$680

I am also seeing the lowest fares on legacy carriers I have seen in years, $640 this fall to LHR or CDG, and $800 next spring, nonstops on Delta. From MSP. Nearly half the fares of the past 2-3 years.

I've seen it this low for October from the DC area because it's off-peak, especially (although not exclusively by any means) on Turkish Air. The latter is consistently lower priced - I prefer it over any American-based airline (I fly economy and the service on Turkish is excellent even for economy). There are usually fire sale fares every Fall on many airlines although usually in the ~ $800 range.

The major coastal international airports like IAD and JFK and LAX may see bargains like this regularly, but not the "ordinary" US international airports.

Tom's right. I've only lived on both coasts (Southern CA and DC area) so I take competitive fares for granted. Chicago is probably the biggest midwestern transport market, but what about Detroit and direct flights to Paris, etc.? Also, there are budget carriers like Iceland Air and WOW that fly from other cities like Minneapolis, etc.

Wow, you're not kidding! Flights from Seattle to LHR are $673, TXL for $685, $640 for CDG...all for early October. If I didn't already have travel plans, I would be seriously considering making some.

I "re-negotiated" my fare with Delta a few weeks ago. I was determined not to look at it again but I did check today after reading this thread. My flight (Cleve-Atl-Zur, return CDG-Atl-Cleve) is now $704. That's 50% less than what I originally booked in December. Is this year an anomaly or the new standard? I normally book about 6 months in advance, but now I'm re-thinking that strategy.

I checked my discount carriers, Icelandair and Condor, but they have yet to match fares and are still $1100 or so.

Maybe the std of ever rising fares till departure is over who knows. Can you refare the same itinerary at business class with the $200 penalty without paying more?

I feel that there has simply been a downturn in bookings or a rise in cancellations with all the various events that have happened in Europe over the past couple months that could be scaring travelers away. Since most US based airlines are raking in excessive profits, they are probably just trying to fill those empty seats hence the lower prices.

But who's complaining about low prices?!? I might book a couple flights just for the fun of being in Europe!

Three of us were planning to travel to Tuscany next May,but we changed our minds and decided on Lisbon instead.....we'd been to Florence and loved it but had heard so much about Lisbon and wanted to see it. I started checking prices a couple of weeks ago. The lowest fare out of Charlotte was just under $1000. Saturday I decided to check Madrid realizing thst we could spend a week there and the another in Lisbon....two great cities. Delta is going after American Airlines hub cities, and the R/T fare was $455 per person.....SCORE!!! I jumped on it, so my husband and I will both travel for the typical price of one, and our friend gets a real bargain as well. We'll do Easyjet to get to Lisbon and back to Madrid and STILL be under what we'd have paid for Lisbon alone. Now seems to be the time to buy. Happy shopping!

I'm flying from LAX to Copenhagen in early September for $780...it's amazing how cheap it is once summer is over!

I'm going to Scandinavia - flying into Stockholm and out of Copenhagen - in late August for $740. The whole reason I planned the trip is because the airfare seemed impossibly cheap for a summertime trip to Europe. Ever since I bought the tickets (on SAS, back in March) I've gone back to reprice the route, just out of curiosity, and it's been jumping around like crazy. Sometimes the price shoots up to $1300 or even more, sometimes it dips down to even less than I paid for it.

I don't know if SAS is doing something unusual, but it does seem like a clear exception to the idea that "prices only go one way." I wonder if the airlines are starting to benefit from the lower oil prices, but they still want to be able to squeeze $1300 out of the people who are used to the idea that that's how much tickets are supposed to cost and that prices only go one way?

I subscribe to an airfare price watch service for flights out of Vancouver, BC. The most recent note from them shows some crazy low rates to different cities in Europe and got me checking my open jaw cities planned for April 2017 (into Belgium, out of Nice). Just this morning I locked in Business class seats with Air France for $2100 which has been about the rate for Premium Economy up to now. Lufthansa and British Airways are still showing $4300 and $4700 for Business class seats on the same flight segments and dates as the Air France ticket.

Remember, these are CAD, so USD + about 25% right now.

Anita, I can tell you from my experiences in the past couple of years that flying to Europe from the west coast hasn't been that cheap in a long time -- not even in September or October, which are still the "shoulder season" for the northern countries and could be considered prime travel time for the south of Europe.

Good looking out, you guys -- I passed on this info to a friend who is getting married next month, and she ended up getting a great deal on tickets to Europe for her honeymoon :)

Anna: With a choice of Hawaii for $1100 and Paris for $640 for a honeymoon-- that's a no brainer.

I snapped up TWO cheap fares this fall: London in October for $590 round trip from O'Hare, and O'Hare-Stockholm-Copenhagen-O'Hare for $720. I have never seen fares this cheap either, and I'm from one of the 'hub' airports. Trust me, something else is going on.

On Delta, yesterday I paid $751 for a RT non-stop ticket to Rome, Italy from Atlanta! A couple hours later my traveling companion paid $980 to sit beside me. My fare class had sold out. $980 is still a good deal.
Then I paid my deposit for the 7 Days in Rome tour March 26 - April 1, 2017. Yippee!
Judy B

I can't believe some of the flight prices I am seeing of Seattle and Vancouver BC! Unfortunately I can't travel at all in the fall, but I hope many of you can take advantage of the good deals. Our next trip won't be until next summer, so I am hoping for a good deal then (but not very optimistic about it).

