Europe Flight - Getting Best Deal

check out the website "Scotts cheap flights" he has a free service and an subscription service. We have found great deals through his emails.

There is no "trick." The best way to find a fare that works for you is to start searching long in advance (which you're doing) and keep watching fares as they go up and down. You will soon get a sense of the range of prices. Then, pull the trigger when you find something that works for you. There's no magic to this, no shortcuts, you need to invest a little time and effort.

$670 round trip may not be too bad a price - it depends on where you're flying from, among other things.

I would hasten to add that IMHO it's very foolish to shop only on one criteria alone: just the lowest possible price. Just like buying a car, there are lots of variables to consider, and while price is almost always a factor, if it's the only thing you are hypnotized by, don't complain when that "great low price" gives you an experience that you come back complaining about. Personally, I don't care if the ticket is free, or even if an airline paid me to suffer through 36 hours of the misery they might inflict on me, life is too short for that. I'm very attuned to things like seat comfort (and lack thereof), nonstop flights or at least efficient connections that minimize the potential ordeal, and other things. Every individual's priorities are probably different.

Many people complain loudly about how crappy air travel has become. Remember that the airlines are just giving the public what they are demanding: crazy low prices. Stop encouraging them to continue making passengers' experience so miserable, and shop for your travel based on all the criteria that you care about - including price but not to the exclusion of all else.

ditto there is no trick. It depends where you are flying from. Only $670 from LA to London direct would seem like a deal. You have to sign up on each airlines site to get email alerts about sales.
Some come with codes you enter at booking.

hey Bart
fare looks good to me, I look at times for layover, what time arrival (too early for checking and having to wait for hours with luggage and how early for departure from Europe), baggage and seat cost. You’re planning start of high season. Maybe an alert, keep eye on it, if definite on date and time book it and don’t look back. Also look at hotels/apartments prices, could be good airfare but lodging is expensive and then regrets, see that often. Book early for good deals, check booking.com or direct to lodging if discount. Keep us informed of what you decided on.
Aloha

I see from your profile you're from Portland, so I assume PDX is your home airport. $670 round trip from PDX is almost as good a deal as you can get for that time of year (that is when I usually travel to Europe). Though the "cheap" fares are not worth it (IMHO) if you make more than one stop on the way, or you have an extremely tight connection at a not fantastic airport. Personally, I'm willing to pay more to have a direct flight or one with minimal possibilities for drama. I use Google flights to track prices for specific routes to get a feel for what the going rate is.

Delta has seasonal (May-Sept) direct flight PDX-LHR, but it rarely goes on sale. You might get a decent price on PDX-AMS-LHR flights. I just did a quick search for flights in May/June - most of the cheap options (as low as $606) have you fly through LAX (I would not fly that far south to fly east); Dallas-Fort Worth (with an extremely tight connection through an airport with frequent delays); through Iceland (with a medium sized or very long layover); or via Seattle (the cheapest flight has 1 hour layover, which is too tight a transfer for a domestic to international transfer at Sea-Tac, in my experience).

Those comments reflect my preferences though - if cost is your only consideration, then wait for a deal. My experience with the fare deals (Scott's Cheap flights, airlines, etc.) is that they are rarely available for our home airport, but when they are it is for flights within 2 months of the deal email, which means you'd have to wait to see what shows up in March next year.

I would grab that price. Looks like a great deal for that time of year.

I would actually suggest picking a few flights that you prefer, watch them, and when there is a price acceptable to you, buy the tickets. Just don't go for a flight because it is cheap. Saving money and arriving miserable is not a good trade-off.

if it is direct from Portland I would buy it at $670; the flights to London are usually expensive if not direct on Norwegian airlines

The first $200 or so (varies based on exchange rates) for a transatlantic round trip ticket into the vast majority of UK airports is assorted fees, taxes, and government fees, so I'd call the $670 quite good.

That price of $670 if, for example, non-stop from SFO or OAK I would take it, even thought I have purchased a r/t ticket in Economy for less than that for May-June.

I book through the airline, don't use Kayak, etc. If the flight were free, then I would be willing to put up with much more discomfort than just sitting in the sardine can seat in Economy. I've lucked out on the last three flights going to LHR or Gatwick, each time r/t, and getting a seat towards the rear or in the rear and an aisle seat

$670 RT??? OMG, I'd take that in a heartbeat. Where I live, there are connecting flights. Nothing overseas is ever that good so far.

That price looks good (depending on where you're flying from). British Airways currently has a sale but booking a dummy flight the cheapest I came up with was just over $1200 from Portland with a connection in Philadelphia.

