Rather than try to make my point, I'll just take yours. Wait and see if it doesn't improve.

You've made your point but none of us has a magic wand to wave and make things better.

I've tried to come up with some constructive suggestions. Whether we take one trip a year or six; we're all in the same boat or more likely on the same plane.

So, I am at a loss for what else you want to hear.

Julie, Here is what we did one year not too long after retirement---it was 1999 and we were celebrating our 40th. Like you, I try hard to plan several trips in advance. So, as I was brainstorming on my yellow pad I kept dropping gems to my wife about future 2 week trips---ones is Spain, Veneto, Austria, and Prague. She stopped and looked at me and said "why is that 4 trips--why not one trip?". Well, you know what happened. We spent 8 weeks starting in Madrid and ending in Munich with a leased car from Peuguot. And, we got one set of airline tickets on Delta using FF points. We started in late March and ended in May and followed the spring flowers across half of Europe. We still call it " THE BIG ONE" and have fond memories.

Hi Julie,
We try to travel to Europe twice per year and I certainly feel your pain. We used to use American Airlines exclusively because one of us had Platinum FF status. But using AA finally just got too frustrating and we have booked our next 2 trips on Lufthansa.

AA is losing market in Denver and has taken to canceling flights that aren't full enough... they call and tell you the night before and you are left scrambling to get on another flight stand-by. The delays (the ones not weather-related or repair-related) became all too frequent as well... since we usually connect in either FRA or LHR, we often missed the connection and had to scramble yet again.

Speaking of connections... we were consistently ending up with either 45 minutes (too little time) to make a connection or we were stuck with an 8+ hour layover that was often overnight (too much time).

The AA fares are only $100 to $200 cheaper than Lufthansa's fares, so we finally just decided the constant headache of using AA was no longer worth it to us. Lufthansa has much better on-time records, better schedules, and I fail to see how the service could be worse than AA.

Hi Julie,

following on from what Bob said, but not taking things quite that far, rather than a 11 hour lay-over in AMS, why not stretch it to 2-3 days? then carry on to your final destination.

ditto on the way home.

there are worse places than amsterdam to spend a few days recovering from jetlag!

regards, ann

Feeling yelled at Julie?

Maybe the airlines would be happier without all the bargain seekers and are doing this on purpose. Semi-joke

What about domestic travel for a while?

As a 62 y.o., I can empathize about layovers-we always try to go non-stop. We also book about 6 months in advance-to get better rates. It's stressful and exhausting enough to travel without jumping through so many hoops!

Keep at it!

Another thought:

Since airfares seem to be the most competitive out of NYC, have you tried to price NYC-CDG?

If you can find something for like $1000pp, you can use your DH's FF for 2 free tickets for FLL-NYC.

And since you'll be saving $600pp on airfare to Europe, you can use those extra $1200 for several days of hotel in NYC as a bonus stop.

It is simply too early to start booking (or even looking) for flights for next summer. The only people that will be buying this far out are nervous nellies that will pay a premium to have something locked down.

Your best deals are likely to be found sometime after January 1. I usually buy between 4 and 1 months out, and rarely pay more than $800 for a straight round-trip across the Atlantic. Even a multi-stop or open-jaw rarely runs much over $1000.

Now we're cookin'. thanks so much for the helpful suggestions.

A continuing problem is that DH is even more spoiled than I. Likes trips of 7 to 14 days rather than long ones, doesn't like one or even two night stays, etc. etc. but he, like me, is just going to have to be more flexible, that's for sure. and I'm probably going to have to learn to like train travel regardless of the stinky toilets.

But here's what I take away from these recent, helpful posts.

Combine several trip ideas for one longer trip. I love that. Just have to nudge DH into it.

Give up our allegiance to NWA (hard to do since we still have World club privileges until 2012, but hey, life is cruel) (Texas Aggie--lucky you for getting to switch to Lufthansa. We were rebooked on them when a recent KLM flight from Frankfurt to CDG got cancelled on us. Efficiency plus)

Overnight or do a couple of days in hub cities rather than put up with long waits between planes.

Fly out of NYC--this one is particularly good for us and would work great. We've been thinking to get in a trip to MSP to see our grandkids before taking off for Europe, but we also have a son in NYC who doesn't mind having us drop by from time to time. this would work swell. I'll just shift my paradigm (as we used to continuously say when I worked) from MSP to JFK.

Quit being a nervous Nellie and wait until January to look for summer flights. Thanks especially for the 4 to 1 month out guideline. It's something I can work with to keep my anxiety at bay on all of this.

Truly. Thank you all. this has been most cathartic--and very useful.

Oh, BTW, when I perused my e-mail messages this morning, what should appear but one from NWA offering 30% reductions on some flights between Nov. and March. I got all cranked and started checking only to find that almost everything I wanted was unavailable or cheaper without the offer. I'll keep on keeping on but I doubt that I'll find the silver bullet. C'est la Vie! See how mellow, you've made me. Thanks again.

