Open Jaw prices -- will they come back down??

$665 was an excellent price -- should have grabbed it. If fewer people are flying, airlines can also adjust their capacities. May is approaching peak season so it is anyone's guess as to what will happen. My advice, which may be too late, is that you buy the ticket when it is priced at a level you can afford. Without a lot of luck, you will never buy a ticket at it's lowest point. Why ?? because you will wait for it to go lower. Which you just did. Actually I don't think 980 is too bad a price but it is your call.

The cheapest airfares I ever find are on Swiss.com for the economy. For mid may travel they had both Boston-Zurich and Boston-Rome for $650 rt. The economy flex fares are usually unbelievable. Right now on swiss air you can go NY to Madrid for $250 each way and Madrid to Rome for $77 each way...which isn't much different than your original deal, right? You would just have to fly in/out of madrid with 2 flights in between but you would get to all the same places for about the same cash.

Lisa I posted earlier today on the Transportation link about cheap fares. Try the www.bestfares.com website. There was a $449 Denver to Madrid fare. Other cities were listed as well.

Try pricing NYC-Rome and Madrid-NYC as one trip and then get Rome-Madrid separately.

I just searched that for 5/13 - 5/25 and the total price was $510 on KLM or $528 on Iberia (nonstop return flight).

of course, if you buy now (expecting prices only to rise) prices will fall. if you wait (expecting prices to fall) prices will rise.

Although, my experience is that prices will almost always rise as the flight date nears.... My most recent trip to Rome, for example -- i bought my ticket 2 months prior and paid around 600. Prices went down to about 550 briefly, but then shot up to 1200 and stayed there. Much to my surprise, the flight had over 100 empty seats...

bottom line - airline fares are much like the stock market these days... there's no rhyme or reason to it-- if you see a fare you're comfortable paying, pay it. If you start trying to time the 'market', you're just going to get burned.

Hi Lisa,

Just wanted to state that I concur with Paul's suggestion. Often I will find that a multi-city trip with three segments prices much higher than just a simple open jaws with two segments and a separate one-way ticket between the middle two locations. So for example, check an open jaws NYC - ROM and MAD to NYC. Then check a one-way ROM - MAD. Also make sure that you check nearby airports.

I also always check a plain Round-trip (e.g. into either ROM or MAD).

You can also fill the Rome-Madrid gap with a flight on a discount airline. Check whichbudget.com, skyscanner.net and flylc.com for a list of airlines making that run....but go to the airlines's websites for bookings. That way, you'll be clear on their check-in and luggage policies.

Lisa, If I could answer that definitively I would be a very rick stockbroker..So, if you remember free advice is worth what you pay for, here goes...

I do not think prices will come down--think of the price of an airline ticket as an inverse bell shaped curve: tends to start high, get lower to the extent that supply exceeds demand, then goes back up again as you the traveler have fewer options. Also, prices tend to go up in spring or summer, so my answer to you is different than it would have been if you asked in late October.

You're right, the airlines will adjust prices accordingly if fewer people are traveling but bargain-basement prices are a short-term strategy. They have other ways of compensating for long-term downturns, such as cancelling flights. Also the same financial downturn that reduces travel also creates mergers (vis a vis Delta/Northwest) which reduces competition), and they start to excess capacity with travelers from cancelled flights and people who grabbed the good deals.

If the economy gets another bad jolt, prices could remain soft or go down again, but if you knew that you wouldn't worry about the cost of your ticket..

Thank you all very much for your suggestions.
I played around a little bit more with open jaw and looked at the one way from Rome to Madrid and costed things out at $650! Yippee!

I really appreciate you all sharing your experiences and wisdom with this relatively novice traveler.

Thanks!