Always a dangerous game to check, but my one-way return from Europe >> USA flying in August on SkyTeam KLM/Delta (outbound flying on points), for the same pair of flights:
Purchased 2022 Dec 4: US $667
Current as of 2023 May 10: US $2449
Flying: 2023 August
Sept, 2023 British Air, open jaw, basic economy, YVR-OPO, FAO-YVR
Mar, 2023 purchased CAD$1,400 pp (approx 6 months out)
May, 2023 current price: CAD$1,650 pp (approx 4 months out)
Edit: When I checked Expedia again today, the dynamic pricing jumped to CAD$1,872pp.
We also booked our accommodations at the same time and have noticed similar increases in prices. It will be busy travel season this year.
I do not have the energy to look again.
I am flying Austin TX to London and back from Lisbon to Austin October 2023 through Delta.
My flight from Lisbon to Austin has already changed time wise but it is still ok.
I can not remember the cost but maybe around $1,200 or $1,300 total. Booked several months back but after months and months of daily research. It was exhausting and I have never looked back.
Tom - MN. I think that you may be one of the Forum Members who advised me.
I booked a hotel in Lisbon through booking.com almost. a year ago. Got a good price and it has gone up somewhat for the same room by maybe a couple of hundred dollars.
Keeping my eye on Ibis Budget in Southampton for one night. I booked room but watching to see if it might go down.
I booked my cruise over a year ago and it went down twice. I got a refund of about $500.00 total.
Airfare for 3, Round Trip Seattle to Munich, Iceland Air at the end of Sept (high demand time) including extra legroom seats.
Purchased 10/22 for $3900. ($1300 each) I really gulped, but just decided to live with it. I knew that it was unlikely to get better.
Same flights, purchased today $8750.85 ($2916.95 each) and that would be before adding in charges for extra legroom seats......
Now in all fairness, I could still fly on United, Lufthansa, or Aer Lingus for a price just a little bit more than I paid originally. I could save even more money if I had a little flexibility with dates. It is fairly clear that demand is high for Iceland Air on those dates.
San Antonio to Budapest to Washington D.C. 30 May to 4 July: $1200.00
Next is San Antonio or Austin to rt to Budapest around 30 July to 30 September (or any 60 to 65 day period a week or two prior or later). Ive been watching prices and they have gone down slightly so I am waiting. But right now, about $1200 which is pretty consistent wiht pre-COVID.
US $2449
Checking to see if this quadrupling of my airfare over six months was just an internet aberration, now Delta.com says "SOLD OUT" for economy and premium economy on this August flight originating in Amsterdam. I guess the last seats sold in the last 3 hours at that high price.
I should position myself for accepting cash for voluntarily flying later, perhaps $10,000? Make sure there's a change of clothes in my backpack.
$2943 total for two premium economy Washington DC to Edinburgh round-trip in July.
We could've gotten a better deal with crazy long layovers but that's not our thing. Also, we only choose 1-stop flights. I've gotten burned too often with multiple stopovers.
Also, $900 for one person premium economy, 1-stop round-trip Richmond VA to San Diego. Again, you can do it cheaper with long layovers and 2-plus stopovers.
Roundtrip nonstop Chicago to Amsterdam the last week of March:
2023: $753
2024: $1041
A couple of weeks ago I paid just under $1400 for an open-jaw economy ticket on Delta to go home in mid-June.
CDG --> LAX direct non-stop
On the way back
Tulsa --> ATL --> CDG
(And I bought my internal US flight between California and OK separately.)
I probably could have done a lot better if I had bought months ago. Oh well. I was willing to pay extra for the flights I wanted instead of flying first to Switzerland and then to Amsterdam, or to DFW and then NY for example.
I never look back but ok, in the interest of science … On March 10, purchased two RT SEA - FRA tickets on Condor for travel this September, Premium Economy, w/seat reservations (what, really Condor, $100 extra on PE seats!?!) plus one rail and fly segment - $3046. Same flights and add ons purchased today would be exactly $1000 more - $4046 for two.
I’m currently tracking prices for multi-city SEA/FCO/VIE/SEA for spring ‘24. I’ve got some time to track and wait, but bracing to pay around $1900 a piece for Premium Economy on Lufthansa. I’ve gotta have my PE and prefer nonstop whenever possible (or one stop at the most), so that does limit my ability to bargain shop.
