Airline Pricing

Airline tickets can vary pretty significantly depending on when and where you go. When were you thinking about taking the tour and which tour would you want to take. In my experience, a ticket from Seattle to Europe costs between $650 and $1500, depending on time or year and the days you need to travel.

Price your ticket at 12 EST on a Tuesday say 29 days out, say next week, just for planning purposes. Beware: Prices will vary according to season (February vs. June). That will give you a data point (this has to do with sale prices showing up on various airlines being posted on Mondays). As a practical point plan on getting to where you're going to pick up the tour a day or two ahead of time. Deal with jet lag and possible delayed luggage (moot it you're going with just carry on) with less stress. That said price is not the only, by far, criteria. Long layovers cost money and or time (which are frequently the same thing). Seat allocation can be important if you are (as I am) tall. Red eye flights are fine by many (my husband included) but a horror for others (read me). FYI Short connections at Heathrow or any major hub a sure disaster. P.S. Only been on one tour in my decades of travel and it was a RS tour or Greece. Great. Couldn't have been happier.

Prices and service is best on European Airlines,prices are best from gateways with a lot of competition Chicago ORD for the midwest.My 3 sons and I rented a car in Minneapolis and saved $300 apiece on airfare to Amsterdam after rental and dropoff charges we saved a $1000 between the four of us. I recommend using http://matrix.itasoftware.com as the best search site for comparing pricing among all airlines at one time. AerLingus_Irish airlines had the best prices to Europe but you stop in Dublin to make connecting flights to your destination.AerLingus' online reservation system allows you to move a day at a time back and forth to get the lowest fares. Fares do vary greatly from day to day I would suggest you check prices every day starting 2 mos or 6 weeks ahead of your departure and make a reservation when you see a day with a great price.
I am a 70 year old ex-airline flight dispatch worker,international salesman with 10-15 Europe trips from Turkey to Iceland, and everywhere in between,under my belt.

Sign up for Kayak alerts. Do direct flights. Which tour are you thinking about?
Right now St. Louis to London Heathrow is averaging $996, $1245 to Munich with a stop, etc. Personally, I've usually fly LAX to Heathrow, spend a few days (LOVE London) and then continue to my final destination via a local airline or train. Also you must consider open jaw flights. This is NOT 2 one way tickets. When searching use the multiple cities option. Arrive in one city, depart from another. It's a single ticket. Can often help the pocket book.

On our last trip to Europe (May 2012 Rick Steves Paris City Tour) I started looking 7 months before the trip. At around the 6 month point, fares dropped on all the major airlines, and I purchased tickets for $700 (Air France: Boston to Paris non-stop). P.S. - the tour was great.

Capri - Check out SkyScanner or Kayak. Just plug in your airports and dates.