What’s your flight price point?

It depends on where I’m traveling. If I’m flying roundtrip JFK — LAX, I don’t want to pay more than $425. Roundtrip between LGA & FLL, no more than $300. Roundtrip JFK & western Europe, I use miles. I don’t want to redeem more than 60,000 miles.

A fixed price point? I've yet to see one price point to anywhere in Europe. And besides that, prices fluctuate by time of year, and since COVID have been much higher than earlier years. I'm not going to scrap an entire multi week trip because the airfare costs a few hundred more than I thought it might. I'll just monitor Google flight alerts for non stops or single stops for a while and jump when the price looks good based on current /recent prices. I only do BC on long haul flights, so $1000 on a one way would be a dream.

Honestly, I think you may have to start creeping your price point up. If you go back and look at those $500 airfares and you look at the breakdown 90% of it taxes fees, etc. I think the airlines are starting to finally get wise in most cases. Now there are still some out there and I will say that if you fly frim places like New York, it’s much easier to find, but for the rest of us?

I’ve noticed on travel message boards a lot of people who seem to be in shock over the fact that the cheap airfares of pre-Covid and the first years of Covid are no longer showing up.

You might need to start raising that price point. $800 would be a steal. $1000-1400 is good. 1500-2200 is spendy but doable. Of course it depends on so many other factors. If I can get a flight to Europe round trip from Chicago for around $1000 that is a huge win!

I’m happy if it’s under $1,000pp. We only fly economy.

I only go to Europe in low or shoulder season anymore. That is the single best thing I can do to get a good "deal" on airfare. I familiarize myself with the going rate prices some 4 to 6 months ahead of a planned trip, and I do price alerts on google flights, and once I am comfortable with prices I am seeing, I pull the trigger. I don't have a preset price point in mind like you are suggesting, though. That may have worked pre-covid, but not in the last year or so...

Depends on how old you are too. Why? Because time is no longer on your side. Sure, you can dream about that trip to Italy you always wanted. Things get in the way. Years pass, you don’t go. Or maybe prices go up and you have squandered the opportunity related to a price point.
Things change, prices change. Not always in your favor or at the same time.

I don't have a preset price point in mind...

I too do not have a preset price point, I just track routes I have an interest in so that I have a good idea of what prices might be and how they fluctuate. Back in April I did spend $1200 on a United Premium Plus ticket to LHR and just for fun I was still tracking. Saw today at 51 days out that the premium + ticket hit $3200. I'm content

I really like United premium plus on the Dreamliners jets to European destinations. I took one last year and was so enamored. This year it’s around 2000 dollars to Spain but I bit the bullet.
It’s kind of a special start to a dream trip that you have planned for ages.
The seat is a “lazy boy” with leg and recline ability. Special meals and big screen in front. Very nice and I was able to get some sleep overnight as opposed to it being “torture” trip as normal for me.
I understand that it seems a lot to pay for just several hours.
One step below business class however it’s extremely comfy. If you have a little extra cash in the reserve, I think it’s worth it.
Just my two cents…

There’s so many factors to the price - departure location, destination, time of year, seat class, plus all of the fluctuations.

$1000 is your hesitation point. I’m envious of your $1000 prices! I’ve never had a Comfort Plus seat as low as $1000 until my purchase recently for an off-season trip to Spain.

I typically look at prices many months ahead - ouch! Then it doesn’t feel quite as painful when the price begins to drop into the location-specific “normal range” a few months later.

My price point from the Midwest via Chicago to London is usually around $1100 for main economy. Prices for June 2024 are running consistently at $1700 these days. I don't know how you are finding tickets for $600 to $800. I also look at using points and buy extra if I need to. I found a web special $55K AA point ticket out of Springfield, MO last week that was cheaper than either St. Louis or Chicago. Sometimes it pays to think about alternative airports and use points instead of cash.

We hit the 600 dollar or so mark on our European trips of 2019 and 2022 by finding the late August sweet spot, where some airlines were lowering prices a lot compared to height of summer. Norwegian in 2019 Oakland to Berlin, SAS SFO to Zurich in 2022.
This year I found Condor SFO to Frankfurt in the mid 600s, again starting in late August. No trip for us this year but was just curious what was available. These prices are baggage extra non refundable.

For next spring looks like some SFO to Milan or SFO to Rome prices look good thru mid May, in 550 to 700 range. Way to early to get these non refundable deals at this point, but once my daughter knows her vacation schedule time to start getting more serious.

Yes, once in my life I do want to try business class, with the comfy seats, but my inner thriftiness is holding me back.

same as mpaulynsettle. From here, I dont think I've seen regular economy fares less than $1000 this decade. It's all relative.

Once I've decided to go, the airfare isn't a deciding factor. I'll track the fares for awhile and try and catch a low point, but once committed I dont look back. For many of us that have to connect to a gateway airport, we don't have the low fare airline options some of you have, so its a matter of checking Delta/United/American periodically.

