Flights to Europe for Summer/Fall 2021

Looking at flights in October 2021 Sea to Athens. Prices seem slightly higher from last year, 25% +/- . But traveling through LHR appear problematic based on current warnings regarding the COVID rules. Could change by October. Less desirable flights that go from US to destination look like less chance of getting caught up testing or other requirements.

Six months from now everything could have changed.
Looking forward to getting back out there “Safely”

I'm fine with the prices I'm seeing. Having struggled to get a refund from Lufthansa, I'm only pricing US airlines for any summer/fall travel. Availability within Europe looks reasonable to me - it's just transiting through one of my few entry airports that I'm hesitant about. Amsterdam and Paris still look complicated as does London. For now, it means, if I jump on a June/July trip, it will be a non-stop city out of Seattle (Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London). I'd love to do something more complicated but until I can look at the airport websites and feel confident in my research, I'll keep the trip simple.

We found great flights yesterday from the US west coast with SAS for less than $500 per person RT for 3 weeks in August -September. We booked at the second level (low was $437) to give us cancellation/rebooking options. We were able to choose our seats and in our small section of “free” eligible seats they were about 20% full going in August and 40% full for coming back in September.

We leave early July, connecting in Atlanta to Paris. Prices look similar to previous years. We bought tickets before the opening announcement but noticed seats filling up after that was made.

We have booked a round trip nonstop flight on AirFrance from LAX to CDG in September. We had a trip planned in April last year that included the East France RS tour, and AirBnb stays. We were able to get vouchers for our AirFrance tickets that allowed us to rebook for this coming September, with a slight additional cost (less than $200.). We were extremely pleased with our AirBnb refund process last year, and are comfortable booking AirBnbs for this September trip that are fully refundable with very little notice (depends on the individual host policies). We are on the list of hopefuls for the RS East of France tour that may run in October, but will travel independently if we do not have that opportunity. Like others who have posted, we are happy to mask and social distance, and are fully vaccinated. We understand the need to keep updated on current local and regional requirements and will test and/or quarantine if needed. We are also watching the development of the EU and US approved proof of vaccination process so we can comply with that (wish it could get added into the passport info as the Global Entry status is!)
Crossing fingers and thinking positively!

I’m planning a trip to Venice late August with a small group of 12 people. I found direct flights round trip Atlanta to Venice. Reasonable price I thought, about $1,500 on Delta Airlines. We won’t know until June whether the tour will go.

I monitor flights from the midwest (STL) to London (LHR) all the time. I have flown this route for 20+ years to visit family in the UK. On a gamble that the UK and US might have a travel corridor this summer, two weeks ago I purchased tickets on Delta (Main Cabin) for $800 round trip for this July - A bargain! Prices are now running about $1300 - $1400 which is about the usual prices for this time of year from the midwest with a connection. I anticipate these prices to go much higher if the UK/US travel corridor opens up. However, I remember paying $1700 from STL to LHR in 2015. The last time I paid $800 was in 2011.

I did notice there are still many flights to select from, but the daytime flight on AA from ORD to LHR has disappeared. So I would say they are cutting back on some less popular flight routes. I also noticed that you need to read the fine print on the cabin selections. It wasn't until I got to about the fourth page of the purchasing process on AA that I was asked if I wanted to make the flights refundable (adding $200 each). Delta seemed to have added some different main cabin options but this may just be because it's a co-share operator. (not sure). All I know is they are cutting back on flexibility and making more set options for changes to tickets these days. I ended up buying through DELTA.

I have had no problems getting domestic and international flights refunded or airline points re-deposited with AA or Delta. But I anticipate this to change as Covid Changes and travel gets back to near normal. The key is to read the fine print and especially check how far the date the ticket can be transferred to.

Margaret

Some of what I've seen has priced Premium Economy cabin very close to economy tickets. I'm flying to Spain in September and November in PE, for a total of around $300 more than in economy seats.

And my November ticket was cheaper than flying to Arizona at the same time. (Apologies to my family in AZ... Enjoy the turkey without me!)

