We’re planning a family trip to Europe. Our list of places includes Italy (open to any part), Barcelona (to meet up with friends) and Germany, specifically Munich. When is the best time to start looking at airfares? I did a quick search and found an airfare of $690 from LAX to Copenhagen mid-June to mid-July with a two hour stopover in Heathrow. This fare seems like one we should consider! What are your opinions?
I’m also interest in this thread. I’ve done research to get business class or first class using my frequent flyer miles. One thing I’ve learned is to avoid London, there seems to be tons of fee in/out of London.
@lilmom - Our family has bought many tickets from the Northeast to various spots in Europe over the past year, and haven’t found tickets as cheap as you have. Granted, flying to Copenhagen is often cheaper than some other spots in Europe due to some lower cost carriers originating from that area, but it sounds like a great deal to me, especially coming all the way from the west coast. I’d assume any fees are built into the price you mention. I’d hop on it!
That’s a great price and I would jump on that! There’s supposed to be some low fares coming out this Tuesday, August 26 but I’m not sure I would wait with $650 on-line now. As we all know, low prices can be gone in a flash.
Grab it. We paid a little more than that for nonstop flights from Newark to Copenhagen back in March, and that price was considerably lower than the going rate of $1,100.
Fare looks great, but especially in booking this far in advance, recognize that the airline schedule can change leaving you with more (or less) than a 2 hour layover. I personally would want more than 2 hours at Heathrow when continuing on, but that’s me. Others may have had better experience with catching on-going flights.
Question: how much will you spend in onward fares - train, other air, car rental, etc - to arrive in Germany or Italy if these are your ultimate destinations?
Is that round trip? If so, holy-moly! Grab it!
Yes, it’s round trip and includes taxes and fees. This is with two major carriers. Copenhagen is a good place for us start because we’d be visiting our D who will be there. We’d be traveling to Nuremburg then on to Italy. There are many travel options once we get there from what I’ve seen online.
@walkinghome, I’m so curious to see how low the fares go around the 26th.
" I did a quick search and found an airfare of $690 from LAX to Copenhagen mid-June to mid-July with a two hour stopover in Heathrow."
Grab this quickly.
We booked a trip to Italy about this time last summer to travel in the spring. The airline changed our tickets Many! times, lost out seats=, cancelled a flight…It was a nightmare. I found that I needed to check every email from them carefully and to check on line every few days. They also shortened our lay over from 3.5 to 2 hours.
All of this said–$ can make it worth it but go in knowing. I would want a longer lay over for any international situation.
The thing that saved us on our return was our Global entry card–we just walked through.
Good to know, @oregon101. How soon after booking did all of these changes start? I imagine I can check emails before we leave but once we’re there, it would be more challenging.
On January 1 this year (as a New Year’s celebration!) , I booked a non-stop ORD to Berlin to fly out mid-April and return 10 days later. I didn’t think booking 3 1/2 months in advance for an international flight was unusually early. Between the time I booked and the time I flew, AirBerlin went from daily non-stop service between Chicago and Berlin to, well, less than daily. I happened to notice on-line that my return flight was no longer on a Wednesday, but changed to the next day, a Thursday. I didn’t even receive an email with the update.
This change was OK for my schedule. I just picked up another night at the hotel. My other recourse would have been to insist AirBerlin change my non-stop to something leaving on my original departure date with a stop somewhere. I preferred sticking with non-stops, so went with the new departure date.
This was the first time I had had the entire DAY of a flight changed on me - lots of time changes, but not a new day. I asked around in some travel forums - apparently this isn’t all that unusual. It seems the airlines can and do change things whenever they want. I also learned to be proactive in checking my reservation - as I said, I didn’t receive an email update about the change and wouldn’t have noticed it until doing on-line boarding if I hadn’t checked the reservation.
Re - checking emails, many of the foreign airports have WIFI available - free or charge per hour - and there’s always Starbucks (!) if you don’t have a local SIM for your phone. I always book a hotel with free WIFI because I use it extensively.
You mentioned two major carriers - check the logistics of transferring airlines at Heathrow. Two hours could be really tight. I would want more than 2 hours sticking with the same carrier - but, as I said, that’s me. I know I’m more conservative in travel plans than some.
Hilarious! Following my own advice, I just checked a booking I made on Monday for a Cathay Pacific flight in Asia later this fall. Departure time has been changed! Not significantly, but I did book this particular flight because of the departure time. The airlines gave us over a barrel!
Yes, the airline cancelled our handpicked departure time as they cancelled that flight time forever. So we then had to leave at 6 a.m. and then got to out first destination extra early but fortunately the hotel had an early check in.
I think the changes started late Dec. for travel in April.
We have flown to the East coast and stayed a few nights and then proceeded on to our destinations–Spain and the next trip, Italy.
Coming from the West coast we have found this really helps with jet lag and also the amount of time living as cattle at one stretch.
The prices have been even better than booking straight from home. Or certainly not much more.
You should probably book the fare.
Be aware that if you are flying Norwegian you will have to pay extra fees for seat assignment and to check your bags, etc. So check these fees carefully, but still a good deal.
I will give you a travel tip. If you ever stay at hotels you should join the Choice Hotel program. This is Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn, all the way down to Econolodge. Most business people don’t stay at these hotels unless they are staying on their own dime.
Choice has a perpetual promotion whereby you get 8,000 points for two stays (you have to sign up). Although it may not last, for the past four years Italy hotels have been on “sale” for only 10,000 points per night. So for the cost of a couple of $70 hotel nights you can get almost enough points for a room night that can cost 200 euros or more (Hotel Diana in Venice is hard to get, but a great location).
The downside to the Choice program is that you can only book 30 days in advance for domestic bookings and 50 days in advance international. So there is always a chance you will have to make other plans. But if it works out for you, it’s the best hotel point program there is.
I was off by one day - August 25 is the day farecompare says to look for travel deals: http://www.farecompare.com/travel-advice/magic-date-to-fly-for-cheap-flights-in-the-august-deal-zone/#/ We shall see!
If the fare is acceptable to u, then just grab it. The longer u wait, the fewer options u will have for preferred date of travel, choice of airline, seat assignments.
If u can swing EARLY June, you might get a better deal, and the crowds will certainly be smaller.
I won’t go on vacation to Europe in July/August unless I’m already living there. European school holidays are in July/August-- what a travel zoo…
Our one trip to Europe was in March/April. It was cool but not frigid (even for us from HI), and a few days were somewhat drizzly, but otherwise it was perfect. There were few crowds or lines anywhere. When we go back, we will try to avoid the crowds and heat.
We’re looking at a late May trip to France/Italy, but I’d love to find discounted business class tickets. Is there a search option that is more likely to work?