How do I use the flexibility of my trip to get the absolute BEST airfare?

Ethan,

It is likely that the best possible deals will be just before your departure, but that is not a certainty. Do you really want to risk such a big unknown when you really want to do all the planning (and the fun anticipation) now? Not me. So then the real question is when are the 2nd best deals? and we have found that to be about 5-7 months ahead of time (good for making plans). Spend this time right now watching fares for May, 2010 to establish what is "normal" and then use that as a guide for your real shopping starting in the fall. As soon as you find something significantly less than normal, buy it. Then start planning.

If you are determined to spend as little on airfare as possible, get yourself to an airport a low cost carrier flies out of. We fly IcelandAir because it tends to be $100 less than the major airlines and it flies out of Minneapolis. Aer Lingus flies out of Chicago and is similarly priced.

But you could wind up blowing much of that savings getting to a distant airport.

Seriously, in a 60-90 day trip to Europe, how important could it be to save $100 on airfare if it causes other inconveniences? Drink one less beer each week instead.

The way things are going, I don't think you will find airfare for $600 this year (at least I won't, from Denver). I'm on several fare notification sites, and the best I have seen so far was about $700-$800, for March. Fares are usually the lowest before April (15th, I wonder why), then start going higher.

When I start planning for a trip, before I even think about airfare, I set up a spreadsheet. First page is an index, with hyperlinks to other pages. Second page is my planned itinerary, also with links. Then I have pages for each day, with train schedules and pages for each place I plan to spend the night, with all of the accommodations listed, with links to their website.

When I find good airfare (I'm retired, so I can go when I want at a moment's notice), I usually write to some of the accommodations on my list, the first few nights and the last, and any "must do" places. As soon as I have a satisfactory response from them, I book my airfare.

Hi Steve, good advice on signing up with various websites with all my available travel dates. I'll start setting up those email notices. Thanks a lot!

Any other tips or tricks are definitely welcome :)

Hi ethan,

I've found buying ticketes about 4 months out and buying late on a Tues. night works the best for price. Flying mid-week helps keep the cost down also. We usually leave on a Mon. or Tues. and return on a Thurs. or Fri.

You just need to be diligent about checking fares.

Paul

To add to the comments so far...

I will reiterate Paul's comment about midweek departures, generally $50 or so cheaper.

You will find fares cheaper the earlier you can leave; In the past, I would say that fares are low in April, see a bump near the end of April, another mid May, another the end of May. Mid June, etc. Finding those price bumps is helpful. Generally return is less important, but do check July vs August.

London is probably the cheapest airport to fly to, but the town itself is expensive and Great Britain not covered in your railpass. Otherwise, it is more a combination of the airline, departing city, and the destination. In the days of Northwest, Amsterdam from one of their hubs was a cheap ticket, to other places, not so much. All you can do is try combinations to find the pattern that works for you. Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt are typical, but sometimes "off" cities may be doing promotions, Dublin, Brussels,Warsaw have all had good sales usually by the state airlines.

Nashville is not a major hub, you might find another airport that offers cheaper fares.

Above all, as you compare fares, keep in mind costs added on by getting to an airport or once you land. Even added travel in Europe to get back to an airport will require travel days and cost, maybe making a costlier open jaw ticket or better destination a better deal in the end.

You will be traveling at the peak of high season. If you back up your trip by a month and work south to north, you will see an overall savings in things beyond just airfare, and probably have idea weather and smaller crowds for the the half of the trip.

When you start looking at that long of a trip (I am envious by the way), your biggest expense will be lodging. I am guessing you are looking at hostels? if not, you should. You can find even cheaper accomodations through couch-surfing websites, camping, night trains, airports (kidding on that one, sort of) etc...

More on the airport sleeping, although I am not recommending it:

Sleeping in airports survey and reviews

Hi Ethan. For flights to Europe, the lowest prices are usually for flight routes that are very time consuming, travelling in three or four airplanes in a one-way trip : the total travel time from Nashville airport to an airport in Europe could be 38 hours, or longer. I do not recommend doing that, but you said you want the "low-as-possible budget" for your trip to Europe. The airline business is in flux now. We do not know what the situation will be in the year 2011. By then there could be less airplanes, less airlines, and higher prices for airline tickets.

Everyone, thank you so much for the overwhelmingly helpful replies. You guys are really great.

"Above all, as you compare fares, keep in mind costs added on by getting to an airport or once you land. Even added travel in Europe to get back to an airport will require travel days and cost" - Paul

Good point, i'll keep that in mind!

"Spend this time right now watching fares for May, 2010 to establish what is "normal" and then use that as a guide for your real shopping starting in the fall. As soon as you find something significantly less than normal, buy it." - Randy

Nice strategy, i will definitely do that.

"When you start looking at that long of a trip (I am envious by the way), your biggest expense will be lodging. I am guessing you are looking at hostels?" - Michael

I haven't written my itinerary yet but i am planning on roughly about 40% hostels, %50 camping/huts, %10 "free" camping.

Again thank you everyone for the input, its already been very useful.

usatoday's site has a flight search that works pretty nicely. I only use it occasionally but a calendar pops up showing the different ticket prices on different days of the month. Try playing with it.

I looked at May, June and August. In some cases, you can save a couple hundred per ticket by moving your flight two days one way or the other.