Is it too early to book flights from US to England/Scotland for June 2022?

We had a very similar trip planned for 2020, and of course, it was cancelled. My wife and I have been debating about whether or not to try again for next May, 2022. Don't know if anything will be open, etc. I don't have an answer for you, but I'm hoping some folks from UK or from the RS staff can tell us more about conditions there...

BTW - our plans were to start in Cotswolds/Bath - then fly (from Birmingham) to Culloden. Tour the Scottish highlands for a couple of days and then go to Edinburgh, York and finally London. 16 days total, flying in and out of London.

We are planning 5 weeks in England next April/May so I started watching flight prices in July. The lowest price I saw was right before Labor Day (Delta through Atlanta to Heathrow). Stupidly I didn’t buy. Since then prices have continued to climb. Finally I pulled the trigger and purchased two weeks ago. I will continue to monitor and if prices go down I can cancel for credit on Delta and repurchase at the lower price. Based on what I’m seeing and hearing I don’t think the prices on the route I need will drop significantly. There is a lot of pent up travel demand and the airlines are being very cautious about adding back additional capacity.

May want to check Flight Aware to determine if the flights the airlines are selling are currently flying....This has been a big problem since covid, and results in many flight cancelations as the trip nears.
Good luck!

Thanks for the tip, Pat! I've never used FlightAware. But of course, we haven't flown since COVID...
I just pulled it up but I'm not sure how best to use it??

So far, the best flights I'm finding are Pittsburgh to Montreal via Air Canada, then onto London Heathrow. On the way back, it goes Edinburgh to Toronto to Pittsburgh via Air Canada.

A quick browse of today's cancellations showed none for Air Canada, but I'm not sure what else to look into?

We booked flights for January (British Airways) and May (United), and are glad we did. With fuel prices going up, so are ticket prices. Since we purchased, prices for the same flights have increased by 40%.

Edited: for our BA flight, since we fly it yearly, we knew it had stopped flying back in 2020, but it resumes flying the middle of December. Our United flight is seasonal so it only flies during the peak tourist season.

I purchased flights for May in October during a sale from Iceland Air. I think that you should just start monitoring and see if any sales come up with a price you can live with.

For Flight Aware, put in the flight #'s you intend to book, and you can see the history- if it has been flying, which days, on-time record, etc.

Europeans were just allowed in to US this week, so hopefully more flights will be consistently flying, and more flights added.

This past Sept, 2021, we had 7 flight cancelations for our trip to Switzerland via British Airways. Once we found Flight Aware, we discovered that BA hadn't even been flying into San Diego since March, 2020. Therefore, they sold us seats on flights that BA HOPED to be flying, but that hope didn't pan out. Then the flights they changed us to weren't flying either. Finally we figured it all out, and with the subsequent cancelations, we were ready with our research and knew what flights were actually in the air!

We did actually go on the trip, and had a wonderful time.

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This past Sept, 2021, we had 7 flight cancelations for our trip to Switzerland via British Airways. Once we found Flight Aware, we discovered that BA hadn't even been flying into San Diego since March, 2020. Therefore, they sold us seats on flights that BA HOPED to be flying, but that hope didn't pan out. Then the flights they changed us to weren't flying either. Finally we figured it all out, and with the subsequent cancelations, we were ready with our research and knew what flights were actually in the air!

We did actually go on the trip, and had a wonderful time.

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I'm so glad you managed to go on the trip finally!! I did put in my flights I'm considering and see the Montreal to London is flying regularly. However the Edinburgh to Toronto flight says it last flew in October 2019 -- eeek. And it was a Paris to Toronto flight? So, I'm guessing they're hoping to fly this one... We'll have to keep an eye out on that for sure.

We haven't booked anything yet. We'll be monitoring prices over the next few weeks. They'll probably just go up, but I like one previous poster's idea of just booking knowing the airline's cancellation policy will allow you (most seem to) to cancel and rebook with them if there's a better price or flight option later on.

Did you set up Google Flights alerts, so you can be notified when the prices change, and also look at the graphs of price fluctuations? Good luck and safe travels!

Another thing to keep in mind is that the different airlines have different cancellation/refund/changeability rules. We booked flights for travel in the spring via KLM because they have a generous policy, even for basic economy, through June (Air France does too). I saw other airlines with slightly less expensive fares, but no refunds or changes were allowed.

I don't think it's too early if you find a price you like.
Our friends just booked an Air Canada nonstop flight Vancouver to Dublin return for June, for CAN$600. each!
And it is cancellable (is that a word?) or able to turn into a credit, if they can't use it.

So you just have to watch prices for a couple of weeks, then jump on what you want.
Then don't look again!

Just back in western Canada (Oct 27th) from Heathrow on an Air Canada flight. Use Lufthansa out and Air Canada home for my Europe trips that usually end in the UK. Both gave excellent service this time. Air Canada has improved over the years and may be trying harder in this new and competitive Covid world. Be aware that all check in staff at airports ask to see all your documents before you get anywhere near an airplane or a border. Have them on paper to avoid the phone freeze or brain freeze problem I saw often:)

As a Star Alliance partner, Air Canada has other airlines you could look at for one route or another. In these days of route shifts, you may be able to fly from Edinburgh to London or even Frankfurt to connect. I prefer Frankfurt to Heathrow, but both were half empty this Fall and very pleasant to use. The Air Canada crew handled a mid flight medical emergency - female passenger with heart issues of some kind - very calmly and discreetly and made sure the EMS came in as soon as we landed, and she was helped off first while we all waited patiently. A class act all round, I have to say. A happy ending to a well spaced out flight that included a full moon over Greenland, a ghostly blue display that kept up with us for hours. Also a personal kit of mask, sanitizer, etc.. Very careful teamwork.

John-- that's fabulous to hear you've had a great experience with Air Canada! We've never flown them before, but are liking the connections we're seeing from the US and then on to the UK, and the prices are good too.

We're monitoring prices, thanks to all the great advice on here, and now I know how to use Flight Aware (thanks to Pat) to make sure these are legit, actually occurring flights!

I'm just excited to book, then I can move on to posting for itinerary advice and get into the fun stuff.

I have been searching flights all over the web for friends that hope to join me in London in June 2022.

I purchased my tickets two months ago to London through Delta/Virgin using my e-credit from last year. I got two tickets for $1,000 each (main cabin) going from St. Louis through ATL to LHR. I could sense that prices were only going up. At that time, I also purchased two tickets for my daughter and her friend from Chicago to LHR using points. I saw 40,000 points return on Delta and brought them on the spot! I knew that was a bargain or a mistake fare. Using points the cheapest I can find now are 81,000 round trip.

Since searching this past week, I notice the prices have got up A LOT. Looking at $1,500 dollars now to go on the same route I purchased two months ago for $1000. Checking different airports I found that many flights are upward of $1700 with a connection and even without a connection.

I have been buying tickets to London for the past 30 years and 2022 is going to be the most expensive for travel. In prior years, prices went down some around Thanksgiving and then around February time frame. Unless demand goes down and fuel prices stabilize, I just don't see prices going down.

Welcome back to the forum.
margaret