Hi all, doing some hunting online and Where and When says that I should expect an average fare of $972 and maybe $833 if I look 6-7 mos out (Dec/Jan). Just wondering if anyone knows from experience 1. Is this accurate as to when I would get the lowest airfare for a June flight from LAX - BCN (i.e. start looking in Dec) and 2. What is a 'good' price/deal for that itinerary/time frame? TIA!

$833 seems like a decent price these days, particularly from the west coast. I've currently got 3 trips to Europe booked for 2024 (from the east coast) and here's what I paid: Nonstop Newark to Dublin in February, $360, Boston to Frankfurt/Berlin to Boston via Iceland in April, $875 and Boston to Bari/Naples to Boston in July/August, $911. All of those fares, to me, seemed like fair prices, considering when I'm traveling and the fact that two of the trips are not straight up roundtrip flights. My method of sussing our fares involves searching on multiple sites (cheapoair, expedia, etc) and looking at different options for departure (I'm lucky and can access NYC/Newark, Boston, Hartford and even Montreal) cities. I've also, on occasion, set up alerts in Google flights for fares to places I want to go. Lastly, I always book on the airline's site rather than through a travel site. If there's a problem, I want to deal directly with the airline.

Basically, do your research and when you see a fare/flights that seem reasonable to you, jump.

YOu can get that fare right now if you want (on Air France). It's all a matter of how many connections, how long a layover and what class you book, that's all. The only way to get that cheap a flight may be to book the cheapest economy class which may not included checking a bag, maybe had along layover at least one day,. and is some less desired day of the week. It's just a matter of what is important to you for how much. Also, search websites may show you the cheapest day, for example, going June 4th on AF is cheaper than other days that week.

Just go on an airfare website and see what it is now with the options and routes/airlines you will acceptand you'll get an idea what is good and what is normal, etc. I use skyscanner.com just to get an idea.

Thanks all. I guess in my fantasy world I thought I might be able to get a fare for $600 or less, but I guess at that time of year, for this route, that's not ever going to be a reality. I know how to research a fare for/at any given point in time--what I wasn't sure of was how to determine if I might get a better fare if I waited. Or if I'd already passed the window for lowest fares for my travel dates, does that make sense? The reason being, I have the Merril+ credit card that gets me tix for 25K point if the fares are $500 or less. The more I go over that price point, the more devalued the points become and it makes using them less worthwhile. But then, I also don't want to shell out $1K a pop for a family of four, so then I'm up a creek.

Thanks for these insights, they are helpful. I jut didn't realize that $800-900 was gonna be "cheap"

Sorry to say there is no 'window' for best airfares. The algorithms the airlines use to set pricing are a lot smarter than we are. Just about the only time when one is almost guaranteed to pay too much is right when the schedule opens about a year in advance give or take depending on the airline. That far ahead the airlines have no reason to discount fares - they can wait to see how busy the routes are and adjust fares up and down throughout the year. So when you see a fare you like (or can live with) book it and don't look back.

I used to fly out of LAX but now fly mostly out of SFO. Generally LAX has some of the cheapest flights to most places. As mentioned above, cost will depend on class of service, seat selection, baggage checking, connections and times etc. I think the costs you mentioned sound reasonable for economy. You might want to subscribe to Going to watch for cheap flight sales. Also there might be some new lower cost carriers going to where you are going. Like the stock market however there is no way to get the lowest fare, you need to evaluate what the probable range of fares will be to your destination during your dates and buy when the costs seem reasonable. Google flights and ITA Matrix are also good search engines.

I suspect the best time to start looking for airfares to BCN would be in the Dec-Feb. Bear in mind however that fuel is the major cost of running an airline and so if the middle East blows up and oil goes to $ 100 + your flight prices will go up

Use the monthly calendar on ITA -
​​​​https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

Hi Yolanda,

There are $600 fares from LAX to Barcelona but not usually in June. That is starting tourist season so they begin to creep up with July and August being the highest. If you can find a fare under $1,000, that seems reasonable.

February and April would have $500-$700 nonstops on Iberia. March tends to be Spring Break prices and May will start the summer tourist season.

Awwww man, I didn't even think about that! Thanks for the heads up. And thank you all for your incredibly helpful thoughts--I never knew about the ITA Matrix!