I’m wondering if NY is best for everything, in terms of price, non stop options, overall flight times etc. On west coast it seems we have some nice prices, but definitely longer overall travel times on average if going for cheaper one stop over options.

$3300-3500 for Business to Europe, coming out of PDX (Portland, OR). 2/3 that for Premium Economy, half for Extra Legroom Economy. But at 72 I am so over Economy for 9-12 hour flights. I don't fit in the seats, it's impossible to sleep, and I arrive dead on my feet.

Pre Covid i paid between 900 to 1000 to Europe. Not sure what price point is. I think it depends on the destination and time.
We're going to Ireland next August and i expected the airfare would be high. I was surprised it wasn't. I just bought RT Seattle to Dublin for around $650 per person. Icelandair economy standard class. 1 stop in Reikjavik.
We flew with Icelandair several time and liked it.

Wow, that’s really good for August.

About two months ago we bought business class from LAX to Amsterdam for under $2000 each, British Airways, for next April, 2024. I stacked the AARP discount with the 10% discount using the British Airways visa. Not crazy about using LAX, as we're in San Diego, but rates for San Diego have been running $3100 - $4500 RT for the past 18 months, with no indication of going lower. So LAX was almost half the price of San Diego. We have family in LA, so can leave the car there for the two weeks, and spend the night upon return, avoiding a hotel night.
Previously, we had been getting business class fares from San Diego to various Europe locations between $1800- $2500 each RT. I have no idea if the San Diego fares will ever return to that level.
Interesting, Google Flight Alerts did not pick up the low fares until about 24 hours after I found it.
I don't think I could pay above $3000 for business class- even that hurts!
Good luck to all!

I must be terrible at finding deals - I’m in Croatia now via BA premium economy at $1930 pp. We left September 3 and go home October 8. And this wasn’t even multi city.

Barbara, I think there is a pretty steep price increase on BA from their economy to premium economy so I’m guessing even off season when economy hits a pretty attractive level premium economy is still fairly pricey.

Like pretty much everyone else, it depends.

I too am a shoulder or off season traveler only.
I get Scott's Cheap Flights/Going and Thrifty Traveler emails about flight deals. I've seen some prices dropping back down to pre-pandemic levels (even some in ATL, where truly cheap international flights are infrequent), into the 500s/600s. Those are Basic Economy, though, which I won't fly internationally.
I'll consider Main Cabin or the equivalent, and expect to pay $700-$900. If I lived in Boston or NYC, options for Main Cabin under $700 would be more easily found along with options like Iceland Air and Norse, which don't fly out of ATL.

I've recently been considering Premium Economy, which I've flown once during the pandemic (it was a cheap purchased upgrade). I booked a trip to Lisbon for next February. The same dates, essentially the same Premium Economy product on Delta and United, was almost $1000 cheaper on United ($1400) so I booked it quickly. I did the same for a trip to Switzerland in December, again much cheaper on United. That seems like a great price for PE and definitely worth it to me to be more comfortable overnight.

Didn't someone once say (about pornography) 'I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it'? That's me and my flight price point.

Kayla, lol. That's a great comparison.

I must be terrible at finding deals - I’m in Croatia now via BA premium economy at $1930 pp. We left September 3 and go home October 8. And this wasn’t even multi city.

Premium economy has gone up, percentage-wise, much more than regular coach, since Covid. Don't feel too bad - your price looks fine to me.

To find the best deal, one has to be very flexible with dates. I am retired, and I have more flexibility now than when I was still working. But even if one is retired, many have fairly firm dates, particularly if they are going on a tour, and sometimes you just have to do the best you can do and forget about it in the overall scheme of the trip expense.

Pricing is all over the map based on size of airport and competition. Fares that can be had from Orlando, LAX, SFO, JFK etc where there is a lot of competition, and a lot of European carriers (esp discount carriers), can't be had from other airports.

I've once had under $500 for April travel, but normally I am happy with $1000, although this summer it was $1300. For regular coach.

particularly if they are going on a tour

I am considering a tour for the first time in my life and one of the hidden costs of a tour is having to pay more for flights to fit the tour dates. I am just booking the cheapest flights first (Peru) and if a tour doesn't fit those dates, then I will cobble together my own drivers and short tours to fit the flight dates. Although that defeats a lot of the advantages of paying for a tour.

This year I took my first international flights in 15 years (New York to Edinburgh and back). As you'd expect, the airfares were a bit of an eye opener for me, but I don't think I was expecting anything as low as $500-$600 RT. That range brings back fond memories of the late '90s, when I could budget $1,000 for airfare and hotel for a 5-day trip to Paris. Good times (remember the franc?).... And after I returned from my trip in late June, I booked another one for mid-May 2024.