The prices have remained fairly consistent, somewhere between $1200 - $1300, for me on Turkish Airlines round trip from Atlanta to Istanbul, Antalya, Cairo, and/or Tel Aviv in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Some were straight round trips, and some were open jaw. One of the trips might have been a smidge under $1200, but not by much.
Totally irrelevant to most of you, but I breathed a sigh of relief to see that airfares to Europe next year have returned to something more like precovid pricing. I have to transfer within North America to get anywhere and the last 3 years, that first and last leg could be $5-800 more that if I left from Toronto or Montreal. Now it is maybe $120 more on the return trip. I may still leave from Montreal just so I am dealing with one less Canada airport in January winter. Montreal to Zurich Jan 22, 2024 Florence to Ottawa March 27 2024. $1204 Cdn.
my wife and I purchased two tickets from JFK to MUC on Air France for July '23 to August "23 for $ 518 each round trip. I think I got a pretty good price. safe travels.
Flying SEA/London Sept 26-October 12th, economy on Iceland Air. We have flown them several times now, and I like that so far, they have never changed their flight times! 2 Stops to London.
$1,466 for two people.
We do need to use some Alaska airline miles to get to Seattle, we have done this several times now.
Flying 7/31/23 Delta Comfort+
Purchased tickets 3/24/23 $2529 (thought this was a bit high)
Checked price yesterday $5005.85 (increase of $2475)
I've been monitoring prices for flights to Istanbul (from PDX west coast) in mid-September. In April the first time I checked flights they were $980 round trip (plenty of different options, though many with multiple long stops). The next day almost all flights went up to $1500 (doh!). Prices have been bouncing around a lot since. This Monday morning prices on several routes were $1150, but by end of Monday when I got home from work they were back up to $1400 (doh!). In all options I will need a separate one way ticket from Izmir to a European city on return - but since I've finally narrowed down my preferred route(s) I'm hitting "buy" once it bounces back to the $1150 range, or buying at the end of May, which ever comes first. And then I'll stop looking :)
Marie - are those Atlanta - Istanbul flights on Turkish airlines for 2 people? Because I purchased last June for a trip I just finished in April and it was $600 for me.
Delta multi-city CLE-CDG/ LUX-CLE Departing May 12th
Purchased November, 2022
Premium Select
$2485 per person
This is higher than I have paid in the past.
The flight to Boston is now sold out. Other routes are now $4,000 per person.
The flight is in 2 days, but the prices have been over $3500 for over 12 weeks now.
I watch the prices because if the price drops, I can get a flight credit.
Aug 27 home to Dubrovnik, Oct. 24 Budapest - home:
Purchased Feb 9
currently running $100 higher for same flight connections.
Toronto to Venice on June 9th
Zagreb to Toronto on June 25th
Air Transat, "Eco Flex" fare (sort of premium economy), both legs non-stop.
Paid $2800 CAD (for two of us) on Christmas day. Saw it as high as $4200 CAD. Today it is $3600 CAD.
I am happy with it!
Purchased American Airlines JFK-DEL-JFK tickets on 4/14 for February next year and paid $647.00 (main cabin).
Its $768.00 today.
November 2022 we purchased Delta tickets MCO-ZRH-MCO for $1300.00 main cabin and its up to $1728.00 today. Travel in September 2023.
Yikes, I just looked at ours! Flying to Iceland in July, returning in August.
Purchased Sept. 2022 for $700 pp, economy light
Todays price May 11, 2023 $1397 for basic economy, not even economy light!
That is double what we paid, and that is not even the class that we purchased!
Air France/YYZ to VCE (end of June) - paid CAD 3,324 for 3 people (August 2022). As of today the price is CAD 6,400.
Funny thing is, I enjoy tracking the price of flights. So, even after purchase I'll still check and keep track and I'm usually following United out of RIC, IAD & EWR to LHR.
Bought a ticket in early April at $1200 for Premium Plus on United for late October and early November. Flight is IAD to LHR over and then LHR->IAD->RIC back home. The multi city was cheaper than either RIC to LHR or IAD to LHR.
