Typical Airfares to Europe?

I've had great success (and saved hundreds of dollars) by listing several preferred routes/days/times at Yapta.com. They watch the flights for you and alert you to temporary price drops. Using their recent alert, I bought a ticket to Paris in late May for $660 when they had been running $1300+ online! Last year they saved me $300+ on an already-purchased ticket (I got a voucher for the difference). And, no, I don't work for them but I definitely talk them up whenever possible!

Matt, delete the internet cookies on your computer and try again. Sometimes if you check more than once, the site will retain your "info" and deliberately give you a higher price. Hope this helps!

I have been reading comments from travelers for over 10 years, including employes of airlines.

They report that fares on all airlines change daily and sometimes hourly. Some recommend checking for fares as often as you can to get the latest and lowest fare.

When I am shopping for fares I usually choose two or three airlines which fly to my destination and call each one every day until I am satisfied with the lowest fare.

Some airline employes advise checking each day immediately after midnight when some lines change fares. The fares will depend on the inventory of seats available on each flight at that time.

If you get a good fare it is purely by chance.

From the East Cost a typical airfare runs from about $800-$1200 to Europe.

Go to sidestep.com and that shows most of the airline and airfare sites together so you will see the average airfare across the different airlines

As soon as I know the dates I want to travel I start looking at rates almost daily and start 6 months in advance if possible. I don't think the overseas fares change as often as the fares in the US but they do change. Sometimes it takes a month or so but the rates change and you can find something you like. When I find a flight I know I want but it still to high, I look at the seating chart to see how full it is. If there are still a lot of seats, chances are the rates will change several times even before I book it. Just look each day and sometimes a few times a day. You will be surprised at how much they do change the rates. This works for me and saves me $$$$.

You are making a pretty good trek, going against you is: Leaving from West Coast (a bump in price over us in the Midwest or East Coast) Flying to Tallinn (not a direct destination, so you pay for extra legs) Flying to mixed cities, which in this case are served by no one airline (maybe an alliance does fly to all cities, but costs go up the odder the route). Maybe consider taking the STPB-Paris link out when you quote and see if you can find a budget airline within Europe for that segment. Maybe consider a more popular first stop (Warsaw? or maybe fly to Helsinki first, then other transport to Tallinn) Consider a consolidator (WWW.Airgorilla.com or www.airlineconsolidator.com) who may be able to patch together stray tickets at a discount to typical Airlines. However, for September, it is probably a bit early to buy, but not to look. Maybe with 3-4 months prior to September (May?) discounts could start, but with good seat availability left. September will be significantly cheaper than August, try searching mid-week dates as well. As others have said, find what seems to be the best combination of factors, then figure out what the typical price is, then jump on a price that is acceptable, and never look back. As for range, it would be tough to get something less than $800 (including taxes and fees) and after some adjustment maybe $1000 would be typical.

James, I think you DO mean to brag, since your post has really nothing to do with the original poster's question. :)

Thanks for the help!

sidestep.com appears to be the same as kayak.com

On yapta.com I can't see anyway to do a multi-city trip

"I look at the seating chart to see how full it is"

Where do you find the seating charts for a flight you haven't booked yet?

Matt,

That's a lot of difference. Very strange.
The air fares fluctuate according to the gas price and USD-EUR rate. Also the time of year and the day are important as well. If you leave on Friday it will cost you more.
The cookies on your computer don't have anything to do with the price.

Matt - have you tried Vayama.com? I've never booked with them but I've been looking for airfare from Omaha - Paris - London - Omaha in September and most sites were giving me around $1,100 fares but Vayama had a $750 fare. It's still too early to book and I think I can get it for less (I usually book about 2-3 months in adv.) but I was surprised they found such a low fare compared to the other sites. And yes, it was including all taxes and fees.

Matt, on American flights, when you put in your destination and dates to check flights, when the page comes up that shows all the flights, there is a line to click on the right side of the page that says either seating or seating chart. Just click on that for the plane you wish to look at. It will show you all reserved and seats still available for that flight @ that date and time.