What I learned from booking my flights this year is how many variables affect the total cost. And as others have noted, which ones do or don't apply to you is an individual matter.

Based on my own family, work, and financial situation, I now know what I am willing to pay extra for:

• The shortest travel time possible. My budget is limited, but with just 14 days of PTO per year, so is my vacation time. If there's a nonstop flight, I'm willing to spend a little more for it and pass up bargain fares on flights with changes or layovers.

• Maximum flexibility. The tickets have to be not only changeable but also cancelable and fully refundable. That means booking Main Cabin instead of Basic Economy.

• A seat that suits me. In Main Cabin, I can select my seat when I purchase the tickets. On Delta, if I book far enough in advance, I can also pay extra for a Preferred seat that's a window or aisle seat in one of the first few Main Cabin rows.

That little pseudo-upgrade is the most I'm willing to shell out for. The upgrade to Comfort Plus (~$500 each way) is an extravagance I can't justify--at 5'3" I don't need the extra legroom, and since I check my one bag (for free), I don't need dibs on the bin over my head. I also don't care about early boarding; I'm happy to board after everyone is settled in their seats and we're close to getting the show on the road.

How it shook out: For my May 2024 tickets, purchased 10 months in advance, I paid just over $1,400. That's about $220 less than I paid for my June 2023 tickets purchased only 2 months in advance. I'm okay with it and not looking back.

Rob in Cal - we are not loyal to any airline. We choose BA cause it was the least expensive and we were flexible on our dates.

@lisag - THANK YOU! I just went online and upgraded next week's flight to Milan to Premium Plus for an upcharge of $417. If it's as great as you say, that's an incredible bargain in my eyes!

I like to play around with differnt websites like Momondo, Sky Scaner and others. For our upcoming trip to Morocco departing in October(prayers about the Earthquake) and returning in November I found a R/T on SAS from SFO-CDG via CPG for $750 all in with luggage and seats. From Orly-Marrakesh $160 with luggage and seats on Vuelling and $200 on TUI from Casablanca to Orly with luggfage and seats.

Sometimes it sbest to book each leg seperatly. I love Rome2Rio and it offers alternatives. One of my Friends uses his Frequent Flier Miles to New York or Montreal and then spends a day or two each way and flies from there to Europe.

I spoke to another person who flew via Asia to Europe and saved money.

I would say around $800-$1200 is a good price. You can also look at Discount Websites but be prepared for the restrictions.

For me Frequent Flier earning is secondary! Who cares as its hard to even use the miles but if it does work for my dates I'll gladly use them.

If you are going to do what Daniel suggests remember that's it's "unprotected connections" so you need to allow enough time and be prepared to pay the price

I am doing something similar for my next trip. It was a lot cheaper to fly out of BOS than ATL so early one Saturday morning I fly to BOS spend 8 hours there and then fly to Europe. Returning I only have 4 hours and realize that if my flight is late leaving Europe I will need to pay the airline to change my flight from BOS to ATL

Basic Economy or Economy Light, or what ever they call it this week. As seat reservation, but no checked bag. $900 low season $1100 high season.

I avoid Basic Economy and have found that the difference is not that much if you purchase it early. I unbundle it and figure out how much are seat reservations $25-$30 checked luggage $50 so if I have to check luggage later on it could be more expensive to do it at the Airport.

For instance on Vuelling Basic vs Optima is $20 no question it's worth paying it to get a good seat and checked luggage.

On SAS it was not that much to get regular Economy and on TUI it was $20 per ticket to get everything.

Look if I see a good airfare for $430 r/t and it's $730 for exerting included I'll pay the difference because it's still a good price. But if it's $1,000 difference truth be told I'll move on to another option.

Please read my post I said that I would spend a night or two in New York if using miles to get there. One option is to use miles for a roundtrip First Class to JFK on Delta and paid Delta to Europe. Generally they will connect the ticket and let me check in all the way.

If I can get in Basic Economy, non-stop from SFO, a round trip price not more than $1,600 in the summer (mid-May to mid-Sept), arriving prior to noon (the earlier the better) , I'll take it to London, or Paris or Frankfurt. I can put up with the 11 hour possible discomfort.

I use my 2005 price from PDX-Dublin as a reference point, $1000 for regular economy. Haven't paid that much since then! Most flights we've taken PDX-Europe in the past six or seven years have been in the $700-$900 range. I always book regular economy as we prefer choosing our seats (side two in a 2-4-2 configuration) and like to check bags on the way home.

Setting alerts on Google Flights has been very helpful. Just today I received notice that upcoming flights (already booked) had dropped $100. I called Delta to make the changes, as I've never had this happen before. By the time she made the price adjustment we (hubby & I) each received a $150+ e-credit. Darn, we'll have to take another trip!

Roundtrip SF - Paris Non-stop
Main Cabin

600-800 Excellent
900-1000 Good
1100-1300 Okay
Above 1300 Need to think about it