Did I miss out on low airfare?

Everyone will miss out on something sometime, not worth stressing over of getting hung up on what apps predict (they are meant to rile you up by creating a feeling of FOMO and scarcity to begin with). Does Hopper include Iceland Air, by the way? From the DC area, the fares are in the $400 range to London but for certain dates (enroll in Travelzoo and you'll get the emails too). I don't consider a fare over 1k to be great, even from Austin which is a smaller market.

If you're flexible with dates and times and airports, you should be able to get a fare that you're happy with without having buyer's remorse. Fares change all the time (daily and even hourly). You can miss out one day and score the next. The key is patience.

Keep checking. I saw a great fare on a Monday. Checked on Wednesday and it was hundreds of dollars more. Checked again on Friday and it was back to the low fare I'd seen on Monday....at which point I purchased!

Those who can jump on a low airfare when it's available and then travel with flexible dates, sometimes on short notice, will always have the advantage over those of us who have to plan our travel dates in advance and book accordingly. I wouldn't stress out about it too much. Your 401(K) or IRA is fluctuating a lot more than $200 every day!

Thanks for the tips. I’m kinda locked into those days as I plan on going to first days (cheaper tickets and to see as many players up close in early rounds) of Roland Garros(5/22-6/6) and Wimbledon (June 27- July 10)

If you book that ticketed through American, as a codeshare, and the price changes, you could rebook it at the lower cost, getting the difference as credit for future use on AA.

(One snag being that you can't always do this online/self-serve for international flights, so would have to call it in.)

I actually wanted to book thru British, their basic economy allows for for modifications while American does not.

You can look back at airfares on Google Flights to see what they are like, and on the booking screen itself they will come right out and tell you if a fare is low, typical or high. If you're willing to spend that much on airfare, are you really going to sweat $200? It's the cost of travel.

IcelandAir is currently having a sale that ends March 8th. I don't know if it would work for you or not, but I thought I would mention it.

It is so hard to predict airfare and know when to buy. The question I would ask at this point is how much is knowing your flights are locked in at a certain price worth to you? Only you can answer this for yourself. I would be tempted to buy because I don't like loose ends. You may have a different temperment.

Air fares fluctuate all the time. Keep on monitoring. Set up a Google Flights alert.

Gonna research Iceland air. Yeah I love google for that low average high price alert. But for some reason it does not work on open jaw flights. I guess I should ask WHAT is a good price from Austin or Dallas to Paris and from London. I thought DFW would have better prices but they actually started at $1300.

The best way to get a deal tends to be, get thee to a gateway by whatever means. Like JFK or EWR or Atlanta or ...

I paid $1050 for a non-stop round-trip ticket on United from SFO to LHR at the end of January for travel at the end of April--last time I went to London was Sept 2019 and recall the ticket was around $800-900. I am not one to hesitate once I have made up my mind, and also wanted to get a hotel before news of the easing of testing requirements for UK entry started a veritable stampede. I had a flight credit of $450 left to use but still felt that was a decent price, all things considered--I won't torment myself checking the prices again, and I do prefer United, so probably best to get your ticket the next time you see it's around $1k.

Good question and I find myself in your situation.
If you do a Google search for flights, a range of pricing over a year or so appear in a graph form. If the price is in the middle or lower tier, buy and don't look back.
A friend of mine always gets lucky obtaining low, low airfares. Me, not so much. Some people are just born lucky.

Try bundling with a hotel and see what happens to the price. That can be very effective on BA.

RafaFan, did you buy tickets on Chatrier? I ask because to see Rafa at RG, you’ll need tickets on Chatrier.

BA always has decent rates out of Austin. Most of the times better than out of IAH. But June the prices are going to go up. We booked an AF flight nonstop from Houston for $750. In June the same ticket was more like $1100.

I live just 60 miles up the road from Austin. Most of the time I fly out of Austin, but I always check out prices out of IAH and DFW. In a few weeks I am flying out of IAH to Brussels because I have a Non-stop flight from Amsterdam back to Houston. It was also about $300 per person cheaper than flying out of Austin or DFW. I like the BA flight to London. It is very convenient. So, widen your search and see what you come up with.

Remember back about around 2008. Fuel Surcharges.

Expect them again.

I have no idea what made me look today, but I decided to peek at airfare for our trip to London and Ireland cancelled for Sept 2020. And I almost fell off my. Hair when Google Flights showed me Newark to London on BA and back from Dublin to Philadelphia on American in September for a variety of dates for $312. Are you kidding me? Confirmed on American. This, BTW, is less than HALF of the price for flying out of Philly, our home airport. I don’t know why this price exists, and yes, that flight to London is currently flying, but it took us less than 90 minutes to pull the trigger and get ticketed.

Larry, that is great news. So glad that worked for you.

I used matrix software to compare 9 popular USA-EU routes. Yes the nonstop flights came out to $700-1000 BUT when you factor in cost of me getting from Texas to Boston/Chicago etc I'm only "saving" $200 and that to me is not worth risking a flight getting delayed/cancelled and the headache itself of an additional flight. The mask mandate on flights is set to expire on the 18th, I'm gonna wait and see if they make any announcement on renewing that and/or ending the Covid test requirement for re entry, at least for us vaccinated folk. Covid rates are lower in Europe than here and there is no domestic testing requirement it seems illogical to me.