At the time of purchase, Basic Economy was about $700, Economy was about $850, PP was $1200 and Polaris was about $3900.
At this moment, a month since my purchase the same flight for late October/early November is -- Basic Economy at $950, Economy is $1100, PP is $1580 and Polaris is $3090.
The three flights from IAD to LHR have been tracking similar prices, except now the late night flight is more expensive than the morning and evening flights-- late night flight is BE $1100, E $1270, PP $1850 & Polaris $3090.
Return alone from DUB to PDX the end of this month would be almost double what I paid last September for roundtrip Business Class.
So typical to my experience, most who bought early are seeing around a doubling of airfares. Maybe this will put to rest forever that 62 days (or whatever) before flying is the scientifically determined best date on which to buy the lowest fare.
Zach, those prices on Turkish are for one person, purchased roughly 4-6 months in advance. I got $600 tickets to Venice in 2017, but I haven't gotten a price like that in a while. $1200-ish has been the norm for me recently. Of course, the majority of my trips are open jaw, and that tends to send the price up a bit. If I recall correctly, the Cairo flights were substantially cheaper without a multi-day stop in Istanbul.
2020: Atlanta to Cairo to Istanbul (purchased 6+ months in advance)
2021: Atlanta to Cairo to Istanbul to Antalya (don't remember how far in advance I purchased, maybe 4 months?)
2022: Atlanta to Antalya (purchased 6+ months in advance)
2023: Atlanta to Antalya, Tel Aviv to Atlanta (purchased ~4 months in advance)
Tom_MN
This is not a normal travel year. We are coming off of 2 years of of pent-up demand caused by covid. The recent announcement by the World Health Organization that the worst is over has probably convinced any remaining paranoid people to get off their hands and start booking. We're also experiencing lots of inflation and high fuel costs this year.
Airfare and hotel prices for our November 2022 trip to Spain were affordable. We booked less than 2 months before the start of our trip and we did not see any rising prices at that time.
Hopefully, things will be better in the next few years.
It's not just the unsatisfied demand, it's the increased demand over that of 2019 coupled with accelerated aircraft fleet and pilot retirement creating reduced capacity.
This is not a normal travel year.
I would argue that the price trends are the same, but the magnitude is larger. I always check and always see increases, just more like 20% to 40%, not double or quadruple. As I always repeat, larger international airports seem to be more forgiving of late ticket purchases than medium-sized ones.
The cancellations and time changes that are happening this year are not at all normal. I can't remember previously any major time changes and no cancellations, this year both are the norm.
I call this airfare roulette…..but as soon as I book I try really hard not to second guess hoping I lucked out and fell into the “great fare window” with the original purchase.
UA premium econ/plus R/T for 2 for November.
DEN -IAD-MUC outbound
VIE-ZRH-IAD-DEN return
Total cost $3800. Now it’s over $5500.
Glad I booked 😉
Today purchased Texas to Budapest 6 August to 27 October. $1200 including seats. About the same as what I paid pre-COVID for an August departure with 1 change and 1.5 to 4 hout layovers. With 2 stops and/or longer or shorter layovers I could have saved a little more than $200, also fairly consistent with Pre-COVID for starting in the high season.
The flight to Frankfurt was maybe half booked.
I looked at flights in October and November and they started about $800 with one stop and decent layovers, also fairly consistent with Pre-COVID.
Lufthansa
The airlines themselves are still figuring things out, post-Covid disruptions. But, the big price increases aren't surprising...there are more people willing to pay more money for fewer available airline seats. This quote from the below linked article pretty much explains it...
"[Frontier Airlines] last week said its revenue per available seat mile on peak travel days is stronger than before the pandemic as customers are willing to pay a lot more to travel on the other days of the week."
The KLM itinerary I booked at the end of Dec for mid-Sept - Oct 1 was ~$1500 and it hasn't gone below $3k in the past 50 days. Peaked at $4800 30-45 days ago, currently $4600.
Premium seats on the flights to/from Chicago, econ on the short flights within Europe
On March 13th I purchased a round-trip ticket on SAS from Chicago to Berlin for $642. If I bought it today I would be paying $863. Flying 9/20, returning 10/3. I got lucky!
