Best way to book airfare from US

It rarely makes sense to book a separate ticket to a major hub airport like JFK unless you plan to at least overnight there (adding expense). The risk of traveling on separate tickets is too great. Besides, there should be good flights from one of the major Texas airports.

I have booked both ways you mentioned. For me the downside is you must be careful about connection times because if you change airlines and sometimes even if you fly the same airline but on separate tickets you may have to gather your bags on arrival at the place you choose to connect and then go through security again before rechecking your bag. This is not a big deal if you have time but be sure to allow time for baggage claim, and then security check a second time. I flew on separate tickets from Indy to Phily to Heathrow to take advantage of airline miles and better prices. I flew American from Indy to Philly and then British Airways from Philly to Heathrow, obviously separate tickets. Even though AA and BA are part of the whole one world network they would not transfer my bags at Philly. I had to collect the bags, go out and around to the other terminal, check my bag, and go back thru security...it ws kind of a hassle BUT it saved me big bucks and allowed me to fly business to Heathrow, worth the effort IMO. My main point is when you are booking be sure to leave yourself a bunch of connections time because they wont care about a delay on a separate ticket. And to reference Sasha's point, on our return flight we did the same thing using separate tickets but chose to spend the night in Philly, we lessened the hotel fee by sighing up for a Marriott credit card and getting a rock bottom price on the airport hotel at Philly. This also prevented us from arriving at your home airport at midnight and then had to make a 1.5 hour drive home..

You've gotten good advice. But, if you encounter a catastrophic delay (I had one Newark to Sacramento, 14 hour delay) you will miss your flight to Europe and have to pay for another last minute ticket ($$$) if there is one available. I would research your fares from airports close to home.

Where are you flying from in Texas, DFW or a regional airport? And where are you flying to?

I would say that generally it's better to book multiple flights on one ticket - then if one flight is delayed the airline can deal with getting you on another flight with less hassle and should be at no cost to you. There may not be much cost saving but for peace of mind it's huge.

If it's a choice between a direct flight from home airport or flying across the country to gat a cheaper one I would pick the direct flight from home - less chance of anything going wrong; missed flights, lost luggage, weather delays and so on.

For my location, it's never been cheaper/better to book two tickets or to fly first from a major airport compared to utilizing our regional airport with pretty good connections to the world. I do know people that believe otherwise. The problems with two tickets are noted above. Drive to a major airport? Consider drive times, fuel costs, vehicle wear and tear, parking expenses and generally two nights accommodations and food, plus the loss of time I'd rather be at the destination(s).

I will drive to a major airport. Example - a ticket from Cleveland may be $1400 but from Toronto (4-5 hours) it's $700. Times 4 for my entire family - $2800 savings. Minus one night hotel there, has, etc - still a savings of well over $2000. Completely worth it - that's money I can use for my trip or cover a lot of the next trip's flight!

I have also timed a visit to my sister in NY for just before a trip - go, visit her as I try to do every few months, then fly from there. Not really an extra expense because I visit her anyway.

Thank you everyone. It's not an issue of flying out of DFW. I just wanted to hear the pros and cons. I love to save money if possible but it doesn't sound like it's worth the nightmare that could happen....
My price alert app is advising my to fly air Canada today as they have a lower price. Seems odd to fly from here to Canada then To Ireland. 😬

@Jennifer: airfares are not always logical atvleast to me, but with massive computer power available to the companies, maximizing income seems to be rather effective. Just wish there was greater consideration for passenger comfort, but customers must be willing to pay more.

I'll be trying out the Air Canada option this August. However, from Detroit, it's a hop, skip and a jump to the Windsor, Canada airport. From there we fly to Toronto and then Dublin.

Usually we prefer to fly to Delta from Detroit to AMS and connect from there, but the savings with the Canadian dollar were too much to pass up. We're flying round trip for $800 USD per person.

I'll try to report back about the Air Canada experience. It will be my first time flying with them.

Yes the airfare for Canada was $697 a person yesterday. I'm kicking myself for not booking. I just thought it seemed odd to fly from DFW to Canada then to Ireland.

" I just thought it seemed odd to fly from DFW to Canada then to Ireland."

Not odd at all. It's like making any other connection. If the connection times, total flight durations, and departure and arrival times, are good, and the price is right - go for it!

Do be sure to check all these things. For instance, out of New York, Turkish Air and Aer Lingus often have good fares to various European cities. However, Turkish Air requires a connection in Istanbul and often involves a long layover, so these flights can take MUCH longer than flying on Aer Lingus and connecting in Dublin. I've flown them both and they're both fine, so I'm not talking about the airlines themselves - only the routes and timings.

Thanks for the good tips. Has anyone booked through a third party like kayak or hopper? Or is it safer to book direct? Thanks!!!!!

Thanks for the good tips. Has anyone booked through a third party like kayak or hopper? Or is it safer to book direct? Thanks!!!!!

I think most of us prefer to book direct, but that's easy to say when you live in a competitive-market city and are not looking at potentially huge savings from booking through a third-party site, as sometimes happens. It's a matter of weighing risk (possible communication breakdown if the flight is rescheduled, potentially greater difficulty if you need to be rebooked, etc.) vs. reward (savings on the fare). Especially if using a third-party site, be very careful about having adequate time for any connections and understand the difference between a single-ticket booking and a cobbled-together combination of cheap flights that will leave you holding the bag if the first flight is delayed or canceled.

Regarding taking a cheaper flight from Detroit to Europe via Toronto, a friend of mine did that last year because she could not resist the low fare. It was around $650 round trip to Copenhagen via Toronto. They were supposed to get there for a Baltic ship cruise. Well, they had to fly a regional flight (included in the deal)from Detroit to Toronto, but there were problems with the airplane so their flight got delayed for quite a few hours. There were no extra flights they could take to Toronto. When they finally made it to Toronto, their original plane had already left, and there would not have another one until the next day. They spent most of the night dealing with Air Canada trying to get another flight and were not able to get a good nights sleep. Not sure if they slept at the airport if at all. And they barely made it to their cruise ship before sailing. I asked her later if she would do that again, and she said "no way!" The stress and hassle was not worth saving the few hundreds of dollars they saved. It left a bad impression on our minds about Air Canada and its regional connector flights.

Well delta just had a sale for $512 Round trip!!! Woo hoo! Booked and ready to go!!!

My wife and I flew to Paris on Air Canada from Columbus, Ohio a few years ago. Coming back we had to go through security and customs three times-France,Canada and US. Money saved was not worth the hassle.

We just booked out of Miami instead of Birmingham bc we got a great deal on Delta ($450 RT) from Miami to CDG. Took American from Birmingham to Miami. While it made me a bit nervous, it worked out fine, despite a delay. We spent the night in Miami using points before the flight to Paris the next day, and we had trip insurance to cover us if we had major problems, which we would have bought anyway. Yes, I'd do it again, but only under similar circumstances.