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first time oversea flight buyer

Help! I don't know what is considered a "good deal" on plane tickets to Europe. My original plan was Boise to London, fly home home to Boise from Rome. I don't mind flying to New York or Seattle if thats where the hot deals are. Could anyone flying in September give me an idea of the price of their tickets and maybe where they booked through? So far the best I've found is about $1100.

Posted by
23626 posts

That looks about right. We pay in the range of $1000 to $1200 out of Denver. When you see people bragging about $500 it is generally very off season and sometimes with bad connections. We are watching Sep/Oct prices and that is about what I am seeing. I will probably wait a little longer but not too much. You might try comparefare.com for more information on your flights.

Posted by
591 posts

Best I see right now Boise to London & returning from Rome is $971 with Northwest, with stops in Minneapolis & Detroit. Check nwa.com for schedules. Price may depend on when you're departing in September; they tend to go down a bit after the 15th. Deals generally show up about 3 months out, so you may want to wait until June before booking. Check kayak.com frequently to keep up with fare trends.

Posted by
2779 posts

US airlines flying to Europe and European airlines flying to the US must make money on those flights. Therefore their prices tend to be a bit higher. There are, however, Asian carriers flying to the US in some cases stop over in Europe and since they make their money on the US to Asia (vv) flights the US to Europe (vv) leg tends to be cheaper in comparison. E.g. Singapore Airlines, on of the best airlines in the world, usually is cheapest between JFK and Frankfurt as the flight continues onwards to Singapore. Air India tends to be cheap on flights between Chicago O'Hare or Newark to Frankfurt. Emirates used to be best between JFK to Hamburg but have paused that service due to the economical crisis. There are Asian carriers flying via London and Rome as well...

Posted by
477 posts

Melissa

Sign up for updates with one of the companies that track ticket prices. I use www.airfarewatchdog.com though other people can recommend different ones. You can put in your airports and they will send you fares several times a week. For me, I use Spokane, Seattle and Portland. There is no cost for the service. You should also subscribe to their blog which is updated several times a day with new sales. They alerted me to a weekend sale that US Air was having that included flights from Spokane which is not a airport that gets mentioned much. Hope this helps.