As others have said, there is no trick. Sign up to the various airlines mailing lists and you'll be notified when the sales are on, there's no knowing in advance when they'll be. For me price is not the most important factor, my main one is comfort so I never fly long haul in economy. I also try to fly direct as often as possible and will pay the extra over a cheaper flight with connections.

I've never know airlines running "crazy promotions", they offer cheaper tickets during the sales but nothing that would ever be described as "crazy". I would recommend buying the tickets at that price.

My technique is just to look at multiple sites/airlines, with multiple dates and multiple options for airports. The greater the flexibility, the better chance you will find a deal. If I see a great deal, I jump on it. Otherwise I wait and keep checking but am happy with a good price.

Often there's a trade off between price and convenience. Each person has their own idea of whether it's worth it? Would I make a trip to NY from DC area to save more than a thousand per ticket? Probably. Would I make the same trip to save $100? No.

You are not going to find a better price than that from Portland! That's an incredibly good deal. I live in L.A. and even from here, a major hub, I would hop on that in a second.

JC, British Airways is having a sale? Is there a special place on their website to get sale prices? I haven't noticed any reduction, but then here in flyover country it can be harder to find bargains.

$670 is incredible, but look into the details. Usually, it's several stops or departure time is some ungodly hour. Also look at the extras, do you have to pay more for a seat, do you have to pay for baggage, food or water. Certain airfares look cheap but then adding up the extras can mean paying as much as some regular flights.

The days of airlines running crazy promotions is gone. Unfortunately, overseas travel is now regular travel for most and the airlines don't have to discount like they used to(back in 2001, we got a deal from DC to London for $325 round trip on United. You do have to keep looking and then if price drops a little, buy it. At least for me, even when I buy a cheap fare, it will go cheaper before I fly. Once you buy a ticket, try not to compare prices.

JC, British Airways is having a sale? Is there a special place on their website to get sale prices? I haven't noticed any reduction, but then here in flyover country it can be harder to find bargains.

Jane, having looked on the site again it appears, although nothing is explicitly stated, that the sale may only apply to flights departing from London.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/offers/sale?refevent=SEPT18PLOSP

I would go to https://www.google.com/flights which will show you many different flights on different days in the year, there is a calendar that can show you the cheapest flights (you can enter parameters such as # of layovers, economy/business, and even certain airlines). Enter Portland to London round trip in May and see what flights come up based on their calendar for May/June. I just did it and it looks like $670 is a fantastic deal...but of course check on the # of layovers, timing of layovers, etc. If you find something good, jot down the flights or email them to yourself, then go to the airline's website and you should get the same price for the same price--or you could call the airline website. I always check google flights first to see my options (they do not cover Southwest or Ryan Air, not sure about WOW) and then book on the airline website.

If you use a cell phone, download the free app "HOPPER". This app exists to tell you whether flights are likely to go up or down for a particular date and can alert you if prices drop or go up. Based on historical data, so not perfect, but it will give you an idea. Right now it is showing flights going on 5/7/18 and returning 5/18/18 at $882 on Virgin Atlantic and $892 on American and Finnair (all 1 stop) and $902 on KLM advising to wait for a better price. You can enter the exact dates you wish to travel and it will advise you based on historical data.

If you have found something around $670...wow!

SuzieeQQ
San Diego

$670 round trip from anywhere in the US sounds like a great deal. Take it.

JC:

it appears, although nothing is explicitly stated, that the sale may only apply to flights departing from London.

Rats!

This last trip I left from SFO to Gatwick, round trip, on 28 April with British Air in Economy, which I always fly. The fare was $500...period. I don't know if the price would have been the same or even comparable, say $530 or $550, if I had flown out on 1 or 2 or 3 May. In Oct 2017 the fare to London was $530 but required changing in Seattle where the layover was 5 hrs. The return flight was non-stop, Gatwick to OAK on Br Air.

If you can get a cheap flight down to Oakland, CA you can fly on Norwegian. Their low-fare calendar usually has amazing deals for that time of year. Last year I got a one-way ticket to Paris for $245 from Oakland in early June. I usually pay between $600 - $700 rt from LAX if I'm flying outside of peak season.

