

Best of luck! We very much enjoyed our 4 night jaunt!

elaine

mclaurie, I still couldn't get it to change to NYC as a departure, until I finally saw the "Update" button,which locked it in, duh.
thanks

Betsy

Oh whew, Elaine! Just logged on to find you were in deep yogurt re the Dream Maps. So glad you were able to figure it out. Let us know if you find a good fare by using the map. I have it bookmarked but haven't used it yet.

stardust

Hi Elaine!

Check out the great deals Aer Lingus has from NYC to Dublin!
www.flyaerlingus.com

From Dublin you can get cheaply to the rest of Europe with Aer Lingus or Ryanair.

elaine

Dublin is a great suggestion, but there's a possibility I might do an Ireland trip within a year or two, so I might wait on that destination.
thanks