Europe Airfares--HELP!!

[jyager]

I need to fly from San Diego(SAN) or Orange County(SNA) to Dussledorf Germany on June 9th returning from Brussels, Belguim on June 19th for a river cruise. I was SHOCKED at the current prices( about $1400!!) Should I book now or risk waiting for a sale or promotion??? Any other suggestions such as FF mileage, charters, etc?? Any help or thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thanks!!

 

[falmouth3]

I've been waiting for prices to drop from Boston to Munich for several months. They did go down from $1600 to about $1450, but still to high IMO. I'm hanging on. My thoughts are that they will be at their lowest 4-6 weeks before departure. But I could also be very wrong.

 

[WinniWoman]

I need to fly from San Diego(SAN) or Orange County(SNA) to Dussledorf Germany on June 9th returning from Brussels, Belguim on June 19th for a river cruise. I was SHOCKED at the current prices( about $1400!!) Should I book now or risk waiting for a sale or promotion??? Any other suggestions such as FF mileage, charters, etc?? Any help or thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thanks!!

We paid over 1300.00 per ticket from Newark to Scotland for THIS June and we purchased them last summer! I suggest you buy your tickets and sign up on YAPTA - they track the fares and if the price comes down by at least $200, the airline will honor the new price. Before you buy your tickets, visit YAPTA and make sure the airline you are booking with is one that honors the lower price if applicable. I told my hubby that if airfares continue like this, it will be the last time we fly anywhere - especially overseas. Too bad, since this is our first overseas trip, but it is getting way out of hand, even within the US. Way too expensive!

 

[beejaybee]

High prices for sure- a friend paid $1600 for a CLE-FCO/VCE-CLE June itinerary. Another friend traveling with her is waiting to book her flights thinking she will find cheaper fares come spring.

We just booked a $930 CLE-LAS r/t for two on SWA - luckily $500 in Luv vouchers offset the cost!

 

[Carolinian]

I would look at some of the TATL LCC's like Icelandair and Condor. Aer Lingus is also sometimes a good bet.

 

[PStreet1]

June is high season; I doubt there will be drops in fare. I'd try a consolidator.

 

[PStreet1]

Would any of this help you? Use one of these flights to a better hub and use an inexpensive European carier to get to the hub from Brussels?



American is promoting a new U.K. sale, Icelandair focuses on Scandinavian locales, and Lufthansa's promo features several less-visited destinations such as Baku, Dresden, Hanover, and Katowice.

Regardless of the destination, these European sale fares are all now including taxes and fees. Thanks, DOT!

American

American is billing it as a "Europe" sale, but to be more exact, the destinations are exclusively within the United Kingdom. London and Manchester flights are on sale through February 9, for travel from April 1 through September 26. (Search flights from your home airport here.)

Sample fares, including taxes and fees, from American's sale:
•$680 R/T between New York City and Manchester
•$712 R/T between Boston and London
•$768 R/T between Miami and Manchester
•$796 R/T between Los Angeles and London

Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus has discounted Europe spring travel for purchase through February 9. Among the destinations are Brussels, Dublin, Madrid, and Venice, but only from Boston, Chicago, and New York City. The discounted travel window is from April 1 through May 31. (Search flights from your home airport here.)

Sample fares, with taxes and fees, from Aer Lingus' sale:
•$596 R/T between New York City and Dublin
•$712 R/T between New York City and Venice
•$812 R/T between Boston and Madrid
•$871 R/T between Chicago and Brussels

Icelandair

On through February 2, Icelandair's sale discounts travel from Boston, Denver, New York City, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., to several Scandinavian destinations, among them Reykjavik, Oslo, Stockholm, plus a few other locales such as Amsterdam, London, and Paris. Travel varies and is dependent on the chosen route. (Search flights from your home airport here.)

