When to buy flights within Europe

If you're flying with a low-cost carrier such as RyanAir, Easyjet, or TUI then prices only rise after tickets go on sale. Flying with BA, Air France or KLM, you could wait to see if any deals become available.

Are you flying from Glasgow to Naples and just changing planes in AMS? You can fly direct from Edinburgh to Naples. If Amsterdam is a separate destination then just ignore that.

There is no magic time to purchase. Our experience is that the ticket prices do not change as frequent as US airlines. You can watch for a while but I doubt if you will see much change. We have been happy with easyJet.

Ramblin’ on is correct about flying on low-cost carriers vs. flagship carriers (home country’s national airline). If flying on a low-cost airline i.e., Easyjet buy tickets as far out as possible because prices increase as you get closer to the date. This is not true for KLM or ITA.
When flying on low-cost carriers the key to keeping the cost down is not checking luggage which means pack light. If you check bags, you may as well fly on a flagship carrier.

For some time I have only experienced full or almost full flights, particularly within Europe. The days of half filled planes appear to have gone and so it would seem are the days of fluctuating flight prices. I now buy my tickets as soon as I have decided where I am going which is generally a year in advance.

Considering that you are flying in August, peak travel time in Europe, then the longer you leave it the higher the prices will be. Buy now is my advice. There will not be any last minute deals or even not so last minute.

Mid-August? 5 people? Firm dates? Do not wait! Demand will be high.

Ramblin’ on is correct about flying on low-cost carriers vs. flagship
carriers (home country’s national airline). If flying on a low-cost
airline i.e., Easyjet buy tickets as far out as possible because
prices increase as you get closer to the date. This is not true for
KLM or ITA.

The low cost airlines, I believe, allocate a certain number of seats at the cheap fare then when those are sold, the next level of cost goes into affect. Time probably plays into that as well.

I fly Ryan and Wizz from time to time. Generally get my tickets 60 days prior ... not much more than that. The price was the same as the price 4 months earlier .... I mean its hard to get below $30. The flights have been full at times, half full at other times. Pretty much a destination and time of year thing.

For grins I checked out Ryan Air to Malta next Tuesday, $177 one way. The following Tuesday and every day after that the prices bounce around a little between $27 and $35. So, buy a few weeks in advance on that route.

Then I looked at a full service carrier, Lufthansa, to Frankfurt. Next week, $265, two weeks later it drops to about $200 and 30 days from now $145. So, no, the legacy airlines dont hold their prices.

For your route you might want to try the same exercise. Take a look at the costs now vs in a month and see if they change.

For grins I checked out Ryan Air to Malta next Tuesday, $177 one way. The following Tuesday and every day after that the prices bounce around a little between $27 and $35. So, buy a few weeks in advance on that route.

Don't forget that you're checking prices for low season and becoming lower the further out you're looking. The OP wants to travel in mid August, peak holiday season so it wouldn't be a comparable exercise.

Take a look at the costs now vs in a month and see if they change.

Except demand for Glasgow to Naples in mid-November is not at all going to resemble the demand from Glasgow to Naples for mid-August.

Well you are correct. So I looked at flights from London to Naples (no discount airlines from Glasgow). Depending on the exact date in the next few weeks vs the exact date in August .... the price can swing by as much as $10.

If prices start going up on the first day of sale, then season shouldnt matter. They should start going up.......

The Lufthansa flight to FRA is double priced in the first week ahead, then about a third more and then settles into about the same price through August.

Your Glasgow to Amsterdam flight is with EasyJet, and they have a number of flights daily.

The Amsterdam to Naples flight would be on either EasyJet or Transavia.

Happy memories!

Sorry, for some reason, I read Naples, not Ansterdam. My bad.

The point is the generalization that the legacy carrier prices remain relatively flat while the discount carrier prices rise from day one is just not correct. Few generalizations are. Buying plane tickets is always a crap shoot, buy maybe a tad more predictable on short haul flights. But don't count on it, cause if there is an event in your destination city that you are not aware of the price could jump with little warning.

The flights are in august so all bets are off. It's busy, flights are going to be expensive, book early.