Meg: I'm with you about next summer's fares. I'm seeing a lot fewer of the fall deals today, more like $820, but still a good price.

Three weeks ago we booked RT on American Airlines, DFW to FRA for $772, in November. We are going to Christmas markets and to visit family. We also saw a $665 RT to Munich! That is very low from DFW.

Our fare to FRA was already a very good fare, but when you throw in the $500 voucher I had, it was an outstanding deal. There were also deals from $722, but I need to leave on a Friday, so it was $50 higher.

This low pricing to so many different airports does make one wonder what is going on. I have been flying to Europe since 1985 (only paid $485 RT to FRA, then), but these are the cheapest fares we have seen in a long time.

I guess this is a very widespread sale. I've been watching ticket prices for the past few weeks for a planned late summer trip to Switzerland and France. The best price I saw was in the $1150 (CAD) range. On Monday night I booked the exact same route (Ottawa > Zurich & Paris > Ottawa) and dates I was eyeing for $608 (that's around $450 US)! That's a saving of almost $1100 for the two of us. In the seven years since I started traveling regularly to Europe, I've never seen prices in the $600 range for a return trip in the warmer months. And it's not because of a drop in the value of the Euro, since that hasn't really changed with respect to the $CAD. Does this say something about a decrease in the number of travelers to Europe this summer?

Well, at least from my neck of the woods, it appears that the sale is over. Tickets are back to around $1200 (from $650-$750).

It's not over yet!

If you search for flights using Google flights )google.com/flights) for, say, next spring, and you have cities that are served by American (or American sells BA or Finnair tix), you will find flights that when you click on them you will get deeply discounted offers to, buy through American., example -round trip next March Philadelphia-Amsterdam non-stop, $531 when you let Google Flights take you to American's website. This will cost in near $850 if you go directly to aa.com
I have seen similar things things this week via Kayak.

Why one is able to get these deals by backing into the airlines' sites this way rather than going there directly is a mystery to me.

Edit -today the fare sales do appear over and back to the regular fares

I was finding round trips to France (from DC area) for about $680 in April. I ended up buying a ticket with Wow Air for $500. It's got a stop in Iceland but doesn't take longer than any other one stop itinerary. Air France wanted $1200 for coach direct.

Like most budget carriers there are extras. I thought it was worth it to add advance seat purchase for $10 each leg (could have bought their best seats for an additional $40 per leg). Depending on how light you travel, you have to pay extra for checked bags - but no more than $100 for one checked bag total for all four legs (a small carry on is included in price), a little less if you only want a larger carry-on allowance.

Brad, we are flying Norwegian this September, and they appear to have similar pricing schemes. We chose to add a checked bag on the way back, but did not book reserved seats as Norwegian appears to charge $45 per person per leg. It doesn't seem like it will be a big deal, and hopefully it won't be - because at about $450/person, those tickets were an amazing deal.

Yes, it does appear to be over. My $2100 Air France Business class seat is now $4700 again. No idea at all why there was about a week long widespread deep discount on airfares. Fortunate for those of us that locked in some good deals, not so for others I'm afraid.

I checked this offer on Emigrates & they are still offering good prices. I checked Chicago to Milan in October, price $543.

And the great American Air prices for next spring are back again.. The flight I gladly paid $620 for in late June, is now available for $588 -American, direct flights Philly to London and Madrid to Philly, next March. There are other great connections currently available via American (and their code-shares), they are showing on Google Flights.

I'm noticing low prices on legacy carriers is spilling over into July, peak season, about $800 for good connections or nonstops. Fares July 2017 are close to half what they were in 2016. And now the budget carriers are matching and even going lower, to $750. Unfortunately not going to Europe in 2017 so can't take advantage. Maybe lower fares will continue into 2018?

I am still seeing $1300 for CLT-PRG-MUC-CLT open jaw for next May. Lufthansa and United.
Are these cheap fares only on RT??
It's so discouraging seeing all these great fares while the itinerary I am watching hasn't budged in three months.

We've been flying Norwegian Air Shuttle for $700-800ish the last year out of Orlando. They're widening their cities serviced as they take delivery of more 787 Dreamliners.
We could see some really good airfare deals in the near future as many cities/countries are experiencing dismal tourist traffic--big, big downturn.
It's so bad that many cruise lines are moving Mediterranean ships to the Caribbean in October, and they're not returning to European service in the Spring.
Just keep your eyes open when the good fares pop up and be sure to let us on Rick Steves know when the airfare bargains are in force.

Kaeluku. I have thought about Dulles but there's the travel time to get there, maybe a night or two in a hotel and the 31 days of parking costs. Lots to consider. Still might be worth it.

Lower fares will continue as long as terrorism fears are sharply reducing the number of people traveling to Europe and the near East.

There are ~$550 flights from the East Coast to Europe on Turkish Airlines.

Have you looked at departures from Atlanta? That might be more convenient for you than Dulles.

I priced an early-May/late-July trip from Dulles to France just yesterday, and I saw fares under $900 for Paris, but the cost went up about $200 if I wanted to fly into Nice and out of Paris.