shaya

We would like to do some traveling over Thanksgiving weekend to Europe. We both have the time off already.
My question is should we wait until the last minute and try for the "e-saver" rates (that up to now I have been too chicken to pursue)?
I know there are fabulous deals every weekend and I imagine most people would want to have holiday plans hammered out in advance. So does it follow that there should be great last minute deals?
Or are we risking missing a trip because, at the last minute, everything is booked up?

janis

Normally, winter weekends are good last minute trips. But not Thanksgiving. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days for Americans (both domestic and international) so there will likely be few bargains for that weekend unless you book ASAP.

mek17

I would agree with janis about Thanksgiving not being good for last minute deals. British Airways is currently offering a sale through 10/2/03 - I don't know where you are travelling from, but fares start at $99 each way to London from New York + tax (about $90-100). I scored tickets on BA from DFW-London for Thanksgiving week during a sale back in February for this price (total was $290 including all fee & taxes). Also, I know American was offering some great fares from Dallas to London recently ($308 + tax I think) so you may want to check them out. I would go ahead and book soon though, and with the holiday I doubt you will see anything cheaper last minute. Good luck!

BritishMusicFan

Shaya,

You can get some great deals to England over Thanksgiving. We were able to get a round-trip airfare to London from Minneapolis that left Thanksgiving day (I can't recall when you had to return) for $375 including all taxes and fees. This was on Northwest Airlines.

I know Icelandair, for example, had the dates from Thanksgiving through the 2nd of November of last year as blackout dates.

This year, I'm going to Scotland/England on Northwest and am going just before Thanksgiving for a good rate as well.

You can get tickets to London over Thanksgiving, but you'll probably see those pop up later this month.

Intrepid

I'm not surprised that someone got a good deal traveling ON Thanksgiving Day since, like Dec 25, most people don't want to travel on that day. I think if you are willing to return on a day other than the Sunday after Thanksgiving or even perhaps the Monday you might get better fares. The Thanksgiving period is traditionally the BUSIEST period for the airlines all year long so there is little incentive to offer any "deals" unfoertunately.