Ok this might be a dumb question, but I'm always hearing people talk about deals on flights from the US to Europe, but I'm having trouble finding any. I've been looking, and most flights are going to cost over $1500. Am I missing something here? Where is everyone finding these "cheap" flights?

Hello ab10, check out the new thread here with the title "PSA-time to get tickets to Paris". That thread will no doubt give you some ideas.

It also depends on your departure city and dates. You're more likely to find bargains if your travel dates are flexible. Sometimes an alternative departure city provides a good discount.

www.kayak.com
www.1800flyeurope.com

Booking far ahead sometimes gets you better fares. Being flexible helps too.

I assume you are looking at tourist class; most of us are.

Within the classes (tourist, business, first) I think most airlines offer a variety of prices. In general terms, a fully refundable ticket costs the most, but you can change the dates or even cancel the ticket and get your money back. In tourist, I have seen some fully refundable tickets that cost as much as five or six times what the least expensive tickets cost. At the other end of the spectrum are deep discount non refundable tickets. You can still change dates or even cancel these tickets, before the date of the flight, but they will charge you a hefty fee for that privilege, and instead of returning the balance of what you paid, they give you a voucher, good for buying another ticket on that airline, but often having a limited shelf life.

Also, prices vary with how far in advance you buy the tickets (a departure date purchase is quite expensive), and the season in which you will be flying (prices for the most popular seasons are higher), and often you can get a much better deal by moving your trip as little as a week (out of high season and into shoulder or low season). The length of your trip can affect the price. A two day trip not involving a weekend is generally more expensive than a one-week trip. A trip of less than a month generally costs a lot less than one of over a month.

All these generalizations reflect only my experience on a limited number of airlines; when I worked and traveled at my employer's expense, I didn't even know about these things; now that I travel on my own dime, I spend a lot more time looking into how I can get a better deal.

$1500 seems like a lot, but that depends on where you live; if you are flying out of a small airport with limited competition, you might consider using a larger airport with more competition. My home airport is Cleveland. I just bought nonrefundable discount tickets from Cleveland to Rome, and from Geneva to Cleveland, leaving in late April and coming back in late May (before the expensive summer season) and two seats, tax and everything included, cost $2084, which seems reasonable to me. The same airline, Continental, is having a business class sale where like tickets, but in limited availability and at a later date, cost about $2000 each; another good deal, but it didn't fit with my plans. When I was researching this purchase, I noted that, at least at this time, on this airline, it cost less to leave and return on weekends, but I don't think that is always the case. In fact, I spent too much time researching and waiting to find the date of the sale, and ended up paying more than if I had bought when I first started looking.

Looking for fares on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday can sometimes mean a difference in price. Also, check multiple ways; both through the various sites like Cheap Air Tickets and directly on the airline booking site. Sometimes the prices are better directly through the airline website, sometimes they're not. Finally you might try a bucket consolidator for airline tickets. They used to be the best way to go, but that's changed in recent years.

We've been flying regularly to Europe over the 7 years or so. Generally, we have been spending $1300 a ticket unless we opt to fly in the Fall or over Spring Break.

I don't know where you live, but we booked a trip from Denver to Amsterdam. We booked the trip on Orbitz in July for just under $700 a ticket. It is on US Airways with long connections in Philadelphia before the last leg of our flights.

We went spend the majority of our time in Germany, but it was cheaper to fly into Amsterdam.

You ask "Where is everyone finding these "cheap" flights?" Many places, many ways.

One way is to go to all the major airline websites and sign up for email notifications. Just an example - happens to be not for Europe but the principle is the same: Qantas ran a two-for-one special for only 48 hours - we booked, saved a cool USD2100 and got the exact days we wanted!

So your email box will fill up a bit, but clicking DELETE costs way less than missing out on short-lived and not widely advertised specials.

Also look at fares on Tuesday nights and Wednesday mornings, on the usual suspects like kayak and mobissimo etc., that's when often new batches of fares are being released (more so for domestic US flights, but sometimes for international also).

And if you can arrange your flights for Tue-Wed-Thu you often save again.

Also: Look often, have your ducks in a row so when you see an exceptional fare you don't have to hold a family council first and see the special disappear while you dither, but pounce and seal the deal!

http://www.atiflights.com




http://www.airfarestore.com




http://www.whentofly.com

When and where are you leaving from? If you are flying out of a small airport with limited service, then you may have to pay a premium. The cheapest flights are usually out of NYC or Boston. You will also usually get better pricing flying into the major European gateways (Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and especially London). Other places, Italy in particular, are usually more expensive.

It is also important when you are traveling. Given the $1500 number, I would assume this is for summer flights. Personally, I think there is plenty of time to wait for deals before summer rolls around. In my experience, flight prices tend to fluctuate up almost up until the date of departure. I would start getting nervous maybe 45 days out. Certainly, January, some 6 months out, is too early to be worrying.

The key, for me, is to have a good handle on what constitutes a "good" airfare and watch flights regularly until I see something that hits that spot. Without knowing your departure point, it is tough to know what a good price might be.