I’m keeping a keen eye on the France opening May 19, but just for fun I checked DL to CDG mid June returning the end of June - fares are a little less than last year hovering around $1500. I have an etx as the result of Covid so I can use that. I’m hoping Rick goes ahead with fall trips but I think if summer is a success, airfares will reflect it.

I booked flights [no change fee, credit if cancel] in late April 2021 for September 2021. The original flights (fully refunded) were booked in January 2020 for a September 2020 tour. The 2021 price was slightly lower than the original booking. However, there were far fewer flights; and the ones scheduled were circuitous, had too long or too short connections, or both. I am optimistic that Germany will modify its requirement of a covid test merely to transit FRA or MUC airports. Like many people, I live in a small town with an 1:45 hour drive to the international departure airport and getting the covid test currently required for the outbound flight is going to be challenging in terms of time and location. Booked United and LH flights on United Airlines website, as less expensive than on the LH website.

I actually booked a frequent flyer ticket several months ago. I know Rick is not a frequent flyer milage collector necessarily but in this case it’s a great day I’ll because you aren’t giving the airline much money and they’re giving full refunds so you can get the miles back I felt like it was an incredibly low risk booking

Refund policies are tightening up.

I recently bought flights on United to Greece that can be changed but not refunded. Good price.

I also helped a friend change destinations on United. She had bought Premium Economy, which was not offered on most choices to her new destination. So she was forced to buy Economy and then pay for selecting nicer seats out of pocket. The refund could not be used for the seat selection - but paying extra for seats was the only way to get the equivalent of Premium Economy. That was a real change in process - and to be honest, seemed like a rip-off. The actual Economy price was good.

American: I looked for business class with miles to Croatia and found few options that offered a Business choice. I don’t know if that had to do with actual decisions from above or just with me looking somewhat late. American miles flights can still be cancelled and reinstated, I think. I instead bought (with money) a flight on United, but I spent more and bought a refundable fare. Still a decent price.

We have purchased tickets for several trips. Iceland in August and February, and those are totally refundable. The other trip is to Costa Rica in January, and we used miles for that trip.

We found the fares for Iceland to be quite favorable. For the summer trip, we purchased airfare by itself for 5 adults from Seattle to KEF, and the fare is just a touch under what we paid for last summer before hat trip was cancelled. For the February trip, we took advantage of the Iceland special where the package was the flight from SEA to KEF, transportation to/from Reykjavik, a few excursions and then 5 nights at a hotel. We upgraded the hotel, and still for 2 people the total came to just under $1650 total.

For the summer trip to Iceland I looked at the Delta schedule as we could have used miles for that, but he routes did not have anything nonstop from Seattle. That was a deal breaker for us as we want minimize time around other people as well as just wanting to get there asap.

Sort of the same thing for the Costa Rica trip, we had to connect, so we made sure it was a place we felt more comfortable with and that the layover was as short as possible, around 2 hours.

For The Iceland trip this August, all of our lodging except one is either refundable or we do not pay until arrival. The one that is not refundable is one that we rebooked from last summer, and they would do that again if need be, so not an issue for us.

My concern when I’m booking these flights is the connection times as not all destinations have direct flights. Will those connection times need to be longer because of screening? Avoiding LHR because of horror stories of 3+ hour lines.

Barbara, connections was one of my concerns also. For both of my trips, I opted for flights where the connection is on the east coast (I am in Texas). I just didn’t want to stay up with potential additional regulations - just those for my destinations. I know that is not always an option but that is most of the reason I actually paid for a flight to Croatia on one airline instead of using miles on a different airline.

Three months ago, British Airways listed an irresistible price for Denver>London>Bologna in late September, using frequent flier Avios points, plus associated flight fees. So we booked those, and are anxiously watching the vaccine rollout in Italy. The UK appears to be doing well, and a minister said this week that the UK was on track to effectively be fully vaccinated by the end of August 2021. So things are looking promising at this point, and if we have to cancel, we only get hit with a minimal charge, but get all our Avios restored. We’ve only booked one agriturismo thus far, and have until mid-August to cancel for a complete refund.

