June 2008 - best time to buy plane tickets?

Valerie, you can start looking any time, but the best time might be after March 2008. Any ticket less than $800 should be purchased immediately, and any ticket less than $1,000 is probably a great deal at that time of year. Since you're coming from Chicago you may get lucky enough to find an even cheaper deal that that, but at that time of year I doubt it.

Your best bet is to look every Wed. morning with the intent that you'll be willing to snap up that ticket immediately if the price is right. That's the time that most airlines publish their deals. Just keep looking and look often.

Also, remember to look "open jawed" (flying into one city and out of another). The cost difference per ticket is usually marginal if anything, and then you won't have to spend the money or time to get back to your initial city of arrival for a traditional round-trip ticket.

Thanks for the tip. Right now we are planning on flying into Venice and out of Naples. Since this is my first time going to Europe, I don't know what a "good" deal is. Yesterday when I looked on Expedia, it was around $1850/person. Is that a lot?

That seems high and you are a little early. However, fllying into minor airports will increase the cost. For comparison compare flying into Milan and home from Rome. Obviously you would have additional costs to those location but the saving might offset the cost.

Valerie, Jarrod gave you some great advice. Anything over $1000 is prob. too much. If you find something around $800, that is not too bad, but I think that you should also be looking for a great deal around $675, since Chicago is a major hub for European flights. And the good prices won't show until a couple of months before you go.

Our ticket from Portland to Frankfurt was $480 R/T this June, but we had to sit and wait for a notice from Orbitz before we got that price.

And like Jarrod says, watch for "open jaw" tickets. Our ticket this Christmass was $700 for an "open Jaw" direct flight to Frankfurt, and then a return trip from Lisbon. (We use the cheap inter-european airlines to get around in europe)

Where are you going? (from-to) Is is always much better to fly into ANY major European hub (Frankfurt, Munich, London, etc., when you can find a cheap ticket, and then take one of the super-cheap European airlines for your next stop.) That is how we got to Rome last summer.

Valerie, set up and auto notice on Orbitz for the approx date of your trip. They (and other travel sites) allow you to input your trip, and search up to a 30 day window for the best prices. Then they allow you to input the price YOU want to pay ($600?). When they find it they will send you an Email! We use this all the time.

(If you look at Orbitz currently you will see Christmass flights to Europe from Chicago for $665.I found lots of DIRECT flights Chicago to Frankfurt leaving late May, and returning mid June for only $575....)

Also set up your trip on farecompare.com. They will send you notices everytime the FARES DROP on your route.

Below is a great web site that will give you more info on how to find cheap flights to Europe, and a web site that can help you find the cheap inter-European airlines.

http://www.eurotrip.com/forum/tt.aspx?forumid=7

http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp

http://www.attitudetravel.com/lowcostairlines/europe/byairline.html#byairline

the major carriers will start listing their summer specials late Jan or so (they just listed special winter and some spring fares up to may). Direct from west coast was around 1000$ - so your CHI area may well be in the 800 direct. Id call your favorite carriers now and ask (or check their web). Also - a good travel agent can help look up deals - and they dont make commission on flights. They may have a small fee - but mine never did when i used one in the past.

Valerie, using Orbitz, there were plenty of currently available direct Chicago flights to Frankfurt in June for $575-$675.( great prices!)

Using http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp, I found Frankfurt to Naples for $78 PP on TUIfly, and Venice (actually Treviso: we stayed there when we went to Venice)to Frankfurt Hahn (this is NOT Frankfurt main, but a few a hours away) on Ryan Air for $60 PP.

Total trip cost( without the train trip from FRA Hahn to FRA main) $713 to $813.

It pays to fly into a hub (FRA) and then take the local European airlines (which are not always covered in Expedia, etc.)!

Hi agree with most of the other posters, However I think you may want to fly into a larger airport, like the other poster said Rome or Milan, you can use the airline Air One to get cheap flights throughout Italy and use trains!

I don't think last minute deals are great, they have many restrictions and often are not as good as they seem. I like to book early, if you find a good deal just go ahead and book it! If you wait things like gas prices and surcharges tend to go up!

I would suggest trying the sites like expedia or orbitz, a couple times a week, play around with your dates for example sometimes leaving on a monday instead of a thursday can save $100! Also if you find a good deal on orbitz or expedia keep the window open but open a new one and go direct to that airlines website, I have noticed that flights cheap on expedia are sometimes even cheaper when you book direct with the airline, just use expedia and orbitz to find the deals!

Good Luck

Hi Valerie, I suggest buy tickets immediately when the price drops to a reasonable price. It could happen January one, or possibly December 15. Very very very many people fly from the U.S.A. to Italy in June. If you wait until March to buy tickets, that could be too late. I suggest fly to Milan Malpensa airport.

on more comment - many times the arilines can HOLD a booking for days or weeks - same with an agent - but the discount online places require immediate payment (at least thats been my understanding so far). A $100 discount may or may not be worth the benefit of the flexibility - but look at all the opportunities - and dont be afraid to call direct to airline or agent for the same flights you think you might want on orbitz etc. I found some not listed on the direct airline miles page that the airline could help me with (that was using miles0- but just to say - the direct calls have THE MOST options!)