Cheap Flights from US to Germany??

You should sign up for fare alerts for the flights you are considering. Also sign up for newsletters from places like Kayak and Travelzoo. Start watching the prices now so that you will recognize a good deal when one comes along, and be ready to jump on it when you see one. They can sell out fast.

Thanks,Nancy. Will do....I am also willing to fly anywhere in Europe we can get to then take Ryanair or other airline to Frankfurt....any ideas?

"I am also willing to fly anywhere in Europe we can get to then take Ryanair or other airline to Frankfurt" Before you make the same mistake others have made, RyanAir does not fly to Frankfurt - it doesn't fly to anywhere near Frankfurt. It does fly to a town called Hahn, which Ryan misleadingly calls "Frankfurt" Hahn", but it is about 2 hours away from Frankfurt by bus. It is actually almost as close to Luxembourg as it is to Frankfurt.

I think over the holidays you will do well to find something for $900. I am seeing $950 12/19 CLT>MUC>CLT ret 1/1. Prices start going up after that date and returning on New Years day seems to be a sweet spot. Rock bottom prices right now are in the $750 range unless you are going out of New York. I see you can do Frankfurt on those dates for $800 out of New York, but then you have to get to NYC.

Beweare of the "fly-to-cheapest-airport-in-Europe-than-take-a-low-cost" strategy. As it would mean to unrelated, not linked tickets, anything that makes you miss that connection will leave you in hot water and on the hook for arranging your own transportation. I've read my fair share of horror stories of passengers that missed these DIY connections and were stuck with paying last-minute fares on the hundreds of dollars, plus hotels (and lost vacation time)

I'm with Andre. Especially when flying in winter, delays and missed connections are quite possible due to inclement weather. If you're "lucky" you only loose an hour or so needed for de-icing, worst case scenario might mean some or all of the airports at your destination or transfer points are closed for snow .... Flights over Christmas are not cheap. Anything around the $1000 is a pretty good deal.

There is an interesting dicussion of cheap flights at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=12tOaKxm If that doesn't work do a Google search for cheap flights youtube.

I used to try and fly to the cheapest place and in the end when you figure out the other flight, time lost, additional buses or taxis, you just end up spending more money... as well as always more time. Unless you are saving several hundred dollars (3 or 4)and the hassels do not take away from your vacation time... make life easy on yourself and just go with the best flight available to the location you want to be. There are many other ways to save money. Just don't only look at the cost of the flight. Atlanta is a Delta hub so there should be a direct flight to Frankfurt, but don't forget the cost of gas, parking, etc. just to get there.

Actually a $1000 is a good fare for that time of year. What were you expecting or hoping for?

Reality is that $1,000 is much more likely to be a "low fare" then you may expect. This comes up periodically and the $700 airfares are getting harder and harder to find. Taxes alone have raised the fares and the airlines can't control them. Also, if you are doing an "unprotected" connection (AKA as fly to the cheap airport and then take airline two to wherever) leave LOTS of time. My rule of thumb is if the flights arrive and depart from the same airport allow 4 hours. If it's a different airport allow much much longer. Also, make sure you understand and can live with the consequences. For example, I did this in May going to Paris. Flew to London and then took an Air France flight a few hours later. I knew that if I missed the flight I would have take the train down to London to catch the Eurostar and pay full fare for a train to Paris (several hundred dollars)

Jill, on Clark Howards site he has some rates going to Europe that may be of interest. I did not dig into the link to so I don't know if you can find the deal he mentions or not. Looks like a good deal to Berlin but I would imagine they will go quickly. Check out the link below. Good luck. http://www.clarkhoward.com/travel-escapes-aug-28-2012/#deals