When to book International Flights to get the Most Choices

I'd keep looking. I'd pay that for business, if I had it--no way that's right for premium economy. I just did a dummy search on google and it was nowhere that high (selected premium economy, random dates in Sept).
Search on google or kayak, book direct with airline.
Also, train is convenient enough between MAD and BCN that I would fly into MAD even if somewhat time constrained, if it makes a difference.

Tell us your dates. We have some great people on this forum that will help, but they need the dates to do so. I think the quoted prices were high.

I picked one tour in Sept. I inputted those dates ( Sept 9-Sept 24) into Google flights for a multi-city flight as you described. Premium Economy on American Airlines was 2176,15 each passenger. Don’t go back to whatever site you were using………

And don’t use a third party. Search on Google Flights or Kayak and book directly with the airline. Start looking now and book when you find flights and prices that meet your needs. There is a lot of pent up demand so waiting until three months before your trip may see you missing the flights that suit you best. There is a big cost difference between premium economy and business class. We flew first class (also into BCN and back from MAD) a few months ago using all the dollars we saved not traveling for 2 years. Oh, those lie flat seats were sweet!

. Don’t go back to whatever site you were using………

book directly with the airline

These thoughts deserve emphasis

I wouldn’t sweat it too much; I go 3, sometimes 4, times a year and usually get my tickets 60 to 90 days prior and the fares are just fine.

As suggested, use Google Flights to find what works for you then book with the airline directly.

I just ran your trip on two random dates in March (fairly soon and a shoulder season like September) and came up with $700 economy (maybe $850 with seats), $1500 premium economy and $5000 for business class; sounds about right.

Some airlines, just prior to flight time, will sell upgrades by individual legs; I upgraded to Business on a recent KLM flight so I would be fresher for an engagement a few hours after landing in Europe.

Cost me an extra $500 on my $700 ticket but still cheaper than any of the other options and put me in Business for about 40% of my total flight time.

Just do some independent research, read all the fare rules very carefully (that $700 ticket is carry-on only … but again, last trip I paid an additional $80 to check a bag on the trip over …. Didn’t need it coming back so gifted the $45 walmart bag … still cheaper than Premium Economy).

step away from the third-party site. You want to book directly with the airline!

There’s no advantage to using a third-party site and as you’ve just discovered by the false information, you were given a lot of disadvantages. Just to give you a clue two weeks ago I booked a business class ticket to London for late February for $2000.

It would be good to know what airline you’re pricing with. You’ve received good advice about booking directly with the airline. We fly business class from the west coast - not LAX - and my rule of thumb is that when I find a good fare for about $3300 - $3600, I go for it. I try to always book with Delta. That way, if the fare goes down, I can get a credit to use on future trips. For my last 3 trips over, post-COVID, the fares have not gone down after my purchase.

Here’s another tip - try to price out and back on Tuesdays with Delta. The prices are usually cheaper. For the most recent tickets I bought - and I just purchased these last week - I was consistently getting fares in the 5K to 6K range. I kept plugging in dates and finally got a fare for $3800 - into a Paris on a Tuesday and back from London 4 Tuesdays later.

Airline pricing is steeply rising, thanks for nothing pandemic and all the ongoing and forecasted pent-up demand. A quick check of Google flights for business seats LAX-BCN inbound and MAD-LAX outbound in mid September 2023 shows $8733 purchase price on Aer Lingus, connecting thru DUB and the kicker is the DUB-BCN is premium economy seating and on your return, MAD-DUB is ugh, hold your nose and wait for it, economy. Seriously, even at an -only- 2 hr/35 or 40 min flight, that 'short' hop between the Continent and Ireland is what one calls adding insult to injury, at that price. I'd set alerts for routing you find acceptable (my preference is a 1-stop with 2 to 2.5 hr layover, late afternoon/early evening departure with early afternoon arrival inbound and a not-too-early morning departure, say 7:30 to 11:00 (so I don't have to take my ride to the airport at 0:dark 30) outbound and keep an eye on it. When you see the $ amount you can handle, make your choice. The more money I outlay the more likely I purchase travel insurance, too. Enjoy your planning and your travels!

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this but....book directly with the airline.

So you haven’t given us the dates but I did a little research just because I thought you were being let down the primrose path. Have you considered just flying in and out of Madrid. It’s an easy train ride back to BCN and will probably save you more than enough money. Doing that I found economy fares for $1000 and Premium for $170O. Business is running closer to 4000 a seat. I did find a two stop that’s 3000 but that didn’t seem real promising to me (Based on the 9/9 tour date )

Since you live in the LA area, don’t limit yourself just to LAX. I used to commute to orange county for work. I would check every airport in the area at any time I was booking a flight John Wayne, Long Beach, LAX , Ontario, you might even try San Diego. You’d be amazed. Sometimes you can find some deals coming out of those other airports. Not to mention it’s a lot easier to get in and out of them.

AIRLINE FARES ARE GOING UP!!!!!!
BUY NOW!!!!

I don't buy into that. They might go up, might not. I'm no expert but fuel prices in the US don't seem to have changed much in the past 60 days and with Summer demand for energy will be down.

If I were to look at Economy prices for September and they were over $1000 I would be inclined to wait .

I bought my Feb/March tickets to Budapest last night .. . $820 total cost and could have saved $100 if I had flown out if Houston instead of Austin.

Just be patient and plan on the purchase in April, May or June.

I just checked on google flights for LAX to BCN for basically 09/05 through 09/13 for $3000 per seat business class. This is not a bad price for business class in this day and age. Now this is a 2 stop itinerary LAX / JFK / FRA / BCN. If you post the proposed dates of your trip you will receive a lot of help from the members on this board.

Last time I checked the times for flights in economy class were the same as in business class. For $400 a fligtht hour, I'm willing to sit in a lesser space.

We watch the pricing from time to time. When a flight pops up online at 50% or less of normal airfares, that's time to buy.

If you have time, check into joining an airline's flight club and getting their Visa card that comes with 35,000 miles that can be used for upgrades.

Thank you all for sharing your wisdom with me.

I will not use third party sites and will book directly with airlines. I did not list my travel dates originally because we did not have our trip confirmation from RS and we have not decided on the number of extended days for our own wondering. We since then got confirmations and would like to spend a few days before and after the RS tour (thanks to the responses from our other question on this forum). So, our trip dates will be from 9/5 to 9/25 or 9/26 flying out of LAX. We would still cringe and pay for the Business Class as our backs demand unfortunately.
I used Google Travel and located flights from LAX of around $8200 for the two of us and with a trip time of 14 to 15 hours each way. One stop each way. I will wait a day or two before I pull the trigger.

We have 'frequent flyer' type memberships with Delta and United but not their credit cards since we don't want so many credit cards. We also checked our regional airport with Google Travel and did not find any savings but with extra trip time. But we appreciate the wisdom of the suggestion and will try to remember that advice for our future trips.
You guys are amazing. Thank you all!

If that is business then it does not sound too bad--I feel for you traveling to Europe from the west coast, but then you have Hawaii :)
Maybe one day, it won't be so utterly miserable to fly. I'd be fine if they just made it bunk beds for all--could not be worse than the seats we have now.