Originally I was going to Europe in the winter of 2009. It was a tough decision, but I realize that it is best if I go in the summer of 2010 (6/25/10-8/10/10).
When is the earliest I can book my flight? Also, if I had gone this winter, I would be looking at spending around $1300 to fly from my US hometown into Madrid. Now that I want to go in the summer, roughly how much am I looking at spending on airfare (especially if I book way in advance)?
Thank you!
Hi Judy, It's such a gamble either way - and the bottom line is that no one can really answer your qusetion. We went through the same thing when booking our flight for this past May. We flew from a small, local airport to London, than returned from Rome and paid what we thought was a good price - $1000. We booked in September 08 and our trip was in May 09....so it was early to book. I watched the flight prices obsessively in the following months. They seemed to increase by a couple hundred dollars in the 3-5 ahead of trip range....but dropped drastically in the 1-2 month ahead of trip range. Since we booked with a third party (flycheapabroad), we weren't able to rebook and get a refund...which is something to consider. I think it just depends on what you are comfortable with. we booked 8 months ahead of time, which is early - but we were comfortable with the rate price. Or if you are a gambler, wait until 1-2 months before your trip and try for a great rate. It all depends on how comfortable you are with taking a chance....no one can really answer this question, maybe only speak from personal experience. I've seen many similar posts on this website, so do some searching and see what other have to say about fare watching websites. Good luck!
Judy, high season in Europe generally starts 1 June, so flights after that, through Sept or Oct (depending on where you're going) will be higher than flights before 1 June. It might be cheaper if you could start your flight before that, you might get half the trip at low season prices. I'd keep checking flights with a couple dates (if you can be flexible), and/or check with a travel agent to see what prices are like in their experience.
