I have been scouring the airfare search engines for winter travel to Europe, and I'm disappointed by the prices I have seen. They seem really high.

I always like to nail down the plane tickets first, so last-minute deals are not for me. I am completely flexible with travel dates; I've been checking fares for November, January, and February.

I know nothing is predictable anymore, but historically speaking, is it just too early to see "sale" prices?

Without saying from where to where, or for how long, this is virtually unanswerable. Boston to Dublin? Honolulu to Istanbul? For a weekend or a month? Help us out here.

Meanwhile, lurk on this Flyertalk board, where the pros spot great fares usually before anybody else: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals-372/

Thanks, Gardyloo. I'll take a look at that link.

I wasn't expecting anyone to find me a low fare; I was only asking in general terms about when these sales tend to pop up.But that's probably too general, too!

Have you done month-long searches or simply input random search dates for those three months? My experience has been those "sales" have become less and less frequent as airlines have cut back the number of available seats (notice how flights seem to be more full than ever?)

Assume you are not flying in Business or First; i say that because that is the way I now always fly and, like you, prefer to nail down flights as early as possible but I notice that F and Business fares seem to remain static longer.

It is because the airlines seldom have system-wide sales these days; instead they target specific markets, even down to specific city pairs. So you might find that fares between the east coast and Britain are high at the same time there's a "sale" going on between the midwest and Germany, depending on the specific demand characteristics of people from New York wanting to go to London at Christmas time, or people from London wanting to go to Orlando over the same period. Hence the questions about when and to where, noting that nowadays transatlantic demand is set just as much by people from Europe visiting the US as the other way around.

Thank you both for your thoughts. It sounds more complicated than I thought. I usually fly with award tickets in economy to Europe in the summer -- which takes some doing -- and I have romanticized how easy it was going to be to find cheap fares during the winter. The idea about the month-long search is a good one; I've been doing that for round trips (even though we want open jaw tickets).

Just this afternoon I found a fare I could almost live with, from Atlanta to Paris and back home from Rome for $725 in early December. I was hoping for something closer to $600. I sense I'm being too picky ... or too jumpy.

Just a few weeks ago, there were nonstop tickets from Atlanta to Rome for under 500 and from Atlanta to Madrid for 600 with Delta, for dates from Nov 2018 to March 2019. Last year, I booked our trip to Paris for 517 with Lufthansa, albeit with a short layover.

You just have to check often.

That's good to know, Hnh6! I'll keep looking!

Exactly - keep checking. There aren't any generalizations anymore about "best times" to book for anything, IME.

It always seems to me those "sales" are meaningless. They are just normal low season rates and then sometimes they advertise them and call them "Sales" but they were probably the same rate the week before. I just don't think it is very common for an airline to suddenly decide to have a "sale" for unexpected reasons. I suppose occasionally that can happen, like an outbreak of something bad so no one wants to go someplace, or an airline with bad publicity, but it isn't the norm. Fares usually just keep going up and up the closer to the date, it seems to me. I never book airfare that far in advance, though.

I don't think you are being too picky, just kind of unrealistic. I can't imagine a RT airfare from ATL to/from FCO for $600. Sometimes those sales fares that are advertised never happen, either, it is one route on one day with 3 stops or something like that.

But I just posted a few posts above that there were in fact RT fares from Atlanta to Rome for under 500 (471 to be exact), nonstop with Delta. They lasted about two weeks before going up just this past week. I don't know if they're "sales" but I do know prices fluctuate and you have to stalk them. Of course I don't wait around for the crazy deals of 350 I keep hearing about, but I do wait for 500-600 which I think is perfectly reasonable because it has happened on multiple occasions for me.

Prices have gone up today but just to prove 500-600 is entirely possible for Atlanta to Rome:

I was just gonna tell you for Nov prices in the $500-$600 range is possible. I've been tracking airfare for Nov since this past Jan. Going south prices are reasonable but middle Europe forget it. I wanted to fly Newark to Vienna and at over 1k I couldn't justify it when Rome was in the $600s and cheaper. I found cheap airfare for Spain , Portugal even Paris but Munich and Vienna forget it. It's still too high for Oct but it goes over 1k at the beginning of the week when I look but by the end of the week it drops by $300 or so.

Thanks for bringin’ the receipts, Hnh6!

I did see fares in like those about 2 weeks ago, but they were only available through Priceline, and I balked.

I will keep checking....

OP, what's wrong with Priceline? (Truly curious)

I only book with the airline in case something goes wrong. I then deal only and directly with the airline. I heard to many horror stories with something going wrong and the hard time dealing with a 3rd party. I'm not saying Priceline is terrible just not how I prefer to book.

sassy27 has summed up my feelings about Priceline. I stress that these are "feelings" -- it may be a great way to go (and the prices and schedules were sorely tempting) -- but transatlantic air travel is different from an airport hotel room (which i have happily booked with PL before).

My sister has booked domestic tickets with Cheapo before and been perfectly satisfied.

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I book through whatever is the cheapest. With airlines directly, cheapoair, kayak, vayama, priceline, you name it. I haven't had to change or cancel my bookings yet. The problem I run into sometimes is the airline changing their itinerary and asking me to accept a longer layover. In those cases I have successfully accepted the new itinerary through the third party's notice link, and if the layover is excessively long, I then call the airline to change it again to a better schedule.

Just to update for those interested in prices: today I booked two tickets from Atlanta to London and from Rome to Atlanta on British Airways (via Expedia) for $600 each in late November (a 9-day trip). Perfect dates, excellent itinerary. I'm really pleased, and I'm grateful for all who contributed to this thread.

Also bought tix from Easy Jet to Pisa from London.

Wish I knew how to do a "thrilled" emoji.

>>Wish I knew how to do a "thrilled" emoji.<<

Does this one do it for you?