Sample fares, including taxes and fees, from Icelandair's sale:
•$565 R/T between Washington, D.C., and Reykjavik
•$622 R/T between New York City and Oslo
•$616 R/T between Seattle and Copenhagen
•$736 R/T between Boston and Amsterdam
•$883 R/T between Denver and Stockholm

Air France

Don't let the name confuse you—Air France offers travel to more than just its flagship destination. Among the European destinations on sale: Amsterdam, Florence, Moscow, and, of course, Paris. Departures are valid through April 1, but flights must be booked by February 9. (Search flights from your home airport here.)

Sample fares, including taxes and fees, Air France's sale:
•$598 between New York City and Istanbul
•$707 R/T between Los Angeles and Moscow
•$731 R/T between Washington, D.C., and Madrid
•$752 R/T between Houston and Paris

Delta

Through February 6, Delta is offering discounted travel to European cities, among them Istanbul, London, Paris, and Prague. Departures are valid through April 1, but must be completed by June 15. (Search flights from your home airport here.)

Sample fares, including taxes and fees, from Delta's sale:
•$558 R/T between New York City and Istanbul
•$698 R/T between New York City and London
•$816 R/T between Atlanta and Zurich
•$874 R/T between Detroit and Frankfurt
•$1,034 R/T between Cincinnati and Paris

Lufthansa

A long-lived Europe sale from Lufthansa is on through February 9, with travel through April 4. Departures are available from 16 U.S. cities; destinations are varied and include some off-the-beaten-path sites like Baku, Dresden, Hanover, and Katowice. (Search flights from your home airport here.)

Sample fares, including taxes and fees, from Lufthansa's sale:
•$489 R/T between New York City and Dublin
•$738 R/T between Boston and Budapest
•$804 R/T between Miami and Frankfurt
•$835 R/T between Atlanta and Bucharest
•$878 R/T between San Francisco and Rome

All of the fares shown above are samples from each providers' complete offerings. Go to the each airline's sale page, listed below, for complete fare listings or to book:
•Aer Lingus
•American
•Air France
•Delta
•Icelandair
•Lufthansa

 

[Carolinian]

Also keep watch on the milage run board at www.flyertalk.com

 

[jlwquilter]

10 days ago I bought 2 multi-city tickets on American... PBI (West Palm Beach FL) to DUB going on June 8 and CDG to PBI home on July 29.

I paid $1260 all in for each ticket. I saved alot by doing the inter-Europe flights on EasyJet and Vueling.

Last year I paid about $1000 per ticket for last minute flights MIA - CDG r/t (I bought the tickets 8 days before the flight as it was a last minute situation) for late May. I did use a consolidator for those (CheapOAir) as legacy airline prices where almost $3000 each ticket.

I did check consolidator prices but they were still high - higher than buying direct from the carrier. My very limited experience is that the consolidators are better for last minute travel as they are trying to clear out their inventory before fly day and give their best prices then.

So I think I did ok with the $1260 for this trip in June. I do not have the nerves to play the last minute game when the trip is definitely going to happen (non-refundable accommondations, other inter-Europe flights, etc.). The price for my exact flight has gone up about $400 per ticket but I do expect it to come back down... just maybe not quite as low as I got But at the same time, I don't necessary think I got the best price either as a lower fare may have been offered before the trip was a reality in my life and I started shopping.

I've said it before and I'll say it again (and again) - I HATE buying airfare. I feel it's such a crap shoot on whether you get a good price or not, especially when not flying 'popular' routes. It's almost impossible to find price comparisons/history that mean anything at all.

 

[PStreet1]

Just saw the following for NYC to Brussels. For this price, it would be worth booking west coast to NYC separately; the 232 round trip doesn't include fuel supplement, etc., but it's still not a bad deal:


$232




Multiple Airlines





LGA

5:30p

→

BRU

8:50a

9h 20m

1 stop (YUL)







BRU

10:30a

→

LGA

2:50p

10h 20m

1 stop (YUL)








Economyhidden (10)




Select



Vayama $232

Cheaptickets $672

Orbitz $679


Check:

Travelocity

more


Expedia

Budgetair



Air Canada operates flight 9552, 9551.