Yes I have seen lots of fluctuation in airfares, remember also that Finland and Paris are expensive fares anyway good thing is that in Sept fares drop alittle as it is shoulder season. If you have time and energy to track it more use a consolidator like cheaptickets, expedia etc. follow them for a few months. Or fly into a cheaper airport like Frankfurt then take a budget airlines to Finland. If all this is too much trouble just purchase next time you see a fare you can be comfortable paying.

Kent,

I think $1900-$2200 from SeaTac is way too high for this itinerary, especially in the current economy. Keep checking the various websearch sites and you'll do better.

Mike

Hi, Matt! Those prices are way over inflated! From Seattle, if you keep your eyes open $600-800 round trip should be easily doable in September. A couple things: 1 - most airlines don't load all of their inventory until 3 months out, that's why you can find the best prices at the 3 month(ish) mark, and what you see right now is so high.. 2 - More flights are available from SEATAC now that ever before - just this year BA added another flight, Lufthansa added, there was talk of Air France, and Al Italia adding to. And more may come thanks to the "Open Skies" agreement. 3 - most airlines are still charging fuel surcharges that will hoefully go down by then! I'd wait until May/June to start searching in earnest, and try the Seattle straight shots to London, Paris, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, and see if you can grab a flight on Ryanair for the to get to your destination. Hope that helps!

Trans-Atlantic seat capacity is definitely being reduced, which translates to higher fares. For example, Sea-Tac has already lost its non-stop service to London by Northwest and is losing its nonstop to Copenhagen by SAS. Really sad about that one...So, at the moment, we're down to BA to London, Northwest to Amsterdam, Lufthansa to Frankfort and Air France to Paris.

Matt,
Have you seen those small display ads in papers like the Sunday New York Times, Travel Section which offer cheap fares to many destinations. Many are for very specific areas like India, and only use Airlines which are native to those areas.

Many of these ads are from 'Travel Consolidators' Who buy up blocks of tickets for future flights and sell them cheaply.

I have used them in the past (but I haven't been to Europe in recent years) and have been satisfied. I have recommended them to many people, but most are afraid to gambel, as they don't issue tickets. They give you a chit which you turn in at the airport for your ticket just before the flight.

I used a New York City travel agent at the time because New York Travel Agents must be 'bonded' by law, and I was more confident that my agent would not vanish in the night.

I was even able to arrange an Open Jaw trip. On my last return we started home from Rome, with a very short stop in Nice, to pick up more passengers and then on to New Your. The person who sat next to us in Nice paid more for his Nice-to-New York than we paid for our Open Jaw Round Trip.

Even it you don't want to us them, they give you a good starting point for looking for a fare price.

Leo

Just a little followup to my original question. I've been trying a lot of the things people have suggested.

My trip isn't until September, but just for comparison I've been searching for fares the end of March.

I tried an Open-Jaw trip: Seattle to Tallin, StPetersburg to Paris, and Paris to Seattle; and around $1300 is the best I've been finding.

I tried a round-trip: Seattle-to-Paris and I've found a fare right around $750; and then added an open jaw trip Paris-Tallin and StPete-Paris and found that for $350; So the total doing it that way is around $1100

And that is being a little bit picky on my travel times, If I was willing to take 6AM flights, or arrivals after 9PM I could probably take $100 off both of those fares.

I've found that Kayak.com seems to give me the best results with the most variety of fares and times.
I've never booked a flight through Kayak.com anyone have any problems with Kayak?

I haven't tried any "consolidators", since I don't really know what they are or how to find their web-sites.

Unfortunately, Matt, travelling in March isn't the same as travelling in September, when airfares are generally higher, since it's still considered part of the high season. You may want to examine discount airlines at sites like www.flylc.com, whichbudget.com and skyscanner.net to see if you can link to Tallin and St. Petersburg through a cheap gateway like London or Paris, Estonian Air, for examples flies Paris-Tallin....on Thursdays and Sundays, they have one-ways as low as $130 US. The drawback is that there is no "interlining" between the majors and the discount carriers....you'll have to get your luggage, go through customs and immigration, then check back in with the discount airline. If there's any delay along the way, and you miss the flight, your SOL. But it's definitely a way of saving money if you make sure you have lots of time between flights.