Ushermittwoch From Germany, joined Jan 2004, 2888 posts, RR: 18 Posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1682 times:
Hi!
I was just looking up flights for a friend. The desired routing would be from Chicago/Madison/Milwaukee to BRU/CGN/DUS/FMO/MST. And I cannot find a return fare for under 900 US-Dollars. This is for travel in the first week of July and then the return would be in mid September.
Is this increase of around 200 USD to last year just due to the higher fuel prices or is there any other reason behind this enormous increase?
Hell, even FRA or AMS would be okay destinations. It's just that those airports are just as expensive.
I hope somebody can shed some light into this.
Or maybe provide a source of better deals. But all the major websites have about the same rates.
DesertJets From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 7673 posts, RR: 18 Reply 1, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1630 times:
900 bucks sounds about right for a summer season rt flight from the US to Europe. You may not be able to find anything cheaper right now.
Stop drop and roll will not save you in hell. --- seen on a church marque in rural Virginia
Ua777222 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 3348 posts, RR: 13 Reply 3, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1605 times:
It also depends how long you are traveling for and if you are using the same airline both ways. I'm traveling SFO-YYZ and b/c I'm gone for more than 30 days I loose the discount price.
Ushermittwoch From Germany, joined Jan 2004, 2888 posts, RR: 18 Reply 4, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1568 times:
I am aware of the 30 day trips. Like I said the return date is set some time in the middle of September.
Maybe I am just spoilt. Last year I found a trip for 650 USD, the year before for 570 USD.
So the increase seems to be HUGE.
:-(
Boeing757/767 From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 2264 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1562 times:
Keep in mind demand is up this year over last and fuel prices are up.
ManchesterMAN From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2003, 1192 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1424 times:
My advice would be not to book now as you will still be able to get that fare in a couple of months I think and you may see some offers in the meantime.
VS11 From United States of America, joined Jul 2001, 978 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1315 times:
It is not gonna come down. Flying into Europe always entails more than $100 bucks just for tax. Also have in mind, that the the US $ is still weak, meaning more dollars for the euros.
Airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6884 posts, RR: 7 Reply 9, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1235 times:
Demand is back up for Europe, compared with the last 2 years. July is peak season. Euro2004 and Olympics will be drawing a lot of people to Europe this Summer. This is shaping up to be a very busy travel season for Europe.
I don't know why but for some reason most Americans haven't figured out that the best time to travel to Europe is September/October. I know, students can't go but that still leaves a whole lot of people.
PA110 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1950 posts, RR: 26 Reply 11, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 1097 times:
Ushermittwoch,
I just checked my contract tour pricing. If you have found a $900 published fare, you are doing well!!! There was a tremendous fare increase for 2004 high season. This is because airlines have losing enormous amounts of money, and plan on taking advantage of the heavy demand anticipated this year. Normally my contract pricing is $100-$200 under published, but this year the gap has narrowed considerably.
Nudelhirsch From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 1438 posts, RR: 20 Reply 12, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 1050 times:
481 € on Swiss...this is what I recently found out...I am also checking ORD-fares...
Try these:
-play with connections, like trying fares via different hubs, for example on AA LHR can be pretty pricy, FCO as a stop can be loads cheaper...
-play with partners of the chosen alliance
-play with the actual travel days, try not to hit the dayd, on which business-people travel, just try out what happens...
-play with the final destination, do not pick FMO or CGN as You for sure need a connection, is more expensive, most times, than a car ride or a train ticket...
-give http://www.statravel.de a try...
If You tried these and didn't succeed, let me know, I would be interested in more tricks too...
Ushermittwoch From Germany, joined Jan 2004, 2888 posts, RR: 18 Reply 13, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 959 times:
Dear Nudelhirsch, trust me, if I had not tried every single trick in the book, I would not have tried to contact you guys.
I know you have better things to do, sadly there are not a whole lot of options out there. And luckily IB does not have any tempting fares out.
Nudelhirsch From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 1438 posts, RR: 20 Reply 14, posted (9 years 2 months 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 902 times:
Hi Ushermittwoch,
just wanted to be sure...
Some other experiences: book legs seperately, like BMI to DUB then Lingus to ORD or so...
Also found SAS to be pretty competitive...and a great product too...
I will fly pretty often between ORD and FRA in the near future and I picked AA because of good connections, prices are ok, MRTC, and the mileage rewards are competitive...
A lot more inconvenient but if money is tight and ground transport can be arranged cheaply it might be worth it. Zoom's fares right now are the same price for all dates YYZ-CDG. It would cost about $280 USD incl tax to fly MDW-YYZ-MDW on Canjet.
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