I dont usually buy tickets more than 3 months in advance, my life just doesnt allow it. But what I will do is use this thread to track the cost of the flight I am pretty sure I will end up buying.
As of 13 May $932 (seems high, but no other flight is within $300 of it). I will update if it changes. To that cost seats will be $120, So $1052.
Departing flight Mon, Dec 25
4:25 PM Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) Lufthansa LH 469
9:20 AM+1 Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
12:20 PM+1 Frankfurt Airport (FRA) Lufthansa LH 1338
1:50 PM+1 Budapest International Airport (BUD)
Returning flight Thu, Mar 28
6:15 AM Budapest International Airport (BUD) Lufthansa LH 1343
8:00 AM Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
10:00 AM Frankfurt Airport (FRA) Lufthansa LH 468
3:40 PM Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)
Marie in Atlanta
In 2024, I am flying from Austin TX to Tel Aviv to cruise from Haifa to Istanbul.
I will be flying to Tel Aviv and home from Istanbul.
I have heard very very good things about Turkish Airlines and am going to consider at least from Istanbul to Austin .. probably Istanbul to Boston or NYC and then to Austin
Way too early to research my October 2024 trip. Maybe it will be easier to fly October 2024 ????
bostonphil7, I love Turkish Air and for a years they were my go to carrier.
My home is that larger city about 80 south of Austin and from there, since Turkish and United code share, I could go through Houston to pick up Turkish Air.
But its harder to connect to Turkish Air from Austin for some reason.
The cheapest flights this year for me to get to Europe (and I do it 3 times a year) are on Lufthansa out of Austin, cheap enugh to be worth the drive north. But Lufthansa is among my least favorite carriers.
Mister E
I have been in Austin since 1972 and only in the last few years do we have any international flights. It is about time. We are on the map. Finally, we are an international airport and some flights are even non-stop. More and more planes are flying direct and non-stop to and from Austin. Very exciting time.
It is exciting KLM to AMS and Lufthansa to FRA. But I remember thr old airport ... easier parking LOL.
My city only serves Mexico.
Just saw this sale on American Airlines. Hoping someone could use the info.
Domestic flights ( i.e., Hawaii) bought in early April. Prices stair-stepped down 3 times. Was able to get credit voucher for future travel at each drop. Total savings ~$100 per traveler.
Price went up to more than my original cost within 12 hours of getting my last price adjustment.
Prices do crazy things and checking after purchase can be beneficial.
Since my post on May 11th, United's fares for IAD->LHR->IAD->RIC --
At this moment, a month since my purchase the same flight for late October/early November is -- Basic Economy at $950, Economy is $1100, PP is $1580 and Polaris is $3090.
Between May 11th and 20th, prices reached $1100 for Basic Economy, $1200/$1300 for Economy, $1800 for Premium Plus and $3090 for Polaris. On May 22nd the prices fell to $700 Basic Economy, $870 Economy, $1580 Premium Plus and still $3090 for Polaris.
Interesting, the fare that I am trackng dropped about $35 from the 22nd to the 24th, then went back up. Using something like GoogleFlight's price grid and picking the right dates, usually just a day or two one way or the other, can easily make a $500 savings. Thats what makes this thread a bit better because its about trends more, or as much, as about cost.
$2,161 is typical for Economy
Mine has dropped a few hundred, still over $2000 for one-way coach. Proclaimed by Google Flights as a "typical' fare.
We are flying from New Orleans to Rome, round trip, the end of September - mid October. We are in our mid 50’s and 60’s so comfort is a factor, and we have only one connection each way. We are flying Delta Premium Select and purchased tickets in mid February. As of today each ticket is over $700 more than the February price.
Nothing scientific about what I did; however, I checked out of curiosity several multi-city itineraries from New Orleans to different cities in Europe on different dates in April 2024. Some quick and very general observations:
In economy, the cost was perhaps 60 perhaps greater and for comfort plus double over the pricing for flights taken in the spring of 2023 and booked, say, eight months earlier.
For those wanting to use Delta miles, there were fewer options--again, for flights nearly 11 months away--and the increases in the number of miles charged were comparable to the price increases noted above.
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