Playing the Air Fare Game

Good to keep your options open and jump on those random fares when they pop up! Have fun in Germany this winter.

Random is exactly the word for airfares.

In March 2017, I was looking at various flights from New York to Europe for May 2017 (so, according to some, too late to get any good deals). The cheapest I found was $349 nonstop from JFK to Zurich (not a typo, three hundred and forty-nine dollars). As a friend pointed out, taxes on some flights are that high! Next, I looked at Geneva for the same dates. Nonstop flights were around $1200, and the cheapest one stop flight was $650 with a very long layover in Casablanca (Royal Air Maroc); the cheapest flights with decent layovers were about $700.

Why was Zurich so cheap? Why was Geneva so much more expensive than Zurich? Your guess is as good as mine.

So yes, congratulations on being able to get a good fare for where and when you needed it!

Dave, I'm in Greenville too. Last Friday I was looking at fares to Germany for early September trip. After looking around on various sites I hit on a Delta flight that goes from GSP thru Atlanta to Dusseldorf and returning Stuttgart thru Atlanta back to GSP. Roundtrip fare $554 per person. Couldn't believe it. Had to wait til next day to book as my husband and I had to confirm we could use vacation days at work. Found the fare on the Delta site the next morning and grabbed it. Checked the same afternoon and the fare on the Delta site was a little over $1300 per person. I have to admit I kept waiting for a phone call, email or something from Delta saying the fare was a mistake but I had picked our seats, got our confirmations and the charge has hit my credit card. So I guess I am good to go. Amazing. Hope you have a great trip.

Dave and dhyingling - you probably were already planning to do this, but keep a check on your reservation. Someone on the forum gave that advice and we had an experience with Delta where they honored the unbelievable deal, but changed the itinerary on us. Per forum advice, I looked up alternatives before I called them and was able to work out a compromise. But, the earlier you can catch this, the more options you have. Not that it will happen, but just in case....

This happened to me once too,$1200 for Bus Cl from western US. The other cities in my region were a $5000.fare. Booked it and later called airline. Agent said they must have targeted my small city to build up business. We even flew through a city where the price was $5000.
Take advantage of this deal!

We got a good fare earlier this year by checking regularly. I had set up a tracker in Google Flight to alert us to a change, but it never caught this low fare when it came up. Anybody else use a tracker that flagged a big sale?

Congratulations on your "due diligence" and good luck!
I, and no doubt many others, appreciate that you posted your experience and helped others take advantage of it.

@Harold and dhyingling... Interesting that you both got such great deals around 2 months before a flight. I think I've usually bought my tickets by then and have stopped checking. I'll keep checking this go round.

@Patty... I fly Delta a lot. It seems that they make at least minor adjustments in flight times on the majority of flights I buy from them. You're right... I've learned to keep an eye on reservations to make sure things do not change too drastically.