It would be completely silly to do a 22 hour layover in Detroit. There has to be fifteen flights a day between FLL and Detroit. They may not be on NWA or partners, but they are cheap.

This is what I would do. Take the NWA flight from Detroit to Europe and then use Spirit or another low coster to get to Detroit for maybe a 5 hour layover. The NWA terminal in Detroit is beautiful and 5 hours there wouldn't kill you.

I too was going to recommend looking at flights from NYC. Usually the flights can be significantly cheaper, and most airfare sales seem to originate in NYC.

We are going to Turkey in February and oddly enough flights from CLT to IST were cheaper than flights from CLT to CDG or LHR/LGW. Sometimes it does pay to also look at other flights to Europe and then finding a low cost flight. For Charlotte, our cheapest flights are usually to Munich and Frankfurt so I'll be looking at flying into one of those cities in the future and then checking budget airfares from there.

I too feel your pain. We have traveled to Europe twice a year for the last 3-4 years but this is the first year we've had to cut it back to one. The flights are just too expensive, and we have FF miles with AA but now live in CLT which is dominated by US Air so we aren't earning the miles as fast as we used to. Our Turkey trip may be our last overseas trip for a little while.

Good luck!
Tracy

I wouldn't give up on NWA just yet. You have a lot of options with Skyteam carriers, which will earn you miles and status much as if you are flying on NWA. Just be careful which fare code you are on when flying KLM or Air France, as some fares don't earn mileage. As a point of reference, both my wife and I are Platinum with Delta, but usually fly Northwest for international flights.

In particular, Delta gives you a ton of one-stop options out of FLL (or PBI, connecting in ATL), flying via either JFK or Atlanta. Air France out of MIA is another option, but I would prefer flying out of FLL and stopping in ATL if I were going anywhere other than Paris.

Heck, your WorldClubs membership will get you into the Delta Clubs, so you are all set there. I am not sure what will happen with your membership after the merger, but if it gets you into any club, it will work for Delta.

Julie - I live in Fort Lauderdale too. Why not fly out of Miami? More flights, less money.

My suggestions would be:
1) take less trips and stay longer each time, and 2) break away from your airline loyalty and price any & everyone flying the route.

You say you're spoiled and don't want to do these things... but in the same breath saying Europe may be too expensive and you won't be able to go at all.

My two changes to your approach hardly seem a huge hardship!

I'm glad to read the posts that are confirming my opinion that it's early to be seriously looking (or buying) fares for next summer.

I'm joining my parents on a Baltic cruise next July. Right now fares to London from my city are about $1800. I've opted to wait and see what happens with the fares over the next couple of months.

My mother, however, is harassing me about not booking my flights yet. Apparently her travel agent has got her convinced that I'll be sorry for not booking now. Yes, I know - my mom still thinks I'm 10.

"Likes trips of 7 to 14 days rather than long ones" - well, everyone had different tastes, but if I'm going to get to the airport way early, put up with all the added security, and then spend 6-8 hours stuck in sardine class with inedible food I want more time than that at the other end to compensate! (I'm retired too, so have reached the more time than money stage.)

Tracy - have you considered flying out of RDU instead of CLT? AA still has a daily direct flight to London from RDU.

thursdaysd, thanks for the tip! I actually flew out of RDU in April when we used AA miles to fly to Germany. I have looked at flights from RDU to London in the past and they were pretty pricy, but I'm sure they have sales from time to time so I'm keeping an eye out.

I'd drive to Atlanta for a good enough deal as well, although I have yet to find anything low enough to save me any significant amount of money.

Thanks!
Tracy

Tracey - yes, that flight can indeed be pricey (I'm trying not to think about what it's costing me for my flight to London on Monday!) but otherwise I need a connecting flight. That often adds up to the same price in the end, with much more hassle, the chance of missing the connection, and a greater possibility of losing baggage. I fly into London, spend a night or two recovering from jet lag (and, often, connecting with family) and then take a cheap flight onwards.

Julie,

Have you considered trimming the European jaunts and instead, go to South America? You're based in Florida, and have the advantage of reasonably priced flights to Buenos Aires, Lima, Cusco, Quito, etc. Argentina, Peru & Ecuador are much less expensive .... okay, yes, I know it's a totally different experience than London/Paris/Rome, but a great time can be had in South America and at a substantially lower price.

Again, so many swell suggestions.

travelgourmet and virginiamatic--I often check MIA as well as FLL and find similar and sometimes even higher prices out of MIA but in the past we have taken Alitalia (wouldn't chance that now) and Air France out of MIA but I've not looked at PBI. I'll do that hereafter.

Tess--I've been trying to get DH to consider So. America. I understand that Buenos Aires is quite "European" so that's my starter option.

tcreath--enjoy your trip to Turkey. We have been to Istanbul 3 times and love it. Happy to provide recommendations for hotels, restaurants, sights, etc.