When to buy flights to Europe

[tgeorge]

Hello all

My mom and I will be flying to France next July to visit her friend that lives there. While we won't be doing and ABD (so maybe not the best place to ask this question) but curious how far in advance you book your European flights for travel in the summer. I've read about 250 days out is good,but also heard that if you're traveling in the summer, which is a very popular time to go, you're best bet is to book as soon as you can. Anyone care to share their experiences with me?

Thanks again

 

[TXTransplant]

I don't know if it was the "best" time, but we just flew to Germany and back, and I bought tickets about 90 days before our travel dates. I had been watching ticket prices since probably last August or September (basically, as soon as my dates were available to book). They held steady at the same price until maybe a week or so before I purchased. They dropped about $200 each, I purchased at that price, and they never dropped any lower (but increased again as we got closer to the travel dates).

 

[OKW Lover]

There really isn't a "best" time. Just keep watching and jump when you see a good price. We were fortunate to wait until just last month to book a flight to Paris for "only" ~$2,500 first class. Looking at the same flights today and the price is ~$4,800.

 

[tgeorge]

Great! Thanks for the info. I feel a bit better knowing I can start watching prices, but I won't feel like I have to buy immediately.

 

[anonymousegirl]

certain days are more popular to fly and thus sometimes more expensive. Coming home on a Saturday or Sunday for example. That's when lots of people like to fly home so they can work on Monday. Try looking at midweek flights (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) to see if you can find a better price.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

If you know of any particular airline you're likely to fly, sign up for their newsletters. It's a great way to find out about seat sales. Then when a sale comes along for you trip time, you can book it.

I get emails from Austrian, Air France, Luftansa, Air Canada and WestJet.

 

[WebmasterMike]

I like to use Google Flights to look for flights. It is pretty intuitive and it essentially uses the industry backend for many airlines and booking engines to look for flights (ITA Software).

https://www.google.com/flights/

Play around with it and see what it does for your flight window. It may suggest different flights or days to save money.

 

[tgeorge]

Great info! Thanks everyone. Hopefully this info will be useful to others booking international flights as well

 

[Woodview]

Which Airport are you flying from ? AND to Which part of France.
There are many European airlines which fly to USA from Paris . Or make a connection Via Paris

Some airlines will not let you book over 360 days in advance ( must be less that 350 therabouts )

 

[tgeorge]

We'll be flying from Chicago to Marseilles. I'll fly from Kansas City and meet my mom in Chicago. I know that most airlines only book about 11 months out (330 days or so). I was reading that some people recommend book in as soon as possible, which seems a bit excessive to me. I can easily see 6-7 months out. But I know a lot of you here have done European trips during the summer so I figured I get lots of info

I figured looking at air France and Lufthansa will be some of the first I look at. I know there are some great search engines too. I would love to fly business, but I think we'll probably go with premium economy. I need to save for business class to Australia someday

 

[Alacrity]

+1 on the Google Flights. It will allow you to save your search so you can pop in daily to track prices. Some will do this for you and maintain a chart though not, it seems, for international flights. I kept a spreadsheet for a time for our Central Europe trip (going through ORD with a stop at Paris DL and return from Vienna) and noted that the international flights didn't change too drastically or quickly. But they have gone up about $300 since we booked in March (for September flights). We bough 6 months out based on a couple travel blog posts that stated that Intentional flights, on average, were priced best about 6 months out and domestic about 3 months (47 days). That seems to have worked for us so far. Your mileage may vary of course.

BTW, I think Google flights uses the Matrix Airfare Search on the back end: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

On the down side, booking early gives the airline plenty of time to fiddle with the flights. We've had a few changes to flight numbers and times. Currently our return flights take us through London to Chicago to Bloomington. Unfortunately our Bloomington flight leaves an hour and a half before our London flight is scheduled to land!