julies

Has anyone found good airfares recently for travel this summer? We have some flexibility so other years we have successfully waited until 3 to 4 weeks before we want to leave and have found very good fares. This year there seems to be nothing. Even Icelandair's lucky fares, which was always my backup, are terribly high this year. We are in Minneapolis so I don't know if everything out of the midwest is sold out, or if this is the situation across the country. I keep watching and watching and watching but haven't found a thing yet. Anybody had any luck? I'd be particulalry interested in hearing from someone who works for the airlines and who might have the inside scoop.

hardwater

I do not work in the airline industry but have been looking for a late Sept. flight out of MSP to Europe and the prices seem to remain sticker shock high.

Intrepid

I'd say its all part of supply and demand. Travel to Europe from the US may be "off" but the airlines have compensated by reducing the number of flights and seats they have to sell.
I wouldn't count on any price breaks until after the middle of September for Europe..BUT I'd keep watching for sales and I'd also try using consolidators/discounters. I'm sure not every seat on every flight is sold...you may have to fly into a different airport and take ground transportation to the final destination or leave at some ungodly hour but that's something you'll have to decide.
The other thing to remember is that prices depend on the route involved and not the distance traveled.
Minneapolis???? seems there's just ONE airline..the Northwest/KLM combo that flies to Europe from there which means very limited competition which may also explain why prices remain high.

Winnepeg

I am surprised that you can't find a better fare.

There are a buunch of airlines advertising RT to Europe from many east Coast cities for less than $500.

I just checked Travelzoo.com and found specials to Europe for $500 RT, $265 Each Way, $499 RT, $188 Each Way, $153 Each Way, $315 Each Way.

Different cities throughout Europe leaving from a variety of cities.

Good luck. It might mean leaving from a different city than Minneapolis, but for less than $400, why not?

stever

We find that the prices are absurd, too! We want to fly non-stop on Air France as opposed to a stopover flight on another carrier to Detroit and then Paris (doh!) making the trip an 11 hour ordeal as opposed to a direct flight at only 7.5 hours from Washington DC (only available on Air France) and can't find anything under $760 each, or $970 each when we come back via Nice, France!

$1956 to go to Paris non stop, then back from Nice to Wash DC seems like an awful lot of money!!!

I called a travel agent that said she'd call a consolidater but I still haven't heard back from her as she's too busy to help me, I guess.

It's sad, the high rates... Maybe we'll look for the dreaded stopover flight through Detroit for less money. I hate making a 8 hour trip a 12 hour trip just to save money, you know? It kind of robs from the experience.

Steve
Silver Spring MD USA

BeachBoi

I have a roommate leaving Washington on Sep 12 and returning from Nice back to Washington on Sep 20.He got a fare on Delta of $788,non stop IAD-CDG and returning Nice to JFK and back to Washington....check it out!

Gretchen

There were also a lot of sales for the summer a month or so ago so the planes (that are left!) are filling up. Continental used to have 3 flights a day from Newark-Paris. Now has one. I did hear on a news report that there is some feeling that air travel is trying to pick up.

julies

Gretchen--
Your comment helped me to understand a lot. Last summer we bought last minute tickets on Continental to London for around $450 total round trip. That flight went through Newark. If they have drastically reduced the number of flights they are operating then no wonder there are no cheap fares.

MizzEve

I just booked RT MPL to Rome. I searched and searched, but the prices were actually rising as the departure dates came nearer. I finally went through Hobbit Travel. I booked on Continental and saved $180 off of what I would have paid had I gone through the airline directly. The Hobbit agent told me that the prices are so high because each airline now only has ONE transatlantic flight per day.

Although I did just receive a fare watcher email from Travelocity quoting $400 RT Europe fares beginning in Nov.

Good luck.

jsmith

The year 2003 celebrates the centennial of the first powered flight by the Wright Bros. In the ensuing 100 years the aviation industry as a whole has not made a profit - seems a pretty poor business model.

A few weeks ago I flew from Boston to Dallas and return on planes that were essentially full. The cabin crew told me that American was now flying 10 flights per day instead of 13. I noticed over the weekend that American was laying off 3100 flight attendants.

