Airfare!

Don't go in the summer like everbody else go before in May or after in September. It is hard to give you advice without knowing what city you are trying to travel from to get to Europe.

From your experience, which airports/airlines are generally more
economical?

This question is too generic. Flights are origin-destination-itinerary-carrrier specific. I guess you could broadly say that budget airlines are "generally" less expensive (if they fly from your home airport), but you have to make sure you add up the total costs since they "unbulk" the fare from seats, luggage, food, etc. The ideal situation is to fly from a major airport near a large population center that has several airlines competing head-to-head on flights heading to a certain destination (e.g. NYC to LA). If you only have one dominant monopoly airline, or if you're flying from a very small market, flights will be more expensive because that airline will have more pricing power.

Are there any legitimate tips for booking airfare that will actually
benefit me as a traveller?

Every airline has seats at very different price points (and they change constantly), so I would say that flexibility and patience are the best traits to work in your favor. You need to compare prices across all airlines, look at potential budget carriers, and be as flexible about actual travel dates, airlines, even airports, and itinerary as possible. Keep the search as open as possible without too many constraints, and then you'll get more options to choose from. Take the time to track fares before committing to a purchase, so that you know an approximate range you are dealing with.

Agree we need to know where you are leaving from to give you advice. For instance, I leave from a teeny end-of-the-line airport in North Idaho. I'm never going to get a deal flying out of here and yes, I have to be careful because the departing flights to my nearest hub almost always book up. It's also not worth it to me to drive 6 hours to Seattle blah, blah.... for a cheaper fare.

I'd say to be cautious about using an online travel agency booking site. Do your due diligence for the website BEFORE you book. You are safest booking directly with an airline. Some of the cheap fares you see online are cobbled together with separate tickets and you are not protected if one of your flights is delayed and you miss your next segment. Be sure to look at Trip Advisor's Air Travel forum to see all of the horror stories of people booking what they thought were "cheap" tickets.

If you tell us your closest airport, someone here may be able to provide concrete advice. However, flight availability is also destination-specific, so it's possible you'd be better off departing from Airport A for a trip to Rome and Airport B for a trip to Madrid or Barcelona.

There are a few budget transatlantic airlines, typically selling one-way tickets. I have no recent experience with any of them, but I'm sure someone will report here if one of them serves an airport near you.

My general tips are these:

• Unless your itinerary makes a logical circle, try to buy a multi-city ticket into your first stop and home from your last. Sometimes that is far more costly than a round-trip, but often it isn't. If the price difference is moderate, research carefully what the cheaper round-trip ticket will cost you in time and money when you need to return to your origin on the next-to-last day of your trip to fly home. Are you willing to give up perhaps a full day of your vacation in order to save money by taking a round-trip flight that doesn't fit your itinerary? If you instead opt to start your trip by traveling to the farthest point on your itinerary (generally a good idea), you run into the problem of how to schedule that last travel leg, whether by air or by train. Separate tickets mean the traveler is left holding the bag if the initial flight is delayed and the final travel leg missed. With a multi-city ticket, the airline must get you to your destination.

• Once you know where you are headed and approximately when, begin exploring flights, even if you aren't yet ready to buy tickets. Decide which flights would be acceptable to you in terms of total flight time, number of flights, airports where you'll need to transfer, length of the layovers, etc. Monitor the cost of each flight (I do this just about daily), keeping written notes. Observe the fare pattern: Which days of the week seem to be cheaper? The purpose of this activity is to see what is the normal range of fares to your destination. Most fares go up and down over the year before the departure date. Your goal is to catch a dip and save yourself some money--possibly hundreds of dollars.

• Fall and spring fares are usually less expensive than mid-summer fares.

• The more flexibility you have (time of year, day of week, total travel time/number of flights, destination), the better your chances of scoring a low-priced ticket.

• As you get closer to your departure date, fares tend to rise and you're less likely to have an opportunity for a bargain. There isn't a specific date I can give you, but I've seen some ugly things happen to fares for the best routings (shortest total flight time) by 90 days out. If you're flying out of NYC to a destination with a lot of flights, there might be deals available later than that.

I use Google Flights to check fares for my transatlantic flights. There are other options.

From the sounds of your post, I assume that you have never been to Europe before. If that is so, I would suggest that you find a local travel agent that does European travel to get a good education. I have gone to Europe 16 of the last 18 years and started out by getting information from travel agents and guide books and Rick Steves web site. I am now comfortable doing all of the planning on mine own.

In my research, it;s cheaper to fly out of JFK than any airport in the country. I live in Dallas, and a DFW to paris round trip ticket would be $1200-1400, but I can book at DFW to JFK flight and then a separate JFK to CDG flight (or Milan) for hundreds cheaper than that.

Air France has amazing prices, almost as low as Norwegian Air, but without the worry the airline will go belly up right before your flight

That being said, I booked Delta because of Comfort+ and the skymiles program. I paid the trans atlantic portion of the journey, and got enough points to get the DFW to JFK trip booked for free because of the 60,000 point bonus for new AmEx card holders

I have family in Denver (United hub) and can often find great direct flight prices from there to London, Rome, Vienna, Munich and Frankfurt. I can usually get to Denver for less than $200 - and shorten my transatlantic flight by 2-3 hours - so it's worth the stop. I get to visit family, plus no significant costs for me to stay in Denver.

If you don't live near a hub, research flying a low cost airline to a friend or family member who does and take a flight from there.

