jrecm

Okay okay okay do not bad mouth me, I know this is an European Board, and we are going in May to Europe....but when we tried to purchase tickets to Hawaii in August they changed twice before our eyes online!!! Europe=miles for airfare Hawaii=expensive tickets even though they are on sale at the moment for a certain time period.

When we decided to go to Europe it was very very stressful to book our tickets as cost/miles certainly entered into our final decision.

Aramis

If you have any kind of flexibility, you should be able to find fares under $1000 from N America to major European cities. It takes WORK to research multiple sites over a period of times. The more research you do, the more you learn about pricing, windows in advance in which to buy, etc.. I have never paid more than $950 to travel, even in summer but I don't often travel in the summer, and almost always book an open jaw or 3 leg trip.

Currently I have Toronto - Hamburg, Berlin - Toronto trip in late June, for $868, and an October Toronto -> Vienna -> Krakow -> Toronto, a 3 legger booked for $836. Until this year I hardly ever went over $800

Managed a Toronto - Toulouse, Madrid - Toronto open jaw a few years ago for $695. That was sweet.

If you need to travel from St. Louis to Paris in the second week of July, you have to take what you can get.

It is worthwhile considering alternative airports. A lot of people do not realize how close many major European airports are to each other. A 2-3 hour train ride after landing, often on a train that leaves from the airport can have you where you want to be, and save hundreds of dollars per person. If you were going to visit that final city anyway, you have created your own open jaw.

Aramis

Oh, and nothing but financial ruin will affect my travel to Europe. I am anticipating fares of over $2,000 by the time I retire, and that will simply have to be amortized over fewer trips (G*A*S*P) with longer stays. That will allow us to use more long term accommodation and offset the increased airfare.