Hello everyone, have never been to Europe before. Traveled to Spain and Portugal last year and loved every minute of it. Hopefully Next years trip will be just as great.
On to my question, I’m seeing some great one way fares for two to London, return fare not necessary.
The airfare I’m seeing right now for two people (with a checked bag each- I know Steve’s group wont like that-lol.) around $500.00 from Boston or Miami.
Any advice on booking specifically how far in advance and target price?
I too am planning for travel to London in summer 2018, and have not previously traveled to England. I've been watching prices for a while via Google Flights (I'm flying from Ottawa, Canada) and prices have remained steady around $1000 per person, so $500 sounds like a deal to me! I'm hoping prices drop in January or February, based on some reading I've done. I'd be happy with $800 per person, since there are five of us.
Dani, looking forward to hearing about your travel to London. The fares I’ve been getting from google have been very expensive and I really don’t search there any longer.
I’ve found that http://m.momondo.com/ shows some great rates. Not aware of your travel requirements ( coach/first class/dates/times) but I just searched the above website and found much better rates for your trip.
Also do you have any recommendations on a hotel?
One-way fares are normally quite expensive on legacy carriers. If you're returning via ship, I'd look for one-way options on Icelandair, WOW or Norwegian Air Shuttle.
If you're flying into London and out of a different city, you need a multi-city fare, not two one-way tickets.
Thanks wow is a little expensive after extras are added. If it’s basic travel WOW is great, I too am finding the best fares with Norwegian to date.
Yes we’re doing our second transatlantic cruise back to the USA via the Caribbean after we spend a week in London/Paris.
One other thing: The Momondo airfares are shown in euros rather than dollars. Don't forget that a euro is worth US $1.19. At a glance the fares don't look much, if any, different from what I've seen recently on Google Flights.
I think there are a lot of us that don't follow the carry on luggage only gospel that Rick preaches. I certainly don't in this era of full flights and super strict carry on rules. I certainly agree with the opinion that don't take things you 'might' need but I'm well past the student backpacker era and I always check a bag, even domestically unless it's just a weekend trip in warm weather.
$500 is quite reasonable for two people. I'd just be cautious booking this far out. Unless your plans are set in stone, there are always things that can come up in the next 11 months. I know I spend too much time on travel forums, but I've seen a lot of posts about people who couldn't make a trip due to changes in work, family, or finances.
I went solo to London this past October flying from OAK to LHR and Gatwick back to Oakland. It was under $500 plus, changed once in Seattle. The price would have been closer to $400 plus had I wanted to put up with some departure time inconveniences.
I always check in luggage.
I think there are a lot of us that don't follow the carry on luggage only gospel that Rick preaches. I certainly don't in this era of full flights and super strict carry on rules.
Yes, especially if you plan on bringing back a bottle of something. Some years ago, I bought a bottle of Scotch in Duty-free in Poland. I carried it on, and then we went through Toronto. You go out of the security zone to go through customs, and they do not accept the wrapping from Poland as "in-security" wrapping. They were going to confiscate my bottle!! There were a TON of other bottles already confiscated. The security agents NEVER needed to go to the liquor store or to buy olive oil. Luckily, I still had the opportunity to check a bag, so I put my bottle in checked luggage, and off it went - since it was international, I had a checked-bag credit.
You are right that fares for fall of 2018 might be best in December or early Jan/Feb. Last year I got a round trip airfare from LAX - Venice for $520. Bought the ticket in early December for travel the following September.
I just picked up a one-way ticket for June 12 on Norwegian flying from Oakland CA to Paris for $244 on Norwegian including choosing my seat...total steal! I'm using points on Jet Blue to get to Oakland. I'm now looking for return fares and have been looking again on Norwegian thinking of coming home from London since it's always fairly cheap...looks to be around $500 one way. For a round trip of $744 I think I'm getting a pretty good deal.
I just checked for LAX to London and found a one-way to London on Norwegian for $290...with choosing your seat it would be about $330 one way.
I usually book airfare through kayak.com. Give it a try!
Thanks everyone for your helpful hints.
You all have found some great deals, I’ll start looking close after the first of the year.
Some new carriers and existing service providers will be adding new routes to Europe in the spring in certain we’ll see a drop in airfares after the first of the year.
Wow will get much better as it gets closer. If you really hold out and can book last minute, they get amazingly cheap. I've never waited quite that long but have had two round trips to Paris from DC with them for just under $500 total. My last trip was with IcelandAir round trip to Paris, I bought that months in advance for roughly $450 total.
I normally won't book until about two months to six weeks out. The exceptions are when I see a really great fare or I notice the better itineraries (in terms of flight duration) are becoming sold out. I start with shopping all the options (dates, routes, airports, airlines, etc.) set up fare alerts and watch them for awhile. When I feel like I've got a handle on what a good fare will be, I'll watch and wait for a great fare. If none comes, I'll book a good fare before the good itineraries sell out.
Two quick points
1. Look at those other search engines if you like, but buy directly from the airline. A few minutes reading sad story after sad story on the trip advisor air travel forum will cure anyone from third party sales.
2. We bought Seattle -London round trip for $680 for August 2018 on British Air.
Hello everyone, have never been to Europe before. Traveled to Spain
and Portugal last year and loved every minute of it.
How can the first sentence be valid given the second sentence? :-)
For DANI: Please be cautious about these price comparisons. To start, you are paying in Canadian dollars which you and I both know are much less valuable than the US dollar. I rarely see any connections from Ontario and Quebec through the US that are cheaper than the Canadian-based competition (Air Canada-Air Transat-WestJet , plus European-based carriers on the same routes.) And your home base Ottawa adds to the cost since it is not a major European gateway. I watch the fares from Toronto, flying twice a year on average, and now take for granted that prices trans-Atlantic soar at the end of April and come back down in October. The Iceland-based budget lines out of Toronto sometimes have a price advantage, at the disadvantage of changing planes in Iceland.
Have you priced out the fares offered through the cruise line? When we did our transatlantic, we booked a one-way fare through them (Celebrity, in our case), and it was very reasonable (but can't touch $500 for two people).
Thanks for the suggestion I’ve looked into it but they (royal Caribbean) won’t allow me to search flights this far out. Our cruise isn’t till late next
Year. But I will keep looking in their website.
