Flights to Europe next Spring

The other factor to consider is the further out, the likelihood of route changes, or a 3 hour layover now changed to 8 hours or a new aircraft type changes well planned seat bookings. Not saying not to book this far out, because when the price feels right to you then go for it. (These things can and do happen closer to flight departures but they are almost guaranteed this far out.)

Finding cheap flights is a hobby for my wife. She subscribes to one or two consolidators that have newsletters on European flights.

She will watch from time to time at the airfares for the airports she wishes to fly out of and into. After awhile she gets a feeling for what she thinks is a normal airfair for that itinerary

Prices usually change at the end of a quarter and sometimes at the end of a month. June flights are often more expensive than May 28 flights, for example. March flights are often cheaper than May flights. And the day of the week is another issue as Tuesday and Wednesday flights may be cheaper than Friday or Saturday flights.

If she spots an airfare that is substantially less, she will jump on the deal.

Tickets are generally at their cheapest when they're first released, as more and more are sold the prices increase. That's not to say that there won't be any bargains further down the line but it's always a gamble. I can't recall the last flight that I was on that wasn't full.

This is something that is discussed all over the internet. Some believe they must buy their tickets when released nearly a year in advance. Others wait until 2-3 months out. (The so called experts once claime the best time is 90 days out for international flights.)

My suggestion is to track the flights you want. If you see a price dip, buy the tickets. Buying tickets when they are first issued does not guarantee the lowest price.

Use Google Flights to track specific flights and to see the cheapest flights on a specific flight for any date you wish.

My personal experience flying across the pond a few times a year is..

--look for midweek flights. Quite often it is cheaper to fly on Tuesday or Wednesday than any other day of the week;

--don't buy December before Christmas. Quite often tickets are bought as Christmas presents so the prices stay high. But look for sales after Christmas.

--sign up for price alerts on sites such as Google Flights;

--regarding the Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales--be careful. Sometimes, what they do, is increase prices prior to these days then drop them back down and advertise them as X% off when you are just paying the same price as a few days before.

--try to travel during non busy times--off season/shoulder season--and never around a holiday.

--sign up for the frequent travel programs for the airlines you may fly. It doesn't cost anything. But they will send you emails regarding upcoming sales.

I think FrankII has pretty much nailed it. I have one exception about buying at holidays. I have flown Christmas and New Year Day a lot because those were the cheapest. Then there is the concept of missing a great cultural event to save a few hundred dollars. So, sure good advice, but not absolute. Doubt he meant it that way as well.

The biggest saving technique is being flexible. If you want to go to Frankfurt 7 July and return on 21 July then input that in Google Flights but then scroll down to the “Date Grid” to see the costs of all the similar dates. Maybe leaving on 6 July will save $$$. This works on one way flights too, but not on Open Jaw. For those you have to search each leg as a one way then put the cheapest days together as an open jaw search and see what the cost is.

Those that do well buying nearly a year in advance are the ones that buy the tickets that can be changed for free. That means if the price drops they can rebook at the cheaper price. Of course they paid hundreds of dollars extra for that privilege. I always go as cheap as I possibly can. I figure I will survive a few hours in economy if it leaves me cash for something special in the destination. But each to their own.

I generally buy about 90 days out. I am happy with the results. I have a trip in late September back to the States. I haven’t bought it yet and still not worried.

And for those in flyover territory, my experiences are that prices tend to increase as months evaporate towards departure dates. I manage schedules that change.

I live in flyover country, and I have found that flights usually start out cheaper and increase toward the departure date. This year, prices for flights that I had already booked dropped by $200 about two months before our departure (something I have not usually seen happen). I looked at our seat assignments and noticed that if we had waited to book at 2 months out, the three of us traveling together would not be able to sit together. When I booked at 10 months out, we had our choice of seats throughout the plane. Maybe a gate agent could have gotten us together, but it wouldn't have been certain.

Yes, booking about 10 months out I have experienced aircraft changes and departure time changes, and every time I have contacted customer service to get a better departure time. My experience has been that when they change your schedule, you can call them and ask for pretty much whatever other departure time you want on that same day. I've saved money because of this because the departure time I've ended up with cost more than what I originally booked. I can't say that it will always work that way with every airline though. My experience has only been with the three major carriers (American, Delta, United) in the US.

I travel to Europe in plain-vanilla coach class (not economy basic) once a year. Often I'm able to use miles, but I watch dollar costs as well, to be sure the mileage tickets are a reasonable deal. I haven't seen a consistent pattern of fares increasing in the 6 months or so leading up to a flight, which is about as far in advance as I think about the schedule for my next trip.

I've seen a lot of posts on the forum from folks who buy tickets in higher classes than regular coach, and it does seem those fares are likely to increase over time. I'm pretty convinced you're likely to save money (or miles), on average, by buying premium-class tickets well in advance.

The one coach-class pattern I've observed involves the fare difference between the best itineraries (sane departure times, minimum transfers, reasonable layovers if required) and less-desirable routings. I often observe that fare difference expanding as the departure date approaches. Therefore, I'd say travelers who will only accept the best routings need to be careful about waiting too late to buy transatlantic tickets.

Thanks for all the input! I saw a drop and had the instinct to go for it. I hope it hasn't gone up since yesterday :)

As Frank II said, let Google Flights monitor the air fares. It's saved me hundreds of dollars.

katiecem, Google will tell you the average fare. If you pay anywhere close to that you did good even if it drops a bit. I tracked some fares about 2 years ago just to watch what would happen to them. Made no sense. Tgey bounced up and down for about 9 months then went flat.

Hey, Katie, as others have mentioned, use Google Flights and set up the alert. But one thing that Google Flights also does is tell you if the current fares you are looking at are Typical, High or Low.

For example, I put in a dummy request for a flight from MSP to Stockholm in March of 2026. It gave me lots of options but also gave me a heads up about prices, saying: Prices are currently low — $237 cheaper than usual for your search. So this is a good way to calculate whether you should wait or grab them at that time.

Thanks for all the input! I saw a drop and had the instinct to go for it. I hope it hasn't gone up since yesterday :)

Also remember that you have 24 hours to cancel that flight and rebook it with no penalty. :-)

One other thing is to check the fare rules, change fees, and the airline’s policy if the price drops. A number of the U.S. airlines will issue an airline credit if the price goes down (and you ask for a credit). For example, I booked a ticket on United in February 2025 for a May 2025 trip. About 3 weeks after I bought the ticket, the fare dropped $190. While my ticket wasn’t eligible for a refund, I did get a $190 credit for another United flight valid until Feb 2026.

katiecem:

A lot depends on the airport and how much international competition there is. If you are flying out of SFO or LAX there is likely a lot of competition and there may be deals even 60 days out. Airports with less competition tend to have prices rise over time.

There is no simple line of advice that works for every airport.

A caveat if booking award flights on European airlines: these airlines mostly have fixed redemptions so in this case buy 11 months out since the situation is binary, there are either award redemptions at a fixed number of points or no availability. US airlines have dynamic pricing on award redemptions just like the cash fares.

For me I always book very early, just so I get my favorite bulkhead window seat. And if the airfare drops later I simply rebook it and use the leftover eCredit for future trip.

Ok. Thanks all for you responses! I took the plunge. We are booked.

Katie

Phew! The flight I had been tracking on Google Flights that I bought this morning, went up $600 this evening!

Ditto to what Laura said upthread. Depending on the airline, if the fare drops after purchase some airlines will let you cancel and repurchase at the lower fare (also depends on ticket type). I have done this several times on Delta and saved quite a bit of money and points.