We have just cancelled a trip to France for late May.....no problem with refunds, etc. France is not opening up enough yet so we will take that trip May 2022. We did find a very affordable round trip ticket to Zurich in September 2021 that we plan on taking.....around $500 from JFK.......we booked it about 6 months ago and feel like it will materialize.....ready to head to Europe!

I am a Scott's Cheap Flights member (totally recommend it!) and they were sending out crazy cheap fares for Europe (Spain, Italy, France) about a month ago. Like $350 to Paris from AZ! We booked Dec flights $430 to Paris bc we choose to fly Friday rather than Tue/Wed. So excited! But those fares seem to be gone. They're just sending out domestic fares these last two weeks. Oh they're free to change and we can cancel for credit, but no refund.

Well I was playing around this morning on delta.com and found an international airfare in business class for this fall right at two grand. I know that’s outrageous, but considering I haven’t spent practically any money in the last 18 months I decided to go for it. Now let’s hope I can actually take this flight because otherwise I’m going to have a huge credit with Delta. Luckily they’re giving you till December 2022 and we’re thinking maybe a Rick Steve’s tour of turkey for fall of 2022 so I could always use the credit to buy those plane tickets if I need to.

We had flights for April 2021, booked with miles at a very low rate, that we just gave up, miles back in the account. We had just previously booked back-up tickets for September to Italy, still under the fully refundable plan. I also have a ticket to Amsterdam in late November, that one is at least fully changeable, if not refundable. All are on Delta. All were also booked at least 1 to 3 months ago, so no influence on higher demand, in fact when booked, there were only less than a dozen seats booked on the trans-Atlantic. Since then the September flight to Rome is nearly Full, the November flight is still lightly loaded.

Just booked Zurich for fall, 2021, and found the Business Class fares about the same as 2019 flights, around $2500, but had the British Airways Chase visa 10% discounts, with additional travel credits.

Does anyone know if the AARP discount for British Airways is still active?

Safe travels!

I would also add that I think there will be significant flight changes ahead for those of us who have booked flights to Europe this summer. Delta just changed my return flight from LHR-MSP-STL to LHR-BOS-MSP-STL. Adding another stop is not OK but I will call and get it changed
I assume Delta is not going to reinstate their non-stop LHR-MSP this summer after all (it was suspended in 2020).

I check my flights every week. Delta does flight changes on Saturday. So on Sunday or Monday I make a point of checking all of my flights. And then you have to be proactive, do not wait on Delta to contact you because they contact in date order so by the time they contact you your options could be limited. Unfortunately right now we’re looking at incredibly long waits on Delta so if they give you a call back option - take it. I had to cancel a flight that I couldn’t do online the other day and it took them four hours to call me back!!

Carol,
Good to know about Saturday flight changes. With Delta changing my flight significantly, it now gives me an additional option of the change being unacceptable and then I can cancel for an e-credit. If I call and change now, I would then just have the option of changing my flight (which I would do for June 2022). But, then what happens if I have to cancel that trip. I'm pretty sure I only have a one-time change allowed, where an e-credit would give me more flexibility, I know my options on flights might be less waiting, but I think I am going to wait until the UK has their next three-week update about which countries are on the green list before I contact Delta. I don't want to get an ecredit yet, because if July does open, I won't be able to afford to pay the difference in tickets. Am I missing anything? Who would have ever thought we would have to gain this much knowledge about the fine print on tickets to Europe.

Margaret

Actually think you can change your flight every time Delta does as long as the change is significant. So for example with me they changed my flight I called and got it adjusted. Through later they changed it again and I called to fix that. If they’re making the change and it’s messed up your schedule then it’s as long as the changes bus more than an hour or something like what you have where it significantly added changed the flights I don’t think you’re limited to one change

We booked our holiday season trip to Berlin back in January (positive thinking). The prices were great (I know it was all because of timing because they've gone up significantly since then) and United offered fully refundable tickets (hoping not to use that benefit)

I came home to the States to see my folks and paid about regular price for my tickets (about €1050 or $1200), for regular economy on Delta, for my usual flight path (Paris Charles de Gaulle —> Atlanta —> Tulsa). It's not a great price but not awful either, and honestly after not seeing my parents for a year and a half, I don't really care — it was a one-transfer option that gets me to Tulsa as efficiently as anything can get you to Tulsa.

