Should We Book it or Wait? Suggestions from those more Experienced?
 

Hello,

We want to fly to Montenegro on August 26th, 2009 to return from Prague on October 10th, 2009

However, we are finding no love in booking a reasonable route.

The best option we've found is
Calgary directly to Frankfurt then home from Prague through Franfurt on October 10th, 2008.
= $1593 EACH in USD.

-we like the direct flight
-we feel ok about the airlines involved: Air Canada and Luftansa
-we like the arrival times

If we do this we will have to book a seperate flight to Dubrovnik or Montenegro. We will book it at least 24hrs away from our international arrival.

There are flights from Frankfurt to Podigorica, Montenegro for $202 on Jat Airways and $269 on Hungarian Air.

So this is our question....should we wait? It too far away just as expensive as waiting too long?

each of us would be paying $1800USD - that is steep, but last time to Europe we paid $1200 for a simple flight to Paris + home from Venice.

We have been using Kayak.com

Any suggestions at all would be of great benefit. This part of the trip is always the most frightening...we don't want to sacrifice time just to save some bucks...but on the other hand flights are expensive and we are on a tight budget.

Thanks! Naxos

I curiously took a peek at your post because the heading was a bit vague to say the least - but so glad I did.
I am now aware that I can fly to Canada via Frankfurt in 2010 - something I never knew before, so I thank you for posting!

I assume you have cross-checked this trip using something like www.itasoftware.com and choosing the "month-long" view for price comparisons..if not you might want to do so.

I wish I KNEW somebody who could tell you about airline fare prices. Even the more notorious posters here who routinely told people about what happened "last year" have figured out that isn't a reliable predictor.

HI NT,

It is still early to see bargains for Aug/Oct.

As Dukey says, we can't tell you what will happen to airfares.

They could decide to lower prices and fill up the planes, or they could decide to cut back service and raise prices.

((I))

PS,

Have you looked at www.whichbudget.com for intraEuropean flights?

Thanks for your responses. I know it is so hard to know if prices will improve or get worse! I will definately check out all the sites you mentioned.

I found a slightly better option flying in and out of Vienna ($1200) but the connections aren't fabulous and really we'll still have to drop 200-300 more to get to Montenegro or Dubrovnik anyway.

Slim picken's for choices at the moment. I think we'll sit tight for a bit.

Thanks again,
Naxos

I would concur with Ira above -- go to Whichbudget.com and play around with their easy-to-use point-to-point flight tools. Best website to postulate the what-ifs, period.

My 2 cents !
All airfares are about supply/demand. The airlines react when they see poor bookings 120 days in advance. I would not buy until then, or at the earliest 6 months out.

Another factor to consider is what will happen to the C$ against the US$. That is a total guess. My bet would be a C$ at 0.75 in which case your flight is going to be even more costly in 4 months.