Looking for Summer Airfare Deals? Or this Winter?

Thanks for letting us know, Sasha. Most travel professionals believe 2013 European flights will remain expensive across the board. If there are any "bargains", the offers will come quick and go quick. Airlines are getting better at controlling supply and demand, and thus prices. They're not above parking planes if a route will not be profitable. But there may be some exceptions, and it'll require some work to find the cheaper fares. And one must keep their eyes open and ready to purchase the flights on a moment's notice.

Is that $1106 RT LAXMunich-LAX a good price for July? It sure would be for Seattle, but I don't know the LA market. And how about Air Berlin? Is that an OK airline? I am trying to figure out if I should advise my friends to jump on that ticket before Jan. 7 when it expires. They haven't been to Europe for a number of years and asked for my help. Kayak shows the cheapest flight for their dates as $1163 on Aeroflot, after that it's $1470 on Turkish Air. (And Kayak shows Air Berlin at $1555 so they don't take into account the current "sale").

Anyone have comments on Air Berlin? That fare has to be purchased by jan. 7 so they are running out of time to decide!

Sasha, My wife flys back tomorrow on Airberlin from Atlanta and I am meeting her in Cologne/Bonn. She said she had an ok flight from Germany to ATL last month, and told me she had a little more room than other budgets, and a nice new plane.
It's run by Germans. Remember... "Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and it is all organised by the Swiss. Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and it is all organised by the Italians" ;-)

OK, can you let me know how it goes on the long-haul flight? I pretty much thought a German airline would be fine, but just wanted to confirm before I recommend this deal to my friends. Neither they nor I ever heard of this airline before. I love that "heaven and hell" saying and have a T-Shirt printed with it. But I bought it at an Italian grocery and it has the cooks and lovers reversed from what you quoted: heaven has Italian cooks and French lovers. Since I have no experience with either as lovers I can't confirm, but I do prefer Italian food to French!!!

There are lots of threads here about Air Berlin, and all the ones I could find are positive. Use the search box on the upper right of this page to find them. Here's the one I contributed to (last comment): link . I'd certainly fly them again (I'm a sucker for USB charging ports at every seat, although I don't know if they have this on their flights out of LAX).

Sasha, Not sure if your friend would be using SeaTac, but Condor flies nonstop from SeaTac to Frankfurt and summer fares are right around $1000. I flew them in September and they were excellent. Their premium economy seats make for a fairly comfortable trip and they are only a few hundred dollars extra.

Thanks! My frieds are flying from LAX to Munich. Based on what I have seen in the links provided, Air Berliin will be fine and if they can get the sale price that will be good. I didn't know about Condor but will check it out for our next trip. Can't go in 2013 (sigh) but maybe the year after.

I don't know if it is the same from North America to the UK, but British Airways covered the London papers today with ads advertising a seat sale on now towards North America from the UK. And Eurostar has just announced a "Cheap as Frites" seat sale from London to Paris from £59 return. 90,000 seats, book before 14th Jan, travel 17 Jan-27 Mar except not 14 Feb to 24 Feb.

Nigel, it is not the same. The US and UK sites are different, and fares are different. The UK sale offers a return ticket from LHR to JKF for 409 GB (travel Jan. through March). The US site trumpets the lowest return fare JFK to LHR at $829 for the same three months.