My transatlantic flight wasn't 100% full, but pretty full. I did luck out and had the whole middle row to myself, so i laid down and slept for a while. Conversely, I have seen photos from a friend's flight just a couple of weeks earlier where she said there were just 20 people on her plane!

My boss meanwhile, who is also American, bought RT tickets to go from Paris to San Francisco in June — and said he paid about 400 bucks!! I was sorry I asked him since I never find flights like that.

Our flight to France in August 2020 was direct from Seattle to Paris on Delta for $4000 for 3 people. I could not find a direct flight from Seattle to Paris for August 2021, so we are flying from Portland (where we live) to Paris with a connection in Atlanta. Price is slightly higher. We have an ecredit with Delta so just paying the difference.

“RT tickets to go from Paris to San Francisco in June — and said he paid about 400 bucks!!”

Kim, I wonder if he’s flying French Bee? They fly non-stop SFO-ORL for that price.

Susan — I don't think so, but I can check!

Thanks Kim! I’m planning to fly French Bee for the first time next time and curious how they like that airline. My son will be flying French Bee in July.

If your flight cannot be nonstop, is avoiding a stop in Europe that big a deal? Is Covid complicating this? Is it really that bad to have a stop in Europe before flying to your final destination?

At the moment, Americans cannot change planes at Paris-CDG or Amsterdam-Schipol if they are going to another Schengen Zone country (for both CDG and Schipol) or another EU country (for Schipol only), so it can matter a great deal until such time as France/Netherlands either change those policies or start allowing Americans in for tourism.

We booked the reverse (we are Americans living in Europe), and prices are about 60% of what normal summer trips would be. That said, we normally book much earlier--several months out--and booked our summer only last week once we had vaccination appointments. We also booked last month for Christmas, and we paid about half of what we normally would at Christmas. In both cases we only booked transfers within the US or the EU (Amsterdam and Frankfurt--there are pretty much no direct flights to the US from Hamburg). We found a great deal through London and decided against it despite the three hour layover; things were just too uncertain. Instead we booked a two transfer flight--something we never do. We definitely kept connection times in mind so that we could be sure not to have trouble, and we will both be travelling with proof of vaccination AND negative tests to ensure we don't have any trouble.

We are planning on flying from Portland, OR to Venice, stopping in ATL on Sept 28th and than from Paris back to PDX Oct 22nd. Delta has been around $2500 for main cabin and $2800 for Comfort+. What are people’s thoughts after July 1 when more restrictions will be lifted. Will flights stay around the same, go up or go down. Not sure if we should buy now or wait until July. Thoughts???

I have no idea what is going to happen with airfares.

It's best to fly into the city where you want to begin your trip, but sometimes there's an option that is a lot cheaper, and it's worth exploring that if your trip isn't so short that every hour is super-critical. Have you looked at costs into Milan?

@edryer4356: Ouch!
Back just before Christmas (in a flurry of optimism) I booked PDX-SFO-FRA-BLQ (Bologna) for 9/14 and returning 10/1 FCO-FRA-SFO-PDX on United for a little over $2300 and 40,000 miles, and got Mileage Upgrade Awards for PDX-SFO (1st) and Polaris business for the SFO/FRA legs.

Of course, now I have to check my booking every Sunday morning to make sure schedule changes haven't queered the deal. So far, Lufthansa discontinued my FRA-BLQ leg (had to spend quality time on the phone with United to rebook a later flight), one flight number just plain changed but no substantive change, and my outbound connection in SFO shrank to 1:55 from over 3 hours.

And if Italy is still requiring Covid-tested flights in September I'm probably SOL, ditto if I cannot transit FRA to Italy. In those cases I'll probably end up with some kind of future flight credits for rebooking and I doubt if I'll see MUAs to/from Italy again soon, so back to main cabin.

