Is Anyone Suffering from Sticker Shock?

I have found that fares are generally cheaper (sometimes $200-300) if I search midweek flights. I decided I can live with taking one extra vaction day so that I can have the same amount of time in Europe as if I had gone Sat. to Sun.

Gasoline is expected to continue going up so I doubt that airfares will come down any time soon.

Early September still borders on near peak season. Many recent articles indicate that the airlines are finally making some profit and will be reluctant to rock the boat (i.e. - fare wars). Capacity has been reduced, the dollar is declining again, oil is up, and travel is up. Not good factors for seeing reduced fares. As to waiting -- very reluctant to suggest anything but since I have nothing at risk and my advice is cheap -- I might be inclined to watch for a month or so but realize that I might get stuck with a high price. I tried that this fall and it failed. We were headed to Germany over Christmas and when I first start watching the fares in Aug/Sep it was $1100 and slowly climbed to $1250 in Oct when I purchased. Continued to watch to as the fare topped out around $1350 and stayed there through early Dec.

Camille, I share your dilemma. My only frame of reference is British Air so.. Previously I would go to their site and look at days nearest to when I wanted to go, book the tickets and never look back because of what I might see. If prices went up I'd feel good but if they went down I surely wouldn't. We are planning a trip to England this Spring for a wedding. My husbands whole family.. 13 of us. I looked at BA (the only flights from here non-stop) and saw that the prices were around $1100. each. A month or so later my daughter-on-law called to say she had done the same thing and had seen BA offering $289 on way. I went there and was able to book all of us, 6 leaving from Seattle and 7 from Phoenix for just around $729.00 each. Doesn't help much does it? But for me, I think that from now on I won't be so eager to just book it and get it over with.

I've also been having sticker shock and have a similar dilemma, but my trip is coming up in May. I'm looking for an open jaw trip, Seattle-London, then Rome-Seattle, and about $850 is the cheapest thing I've found. Even doing RoundTrip Seattle-London and one-way Rome-London is still more expensive. Two years ago I did Seattle-Stockholm(RoundTrip) PLUS Stockholm-Tallin PLUS StPetersburg-Copenhagen, ALL for less than $800. a month or so ago when I first starting looking for fares and was finding mostly stuff around $900, I just assumed I'd wait until they came down, but now I'm starting to wonder if I should just go ahead and jump on one of these $850 fares that fits my itinerary?

I cannot tell you what to do. But is it safe to assume that 2, or 4 or 5 years ago experience is valid today? I know we have heard stories of the $500 fare, and in first class. But that was then and today is today. It is a very different economic climate today with the airlines that it was just a couple of years ago. I still wish I had bought Apple stock two years ago.

I was having some sticker shock, looking for a fare RT to Munich. I really wanted to go non-stop, but none of the arrival or departure times worked for my on-going travel plans, and there wasn't anything for less than $1,100. But then a flight on KLM popped up, with a short layover in Amsterdam both ways, for $780. total. I snapped it up, even though I wasn't QUITE ready to buy. This was onTravelOne, a site I use to research fares. It was the lowest fare I'd seen in a couple of years, and a layover in Amsterdam isn't bad. Then it's only an hour long flight to Munich, arriving at 11 am, which works for me. Good luck - I feel your pain. I'm going mid-week, in May. Don't know about Italy, just saying to try midweek flights and keep checking. Try Travel One, it always works for me.

Life is based on a lot of chance, good fortune and speculation. No matter how well we prepare---Things Happen! Most on this blog have stated fuel prices will keep rising, probably true BUT what if the what if happens? What if the volcano in Iceland erupts again spewing ash hindering air traffic, what if there is a prolonged strike by a major air carrier or a far greater cataclysmic event--natural or man made occurs? These will surely send air fares plummeting? My suggestion, monitor air fares for a week or so, then take the deep dive (purchase your ticket) and don't look back---after all you ARE going to Europe! YAHOO!

Thank you for all of your insightful replies. I'll keep watching for a few more weeks then take the plunge. There are lots of variables that can impact the price of a ticket. In the end, I'll be going to Italy. Once I purchase, I won't look back. But again, thank you for your advice.

Also, it doesn't hurt to clear your cookies from your computer if you've been searching using the same computer. Have a friend who worked for Delta who said a good time to look for flights was after midnight when seats on hold were released back into inventory - I don't know, but that makes sense for the FF seats at least.

Recent Wall Street Journal article found that by purchasing your ticket Tue - Wed - Thu you are more likelyto get a lower price than any other day. It's related to the way airlines try to maximize income. It may or may not actually save you money, but it might help.

it seems we are the same person! i just replied to your aer lingus question, and then clicked on this thread because i'm looking for the same answers! jfk to amsterdam (or london) round trip is around $1100 (travel in july or august. i know it is expensive then, but it is our only option as we are teachers), and we paid $620 last year. but i am posting this to give you actual advice: when you find a fare you are ok with, book it! i searched kayak EVERY DAY, and one random day i found that fare on aer lingus. we booked it. it went up two days later. and even with the slightly less than idea flight we booked, we still saved around $600. which we then put towards additional domestic travel...i have an addiction! as for timing, we booked our airfare for a late july flight in early april. i realize this doesn't guarantee anything, but i thought i'd share if you are looking for first hand accounts. have a great trip! my husband would be jealous. he so wants to go to italy. he'll be lucky if i agree to amsterdam for a this-year trip. though i AM on this board looking for information...

I would say book now... As others have said, a lot of the price jumps are due to gas/oil prices going up and that's really unpredictable. If you book now and see in the future that the price of your ticket goes down, you can always try to call your airline and see if they can do anything for you... I did that with British Airways once and ended up getting back about 200 dollars.

I will say I was able to fly open jaw O'Hare-Nuremberg/Prague-O'Hare for $900 this past Christmas. I had far better pricing on American Airlines' website than any others, but I also fly out of one of their main hubs. I used their OneWorld/all carriers option and it allowed combos of flights that no other site was coming up with. I found and booked this flight on a Saturday six months before our trip. I watched fares on multiple websites every day for a good two months before and after and jumped when I saw it one morning dip to under $1000.

Thank you all for your advice. I think I have good news. I've found a round trip flight on Aer Lingus from JFK to Dublin to Rome with a short layover in Dublin. Roundtrip for one $623.00. JFK is a little out of the way for us, however, with such a great price, it's well worth the hassle.

Yes, I am surprised and sad at what airfares to Europe have done. I am searching for fares in May and may have to reconsider our trip. Just for fun, I checked on fares for a trip we took last year on the exact same dates and time. In fact I found the exact flights we took - last year we paid $672.00 ea.,, this year the same flight is $1,064.00 ea! That is an insane increase in my opinion.