Hello,
Found what I think is a good price for my flight to Europe and back home, but don't really have anyone else to ask so I'm curious if you think it looks like a good time to buy. I will be leaving San Francisco on Aug 31...and leaving Amsterdam on Oct 17.
Thanks!
$1225
SAS
SFO 5:35p DUB 6:15p
16h 40m
1 stop (CPH)
AMS 6:55a SFO 2:45p
16h 50m
1 stop (CPH)
Select
$1225 KAYAK
$1243 Orbitz
$1243 Cheaptickets
$1243 Flysas
$1243 Priceline
Coach
My guess is that this fare is probably $100-$150 better than competitors with more connections. I think it’s a decent fare. If everything about this fare meets whatever requirements you have established for your trip, why wait? It could go up or down, but I doubt it would go far in either direction for the time period in which you are flying (i.e. it’s not going under $1000 & it’s not going to be $1500). Once you buy, don’t go back and check it all of the time to see if it goes up or down. It doesn’t matter at that point…some folks get all OCD about constantly checking this after the fact. Once you buy, just have fun planning out all of the remaining details of your trip. Happy travels.
You may wish to look up reviews of SAS long haul flights on Skytrax
Sometimes, Fareboom.com will be cheaper than the other--by a little.
Otherwise, you're doing as well as expected for early Fall, 2014.
Since you're not going at the highest traffic time of the year, you have time to wait to see if any one day sales pop up. I saw one last week on Lufthansa for travel starting before 3/27/2014--in the $800's to many places.
This is a decent price. However, two things you should think about:
1) Flying via Copenhagen to get to Dublin lengthens the time you are going to spend in the air.
2) Your flight home leaves at 6:55am. You will need to get to the airport awfully early and your transportation options to the airport could be limited. Check out your options first so you don't end up eating all your savings with an expensive taxi fare.
If those things don't bother you, it is a good price. I'd choose to buy directly from SAS rather than one of the resellers.
I travel to Europe about 3 times a year. I generally pay about 20% more than the best fare rate. I have discovered that the lay over times, arrival times and the airports I have to change in are more important than $200 one way or another. But yes, looks like a good fare if it avoids JFK and Chucky D. AND, if it gives you manageable layovers were you are more assured that you will be able to make connections. The best rate on a ticket the other day gave me 45 minutes in Frankfurt on the European inbound leg. What?! Who would risk a day of their vacation because a missed connection just to save $150?
Oh, and I bet you get about the same rate if you go to the carrier and buy your tickets,
A nasty surprise about checking prices online. Sometimes you see a fare, don't buy, think about it for a couple of days, decide to go back and buy, and that fare for the flight you want is gone, not to be found again. Establish what you think is a good price, go looking for it; buy it. Case in point, when I was a lot younger, I went to the British Airways website. Found a price for a round trip ticket to London (from NYC) for $549 which included 3 nights in a hotel in London (BA package deal). Thought, "That's really good." Left the website, checked my email, walked into living room, told husband about the great London deal, went back to the computer to BA and ...the deal was gone, never to be found again. You find a good deal, jump on it that minute.
SAS is very good on long hauls in my experience.