@edryer3456 - It looks like the price is ~$2500 for 2 tickets, which is a reasonable cost for flying into Venice and out of Paris from a small airport like PDX. (I live in Portland and fly out of PDX often.) Again, no crystal ball, but I doubt prices will drop much. In fact, as more people get comfortable with traveling in the coming months, prices may increase as demand rises. The airlines have a lot of revenue to make up.

Yeah the $2500 was for 2 people which still isn’t horrible with only have 1 stop, which I prefer. It’s a lesser chance of lost luggage. It hurts a little cause I booked United in January with the same departure and arrival. And it was $1536 for the both of us and of course they canceled the flight.

@edryer3456 - yes, I imagine that does hurt a bit! We had a direct flight from Seattle to Paris on Delta last August that we had to cancel. When we rebooked (with ecredit) for this summer no direct flights were available from Seattle (or Portland) in August and the price was about ~$150 more per ticket. So we paid more and have a stop-over. However, I’m just happy to be traveling after this terrible year! Hope it works out for you in the fall!

My recently purchased tickets:

One IAH to IST and back to IAH was $890 + seat charges.

Turkey is just a few days coming and going; the heart of the trip is a flight to Zagreb (about $220) then a flight from Dubrovnik to Athens (about $225), then a flight from Athens back to Istanbul (about $135).

The other ticket IAH to KBP open jaw picking up in IST and ending at IAH also under $900.
To that was added KBP to ODS and ODS to IST (the two added up to about $200)

The IST, KBP and ODS flights were about what I paid two years ago; the other routes I have never flown before so dont know.

My wife and I used 60K AA miles we had to re deposit last year when our European adventure got derailed due to COVID.
We are flying into Barcelona on August 12 in hopes the reopening goes smoothly. We return to Phoenix from Rome on October 11. The two month trip destinations are left flexible, based on area’s readiness for American tourists. Hopefully we can visit regions of Spain, France and Italy.
Using miles provides some flexibility should we have to depart later of return sooner.

And if Italy is still requiring Covid-tested flights in September I'm probably SOL, ditto if I cannot transit FRA to Italy. In those cases I'll probably end up with some kind of future flight credits for rebooking and I doubt if I'll see MUAs to/from Italy again soon, so back to main cabin.

Sigh: https://www.salute.gov.it/portale/nuovocoronavirus/dettaglioContenutiNuovoCoronavirus.jsp?lingua=english&id=5412&area=nuovoCoronavirus&menu=vuoto&tab=9

The trials of ‘Covid-tested’ flights established by the Ordinances of 23 November 2020 and 9 March 2021 have been extended to 30 October 2021, without prejudice to possible further extensions.

Just booked flights from Baltimore to Paris. Under $500 one way on AA!! We're doing one way in case things change and our plans have to be changed. We may fly back from another country. Just don't know right now. Hard to plan!!

For right now, July 12, airfares to almost anywhere in Europe from the US are phenomenal. RT Fades in Economy for $500-$560. This is in economy and on Delta, United, SWISs, and Air Canada. Really tempted to book for October but weary of the Delta variant causing increased cases. I’m concerned that countries will start closing again.

Hi, We were originally suppose to fly Aer Lingus for July 2020, JFK to Dublin for around $1800. Rescheduled from July 2020 to June 2021 then to Sept 2021. The flight were $200 less expensive for Sept 2021, they gave me the refund in the form of a voucher. We scheduled a 9pm flight out, that has been cancelled and we are on a 4:30pm flight. Not sure what will happen if we have to cancel or postpone again. They were originally non-refundable tickets.

Mary

I bought two tickets back in May, the first an open jaw: IAH - KBP, ODS - IST, ATH - IST and IST - IAH and the second a Return trip ticket: IAH - IST - IAH.

Both tickets for July travel went off without a hitch.

Soon I will be buying open jaw IAH - ZAG and BUD - IAH for my next trip. I have been watching the flights on the airport websites and none have been canceled since I started watching.

I think my good fortune is due to the fact that all the flights were on Turkish Air; google "Turkish Air Canceled Flight" and you wont get many relevant hits (try that with the other major carriers).

But check on entry into a country after transiting through Istanbul; there might be restrictions.