I purchased Miami to Paris almost a year ago. Two premium economy round trip and insurance for $1495 and change from Air France directly. Leaving end of September, staying 15 days. Just checked availability today - for the heck of it -and found those same tickets are now well over $5000.
Before I booked those tickets a year ago, I checked nearly every airport in Europe and along the eastern US for best prices. I was willing to go as far as NY (I live in SW Florida) and anywhere in Europe to get a better price. I started looking in to the rest of my trip after getting the airline tickets bought. Planning has been another fun part of this vacation. Funny, we had friends we had not heard from for 15 years contact us right after purchasing those tickets. They wanted to return an item given them for good luck as it had done its intended job nicely. They are in S. Spain now, moved from Manchester area UK. a few years ago. So that email changed everything and now we will be taking a train to Spain to visit during this vacation. Fun!!

My tips are:

1) Sign up for a travel newsletters like Travelzoo and the main airlines that fly out of your area. You only know if a flight is a “good deal” if you know what “normal” fares are.

2) If price is your main concern, be flexible as to where and when you travel. If you see a great deal (based on what you’ve seen from #1), grab it!

3) Fly open-jaw - into one city and out of another. It saves you the expense of retracing your steps.

4) Don’t assume big airports have cheaper flights. I live 3 hours from a hub, and many people fly out of there, requiring a hotel the night before and maybe after the flight, plus parking. I found a fare out of our local tiny airport that is $200 cheaper than from the hub. I grabbed it!

5) Don’t travel in the summer, if you can avoid it. Hot, crowded and expensive.

6) Flights within Europe are cheap. Often less than trains. If you see a great fare into someplace you never thought of going, consider spending a day or two there, then continuing on via a budget airline.

which airports/airlines are generally more economical? Are there any legitimate tips for booking airfare that will actually benefit me as a traveller?

Hi Ellie,

Which city or state do you live in? That will determine a lot.

Summers? = high season of course. You will or can pay more for airfare and lodging.

I favor British Airways - out of Logan. Sign up for emails with airlines you may want to fly with. A lot have flash sales that can save a few hundred off airfare. Or, you can check their websites for deals every couple of days. Cost depends on which end of the country you are flying out of.

You can always check different airlines and different flights on airfare search engines.

After you narrow down some considerations, go directly to the airline's website. Saving a few dollars with a third party will or may end up costing you more; give you a headache if they screw up; or point fingers claiming, "not me." They may not stand behind you.

I would not consider budget airlines. I'm not saying they aren't good; I just won't fly with them. You will probably pay for a lot of "extras."

Also, I suggest booking direct with hotels or your choice of sleep accoms.

Depending on your travel style, packing light will save you money too. Although, some airlines allow a "free checked bag" as well as a carry on and personal item.

If you don't mind "hostel staying or monastery staying," those places are minimalist and very inexpensive. I never stayed in one, but from "word," some on the forum have.

Also, a few members have couch surfed. Maybe they will see this thread and offer suggestions.

There are hostels where you can secure a private room. Keep in mind, some of these places are not near or in the city centre. You may need to bus it or taxi it = dollars.

Hotels that serve a big, buffet breakfast will get you going and keep you going a long time. Snack on suppli, gelato or a quick sweet and espresso. Dinners usually begin around 8 PM or so.

If you are booking so far in advance, make sure you buy Travel Insurance with the "cancel for any reason" option in. If you need to cancel, fall ill or whatever, you don't want to lose thousands of dollars.

Instead of trying to sort out airlines yourself, use an on-line agency to see what's flying where, and when. Then go to the site of the airline operating the flight. No website covers all trans-Atlantic possibilities but my first choice is matrix.itasoftware.com It's owned by Google but I think it is more comprehensive than Google Flights. It doesn't sell tickets but the information is useful.

In Europe you can use www.skyscanner.com for short-hop flights. It links directly to airline sites as well as on-line agencies.

Flying into one city and home from another can save both money and time. These itineraries must be arranged through a multi-destination search function. They are not a set of one-way tickets.

I know this thread is about airfare, but since another poster mentioned monastery stays, we stayed at a convent in Rome near the Colosseum. The breakfast was basic, but the accommodations were inexpensive, nice, and well-located.

Airfare is all about supply and demand. When demand is lower, the price drops. Demand gets lower outside of high season - so the most expensive tickets are high season, shoulder season is a little lower and off season is the cheapest.

Problem is there's a reason for something to be off season. In northern Europe it's cold and the days are very short in the winter. Many sights are closed for the season, so a bargain flight may or may not be a genuine bargain.

I generally travel shoulder season. I really like September in Germany and France. May was beautiful weather both times I visited Ireland. England can be four seasons in one day, so go for the longer daylight hours before summer. April in Spain is a good choice because they have several major festivals. October in Venice and November in Rome are my favorites. For the Baltic, however, I would only travel in July or August.

The best way to find good airfare is to shop a lot. I think of as many possibilities for my trip as possible (starting airports, ending airports, going south to north, east to west or vice versa) then set up price alerts for each of those possibilities. On any given week, the price can change significantly traveling on different days. Is starting your trip on a Thursday cheaper than flying on Saturday, same for your return flight (check all the options)? Watch your price alerts for a couple months to get an idea what is a good price and what is a great price. Book a great price if you can but at least make sure you're getting a good price.

One note here. I've used Kayak, Cheaptickets, Expedia, etc. alerts and get pretty consistent results. I no longer use Google alerts because I find they have a peculiar way of jumping up one week then down the next. I suspect they're using selling strategies to get people to think if they don't book now, they'll miss out. The other alerts usually report ticket prices at Google's lower price so there's no reason to jump at what may seem like a bargain on a Google alert.

My trip doesn't begin to be locked in until I book my flight and I don't book the ticket until I'm satisfied with the airfare.

I am lucky because I think I have the best of both worlds. I can find inexpensive airfares with the airline that has the most non-stop flights out of New York. That airline is Delta and I fly them the most often both for business and leisure.