Cheapest European Cities to Fly Into

Cheapest Cities to fly into depends on what city you're flying from! (SD?) Generally though, the big hubs with direct connections to the US are the cheapest, London, Paris, Copenhagen (SAS), Dublin, etc.

Generally speaking Tues/Weds are the cheapest days to fly, but check them all, you never know.

FYI - "Cheap" is a rare beast in summer... but cheapest, you can do.

Frankfurt and weekdays.

Where are you going once you get there? First, you are very close to LAX which is a great departure airport. All of the big European airlines fly out of there. Second, suppose you get a great fare on SAS but you want to visit Italy. You've now got to get from Amsterdam to Italy. Or, is where you land with the cheap airfare just fine? I actually saw a $606 RT airfare on United from California to Zurich the other day. That's not bad.

The least expensive city into which to fly is usually one of the major airports in the country in which you wish to be. That is, if you want to go to Paris, CDG would probably be less expensive than flying to Frankfurt, when you considered the cost of getting from FRA to Paris.

I have sometimes been tempted by a low fare to Germany through London, but when I consider the difference between spending hours in the international lounge at Heathrow, when you really want to fall asleep, and then getting to Germany in late afternoon, versus flying direct and getting to Germany with the full day ahead of you, it's not worth it.

Where are you going? Flying out of LAX can be difficult or easy and reasonable or expensive, depending on where you want to go. Last week I booked RT from LA to Florence on Swiss through Zurich for $579 in October. Several airlines fly from LA direct to London - Air New Zealand flies it and they run good deals sometimes. Virgin Atlantic also flies that route. KLM flies direct to Amsterdam and Air France flies direct to Paris. Lufthansa/United fly to Frankfurt and maybe Munich. SwissAir has a lot of deals too, it seems, and they fly direct LA to Zurich. These are just the ones I've found, I'm sure there are more. And sometimes, booking the connection isn't much more expensive than the direct flight (for example, LA to Zurich for the dates I'm traveling was actually more than LA to Florence through Zurich. Go figure!) Airfare is all wacky right now with flights being empty and routes changing and lots of low fares last minute to fill planes, etc., so it's especially hard to predict. Best thing is probably to search kayak, expedia, orbitz, etc and then check with the airlines themselves for other deals. As for which days, I think it's still pretty common that flying during the week is cheaper. the flight I booked, I come home on a Monday. To come home one day earlier on Sunday, it's $200 more.

If you can buy tickets now, i would try choose by airline rather than by location. Lufthansa has great deals lately. I got round trip (open jaw!!) tickets from Venice to Seattle and Portlans for around $600 each. I see on thier website if you fly before May 26 you can get RT LAX to Zurich for $240. I'm hearing a lot of people who are able to get from the US to Venice for under $700.

Delta has been posting some really good fares. I got my ticket from SFO to Zurich and back out of Munich for $740.00. American is also advertising great fares.My sister got her ticket into Zurich and out of Budapest (via London and New York though on the return, but AA does not do the Budapest route) for the same fare. These same routes have been over a $1000.00 in the last few months. We are traveling August 22 (weekend) and returning on September 07 (holiday).