Booking Flight for September 2020

Whenever you feel comfortable with the price and connections. We are going to Croatia in September but don’t have our dates set yet. Another couple is meeting us for part of the trip and already have their plane tickets purchased.

If you can get yourself to Newark, we booked last week and got $401 direct round trip on United. Emerites had a similar fare but didn't depart until near midnight. We take off on Sept 20. Good luck..

Generally the longer you wait the more seats are purchased by others. The less seats available means prices go up.

Realize that the airlines use computers to adjust prices, multiple times a day, based on exact fluctuations of supply and demand. So, if flights are filling, prices go up; if they're not, prices go down. All you can do is follow the prices, book when it's at a price you're comfortable with, and not look back.

In your case, there is only one nonstop flight a day, on one airline, from Philadelphia to Athens. Furthermore, there are only a few nonstop flights from anywhere in North America to Greece. So, supply is already low compared to say, London or Paris. Of course, demand isn't the same as it is to those places (if it were, there would be more flights).

If you're sure of your dates, I'd book sooner rather than later.

I agree with everyone. I typically buy my tickets 6 - 8 months in advance. And once you purchase them, don’t look back. You will drive yourself nuts!

If the price sounds good then NOW is the time.

Generally prices are lower many months before you want to go, usually up to 10 months.

I booked a flight to Greece for Oct. 2020 back in December and since then prices have gone up.

You can use a search engine like Google Flight or Kayak and if you find something go directly to the airline's website rather than use a 3rd party. Make sure you know what you are getting with your ticket, especially luggage and carry-on rules.

I think American Airlines flies non-stop from Philly.

Just did a "test booking" for flights from Philly to Athens for Sept and prices seem to be exceptionally high. Can't advise whether to book now or not. Prices may change but no guarantees.

If possible check other cities you can fly out of to see if there are lower fares, especially JFK. Newark may be an alternative also.

Only issue is there may not be non-stop flights but it seems you'll save quite a lot of money.

Living in Philly I can say sadly that AA has us in a wringer ... once upon a time (back in the USAir days), that nonstop would have a price drop of a couple hundred $ about now -- but not lately. More like $1400 and if you don't like it fuggeddaboutit. At least if you book now, you'l hve a better chance of getting side-seats & aisle seats, toward the front of economy instead of being stuck in the middle a 6-seat hell-row in the wayback. If you have some "points" you might go for an exit-row seat with more legroom. The one (small) improvement I noted this past year is that they're either using newer planes on this run, or have reupholstered the seats, because the experience was marginally less uncomfortable... but then, I am 5'3" and your party may be taller. It helps to have 2 glasses of wine at dinner. Sigh.

I flew with AA from Boston to Athens with layover in Philly back in 2018 and the price was way lower than what I'm now seeing for a flight from Philly to Athens for next Sept.

Not sure if it's the departure point (Boston) but it seems AA is gouging people who fly out of Philly.

Boston, JFK and Newark are much lower (hundreds of $$ in fact) for next September with AA.

Just last year when I was making plans for a September visit to Greece I started checking Orbitz and Expedia for ticket pricing and discovered a wide discrepancy depending on the day of travel, but kept checking since I had some time before I needed to buy. I was seeing prices (LAX>ATH) around the $1200 mark, then one day it was $710 for no apparent reason. Guess which ticket I immediately purchased???

One thing I've noticed in watching airfares to Europe (though I haven't been looking at flights to Greece) is that the price gap between a non-stop flight and a connecting flight tends to widen as the departure date approaches. So I believe it's a lot riskier to wait if you feel you must be on a non-stop flight.

Thank you all for helping answer my question. When spending $1,500 on airfare, it felt much more comfortable doing so after getting your replies. Thank you.
While in Greece, we are flying to Santorini for a few days in September. I see Olympic Air is $207 roundtrip. Should I book that flight now too?