$232




Multiple Airlines





LGA

5:30p

→

BRU

8:50a

9h 20m

1 stop (YUL)







BRU

10:30a

→

LGA

4:40p

12h 10m

1 stop (YUL)








Economyhidden (10)




Select



Vayama $232


Check:

Travelocity

Expedia

Budgetair



Air Canada operates flight 9552, 9551.









$232




Multiple Airlines





LGA

3:30p

→

BRU

8:50a

11h 20m

1 stop (YUL)







BRU

10:30a

→

LGA

2:50p

10h 20m

1 stop (YUL)








Economyhidden (4)




Select



Vayama $232


Check:

Travelocity

Expedia

Budgetair



Air Canada operates flight 9552, 9551.









$232




Multiple Airlines





EWR

2:25p

→

BRU

8:50a

12h 25m

1 stop (YUL)







BRU

10:30a

→

LGA

2:50p

10h 20m

1 stop (YUL)








Economyhidden (2)




Select



Vayama $232


Check:

Travelocity

Expedia

Budgetair



Air Canada Express - Jazz operates flight 7739.
Air Canada operates flight 9552, 9551.









$232




Multiple Airlines





LGA

5:30p

→

BRU

8:50a

9h 20m

1 stop (YUL)







BRU

10:30a

→

EWR

7:57p

15h 27m

1 stop (YUL)








Economyhidden (2)




Select



Vayama $232


Check:

Travelocity

Expedia

Budgetair



Air Canada Express - Jazz operates flight 7744.
Air Canada operates flight 9552, 9551.










$232




Multiple Airlines





EWR

2:25p

→

BRU

8:50a

12h 25m

1 stop (YUL)







BRU

10:30a

→

EWR

7:57p

15h 27m

1 stop (YUL)








Economyhidden (1)




Select



Vayama $232


Check:

Travelocity

Expedia

Budgetair



Air Canada Express - Jazz operates flight 7739, 7744.
Air Canada operates flight 9552, 9551

 

[Carolinian]

Pat - If you go through and try to book that exceptionally low fare, I think that in the process you will find that it is without taxes and fees and once those are added in, the fare will be as high and perhaps higher than the others.

This scam is being used too often by airlines, and it would be bad enough if it were just taxes, but most of that is ''fees'' which include one bogus fee, coded YQ or fuel surcharge, which is alwasy by far the largest. This is deceptive as it shifts part of what is really the fare and goes straight to the airline into the tax line on the ticket. Then they advertise the deceptively low fares, that are not really low when this is added back in during the process.

These days, for airlines using this scam, sometimes the YQ is larger than the amount they call ''fare''.

It is a thoroughly dishonest and reprehensible practice by airlines, and there are some new rules in process both in the US and Europe which should finally put a stop to this fraud.

 

[PStreet1]

It came out around $600.00, which is still less than some people were finding--thought it might be useful to someone.

I'm still smarting from not being able to get seats on AA when we needed them and having to use BA--and pay $300.00 per ticket to use our frequent flier miles.

 

[Carolinian]

It came out around $600.00, which is still less than some people were finding--thought it might be useful to someone.

I'm still smarting from not being able to get seats on AA when we needed them and having to use BA--and pay $300.00 per ticket to use our frequent flier miles.

Pat, in booking AA award tickets, try to get seats on other partners. Unless something has changed, Air Berlin, Iberia, and Finnair do not charge the YQ fee on award tickets that BA does. What BA does on YQ and some other ff issues reminds me of what people used to say their accronym stood for - ''Bloody Awful''.

 

[PStreet1]

Thanks--I haven't flown Iberia in, literally, decades, and I wondered how they are now. Unfortunately, when I was trying for seats, nothing was available with AA miles, so I had to resort to using BA miles that I had acumulated with a credit card from them. My plan was to use BA for U.S. bookings and avoid their taxes, but my plan hasn't worked well: they NEVER have any seats available in the U.S. I supose I should take solace in the fact that the ticket was still a lot less than I could have simply booked and paid for.

 

[jyager]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I ended up booking a LAX flight to Dusseldorf and returning from Brussels for $1091 in June thru YAPTA/Delta. I also got a price guarantee and great connections.