I expect you will continue to see the airlines rationalize the capacity to meet demand and the bargain fares will continue to escalate.

Good luck.

Ryan

I don't work for the airlines but I keep tabs on some of them in a professional capacity.

A few reasons why prices are up, the airlines are a financial nightmare caused by years of predatory pricing and "land-grabs" where one guy deep discounts to grab share and they all follow. The financial mess that many are in has caused them to look at more rationale business practices and the bankruptcy of several, like UAL, gives them the breathing room to try and firm up long term pricing levels.

In addition, the multiple alliances that have formed have helped to stabilize pricing for the sector by taking out the loose cannons and by linking many of the US domestic and foreign carriers more closely in terms of practices and policies. The airlines have also reduced their scheduled departures thus reducing supply, and rising oil prices have increased their overall cost and their need to pass it on with higher rates. The same is true of the increased security measures.

Continental for example, had a 4% reduction on June transatlantic capacity but only a 1.7% reduction in passenger traffic. Said another way, they carried fewer people, but each plane carried more. Supply down, demand down less, usually means a rise in prices.

stever

I just called back Air France and their rates mysteriously went down by $350 since 3 days ago!!! So we just booked a still rather expensive flight from Wash DC to Paris on Sept 12th at 1050pm, coming back Sept 28th at a reasonable 110pm from Nice and returning to DC at 7pm.

All this for $801 per person, all fees included. We went all the way to Bali, Indonesia with a 4 day stopover in Hong Kong for just $200 more than that last year!!!

Oh well. I'm not complaining. It's our "3rd trip of a lifetime" for us.

Cheers,
Steve
USA

erinb

hi julies,

We have traveled to london and paris about 6 times in the last 10 years. We have always gone in the fall. We actually tried to set up a trip this past april but it was nixed due to work.

In looking at fares this year, like you I have not seen the specials. We have had email trackers and etc watching for us. We have scoped the papers and net and have not seen them. The lowest we had found for september was around $700.

In the past we have used american airlines out of raleigh direct to london. a couple of years ago, we found quite a few specials around 90-120 out from our date. as we worked closer toward the date, we saw many from places like newark, jfk, or dulles, but none from our non stop and by the time we added on our connecting flight, that wasn't really a special.

This year, we actually tried to use our airmiles and it really didn't make a difference thru september and would have cost double in airmiles to make a difference.

American finally told us that the rates would not be going down until after oct 15th, and at that time it would take less airmiles(1/2 to be exact) to reduce the ticket price.

We finally got our tickets down to around $340 roundtrip, but that was trading in some airmiles.

The specials just aren't there yet and I doubt you will see them until the off season (late october).

InvisibleTraveler

There were several good sales for summer travel, and I'm seeing U.S. Airways fares for under $500 in Oct. That seems quite fare.

Hagan

We jumped on a $522+ R/T Orlando-Paris via Miami on American Airlines about 2 weeks ago. Fly over Sept. 4, return Sept. 15. I found it on AutoEurope.com. The same flight on AA's website is nearly double! It's still nearly $250 less than anything I've seen. I almost didn't book it, thinking the fares might go down after July 4, but I'm SO glad I did.

Snoopy

I am paying close to $1200 to fly to Copenhagen on the 23 of July. Fares ARE high this summer.

And, by the way, I don't think of Sept or Oct as summer months . . . For me, summer means June, July and August . . . when my kids are out of school.

Shadow

I'm trying to find a decent price for LAX-Shannon, Ireland for Sept. 10 returning Sept. 21 (must be those dates for my travel companion). I am a little picky on the airlines, looking into Continental (my favorite for this trip), or US Air. I'm not sure what to think about Aer Lingus. I keep trying.
Any thoughts on Aer Lingus?
Shadow

JandaO

Wow I am so glad I got my ticket when I did. I am flying Northwest Airlines. I paid $712.00 from Seattle to Amsterdam and then Rome to Seattle. Going in Sept. and returning in Oct.
I have checked Expedia, Orbitz (where I bought the ticket) and even the Northwest airlines site and I can see none for under $900 now. I was checking all the sites everyday. When I saw the Orbitz one at $695.00 plus ticketing fee I jumped on it pronto !!
Keep checking everyday ....