I have taken two solo trips to Europe so far. Here is my method I have figured out
1. Pick your travel dates. Confirm that the dates are ok with your workplace.
2. Search for flights as soon as possible. As you search for flights on multiple airplane ticket buying websites, you will learn which flight-plans exist which will get you to from Portland OR, to London, and back. Make a list of which flight plans exist, in the next column, the airline(s), in the next column, the current price, in the next column, the number of stops/ where the layovers are.
3. I thought I learned that it is best to buy from an airline's website instead of an airplane ticket website like Expedia, orbiz, travelocity, and so on, but I don't remember why.
4. I bought my tickets from Detroit to London, England, in 2016, from Expedia. I picked the cheapest option. I randomly ended up with Virgin Atlantic one way, and another airline the other way. I paid approximately under $1,200. By mistake I left my printed confirmation papers on my couch and got held in a medium security holding cell at London, Heathrow, for 4 hours ... maybe they couldn't just contact the airline because I didn't buy from an airline.
5. In 2017 I bought my tickets from Detroit to Rome, from Delta. They might have been the only airline going non-stop from Detroit to Rome and back. I did not try to see if another airline offered better service, amenities, and so on.
6. This year I bough tickets from Detroit to Athens, from American Airlines. The flights are Detroit -Philadelphia-Athens, Athens-Philadelphia-Detroit. It cost under $1,486. For under a thousand $ I could have taken Turkish airlines from Detroit-Washington DC-Istanbul-Athens; or for $7 less than what I paid I could have taken Canadian Airlines from Detroit-Toronto-Athens; Delta had a flight plans for $$1,512 and higher, and other flight plans may exist for my trip.

Do some research. Don't just automatically pick the cheapest tickets.

Mike L, I think #4 is the answer to #3.

We also had problems the one time we bought through Orbitz (never again!) but at least we weren't held in a holding cell!

Thank you all for your helpful & thoughtful replies. I'm happy to say I purchased my tickets today for our May/June 2019 Round trip to London Heathrow Airport. After much searching on a number of sites (Kayak, SkyScanner, and airline homepages) I pulled the trigger on what I think is an amazing deal. Here's the deal:

Airline: Virgin Atlantic (Operated by Delta)
Travel Times:
Departs - Friday Mid May - PDX - SEA - LHW - 57 min lay over in SEA - Total travel time 11 hrs, 13min
Return Trip - Sat - Early June - LHW -PDX - Non Stop - 10hrs, 43 min
Cost per person : $607.51

I purchased the tickets through PRICELINE on my credit card. Needless to say I'm beyond happy with the non-stop return as well as the short layover in Seattle. And the price is amazing! Now for the caveats. The seats will be assigned 24 hours prior to takeoff. I don't know if that means I have any choice or not. I'm thinking this super cheap fare is an agreement between Priceline and Virgin to fill seats and get the plane fully loaded. Of course I know the restrictions are harsh and to expect big penalties if we cancel or change anything. I checked Virgin's website and our 6 digit travel code works and our name's are in the system.
I was pretty much going to buy the tickets today after checking all last week and over the weekend..but when this fare showed up, I jumped at it. I think the airlines dump super cheap fares in the system from time to time. Not sure if it was because of a Tuesday or not. Anyway, I'm happy with my purchase.

We fly premium economy on Virgin and really like that airline.

We're planning a trip to the United Kingdom for May/June 2019 - Flying
in / out of London. I'm starting to do the usual fare searches on
SkyScanner, Kayak, etc. So far $670 R/T is the best I've seen. We're
fairly flexible on dates as well. I'm wondering if people have tips
on snagging an amazingly cheap fare.

I think you've got a good deal. The LHR taxes for the return flight to PDX are so high that you won't find much cheaper fares than what you found. Remember, definitely use 3rd party websites to find fares but BUY them on the airline website.

hey bart
Great deal. are you staying in London the whole time? Since you have dates it’s time to look at good deals for hotels/apartment. Don’t know what you looking for.
Aloha

Good job on the deal, you are unlikely to find something lower, especially on the direct return flight. That layover in SEA is really, really short - so make sure Delta (they're the flight operator) checks you through to LHR (including your boarding passes and entering your passport info), take carry on bags only, check the SEA gate assignment before you leave PDX, and go quickly and directly to your gate in SEA (no stops, no bathroom). I nearly missed my international flight on a connection that was an longer than the one you have. I think there is only one Delta London flight per day from SEA. Good luck!

https://www.hopper.com/

We fly premium economy on Virgin and really like that airline.

It appears that the flight the OP is on is operated by Delta which is a shame as Virgin is a much better airline.

I've found flexibility, on your part, is the best way to save money. Check out various airports you can fly from, various airports you can fly to, switching the direction of open jaw flights, various dates (a few days either side of what you were planning). Being flexible regularly turns a $1,000 flight into a $500 flight for me.

I also watch prices for a while before buying (unless I see a great deal, then I book).