# Advice - Airfare to Europe July 2011



## tmcasey (Sep 8, 2010)

HI Tuggers -
I'm planning a trip to Europe next summer to visit friends and would like advice as to best time to purchase airline tickets, and also what I might expect to pay for round trip tickets - what's a great deal, what's the average price folks pay.

I will be traveling 2nd week of July from San Francisco to Basel Switzerland and then two weeks later returning from Paris to San Francisco (but could also return to Basel for the return flight). 

Thanks
Tami


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## Carolinian (Sep 9, 2010)

Don't know what the summer market will be then, but I would keep watching the Milage Run board at www.flyertalk.com , register for emails on sales at every airline you can think of, and watch the fares of the TATL LCC's like Icelandair.

Here are some clickable links to airline websites, including the LCC's which fly TATL (trans-Atlantic):

http://www.timeshareforums.com/links/airline-websites-9/


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## x3 skier (Sep 9, 2010)

www.farecompare.com has some tools for both showing what fares have been historically  by month and also can alert you when fares go down.

That said, no one can predict what will happen next summer. What I suggest in addition to registering as Carolinian suggests is that you look at past fares on farecompare, figure out what a good price is for you, and when it shows up, buy the tickets.

I would also keep your arrival and departure options open as it is easy to get cheap fares intra Europe www.whichbudget.com

Cheers


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## tmcasey (Sep 10, 2010)

*Thanks*

THanks Mitch & Carolina for the great tips.  Excited to register for those sites and start watching airfares.

Tami


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## Art (Sep 11, 2010)

Tami

One thing to keep in  mind is  that certain connections  (London is the  worst example) can lead to  an extra $200  in airport fees  and taxes.  These fees apply whether one is originating, terminating  or just  connecting in a given  airport.

The  legacy airlines are  really brutal on pricing  one way TATL tickets, so  if  you choose  to use  one of them, you will need  one that services both  Paris and Basel  so you can get  an "open jaw ticket."  You can do some  price comparisons now to see if  that makes sense  rather than  going back to Basel  for the return  flight.

Another good  thing to do  right now to explore the LCC option is go  out to:

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

and see exactly which  airlines service the cities you might be using. It is close  to a sure  thing that if you  do find  one,  you will  end  up booking  a  flight from SFO to some intermediate point, and separately booking a flight to your destination.   One  of the nice things about the itasoft  site is that it provides the information needs to make a complex  booking over multiple airlines.

As far as pricing next  summer goes, I will give you some real time  experience  booking a late May return flight  to Amsterdam for a cruise.  Prices with a Buffalo, NY departure  were uniformly  upwards of $1300;  similar prices were reported by  others on the cruise  with  departures  from Houston, TX.  Fortunately, we are close enough to Toronto that I managed to book a flight  on Iceland Air with a connection in Iceland for $799. A comparable  flight on Aer Lingus connecting  in Ireland was $905.  Since  July is a peak travel time, I would expect the price range  to be similar or higher, and have no expectation of airfare sales.

I know  nothing about Switzerland so this  is a naive question. Have you considered flying to Zurich and taking a train or  driving to Basel? Zurich is  an  international airport so  you probably have to connect  there anyway.

Art


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