Airfare to Europe Yikes!

[tidefan]

We need to fly to London from Atlanta this fall and it is looking like $1500-1900/pp. Absolutely wild.

What was weird was that it was $300/$400 less per ticket for us to fly from BHM through ATL to LHR than just doing the non-stop ATL-LHR.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

What was weird was that it was $300/$400 less per ticket for us to fly from BHM through ATL to LHR than just doing the non-stop ATL-LHR.

So odd. That is less expensive for my dates as well. I live in Atlanta proper though, so going to another airport is quite a hike.

 

[Martie Parker]

Booked 2 in Delta Main Cabin (BHM-LHR) for our May British Isles cruise (on Princess) for around $750 per person back in the late fall. Glad I did that!

I’m so jealous tidefan we booked from BHM to BCN $1600 p/p and it was actually cheaper than ATL which isn’t usually the case! I could use my FF on one ticket so that helped immensely!

 

[morgan98]

We fly to Europe (Italy 90% of the time) 2-3 times and year and airfares right now for even late spring and summer are running higher than in recent memory (even pre COVID). Unforunately, for now, it seems like it is what it is. Also flights and seats fill up so booking something you can live with before it disappears is key.

 

[tidefan]

I’m so jealous tidefan we booked from BHM to BCN $1600 p/p and it was actually cheaper than ATL which isn’t usually the case! I could use my FF on one ticket so that helped immensely!

For our Greek Isles last year on the Magic, we did do R/T ATL-FCO and I think we paid in the $800 range R/T. I did learn on that trip to upgrade to Comfort+ for the return trip and it was much better.

Those cheaper tickets were for my DD and her friend. DW and I booked all 4 legs in Comfort+ a few months earlier and I want to say it was around $1050/$1100 per ticket. We have since paid an additional $299 per ticket to upgrade those seats on the ATL-LHR leg to Premium Select.

 

[cmph]

It is bonkers. My many flight trackers show no evidence of them going down though. We paid over $10k for 4 of us on SAS premium economy (into Stockholm, and back from Copenhagen). Super strange, but on our outbound flight - regular economy was MORE than premium economy. I have no idea what their algorithms were doing that week!

I had hoped to use AA mileage at least partially, but that was an absolute waste of my time no matter what parameters I used in my searches. The options were ridiculous 24h+ journeys. So we paid $$$. sigh. I spent at least a week freaking out to DH multiple times a day about that charge.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you can, plan your travel outside of peak times like summer, you might find better prices.

I was reading a recent article regarding international travel including Europe and they basically are saying trends right now are showing outside of peak times are high as well. People are planning trips far in advance, people are planning trips for time periods they may not have as much in the past. It's been watched though for trends to see if this is just a temporary thing or more of a shift.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I was reading a recent article regarding international travel including Europe and they basically are saying trends right now are showing outside of peak times are high as well. People are planning trips far in advance, people are planning trips for time periods they may not have as much in the past. It's been watched though for trends to see if this is just a temporary thing or more of a shift.

Yeah, I believe it. I'm sure there are a ton of factors but for us, our trip would be about $1k less if we could go when kids are in school. If we wait until midsummer, prices go up even more. We're lucky our kids are done before memorial day. I just can't pull them out of high school for 2 weeks.

 

[holula]

I’m feeling the opposite pain. Looking from flights from England to Vancouver I can’t find anything under £900pp.

 

[CeCe0906]

My husband is going to walk the cotwald way in UK this spring. After seeing the prices for airfare, he booked a 15 day transatlantic cruise on Royal Carribbean (inside cabin) for less than the airfare. He is flying to NY, cruising , then flying from Rome to Heathrow for less than premium economy. Now, we are retired, so the time didn't matter to him, he decided that for that money he might as well have fun.

 

[Louise97]

Transatlantic airfare is so expensive this year! We're in the UK and love visiting the US parks but this year it was so much cheaper to do a Med cruise and get DLP annual passes than to pay to go across the pond!

 

[auntlynne]

 

[DCLMP]

It is bonkers. My many flight trackers show no evidence of them going down though. We paid over $10k for 4 of us on SAS premium economy (into Stockholm, and back from Copenhagen). Super strange, but on our outbound flight - regular economy was MORE than premium economy. I have no idea what their algorithms were doing that week!

I had hoped to use AA mileage at least partially, but that was an absolute waste of my time no matter what parameters I used in my searches. The options were ridiculous 24h+ journeys. So we paid $$$. sigh. I spent at least a week freaking out to DH multiple times a day about that charge.

I was able to use AA miles to FCO 65k each for premium economy with an 11 hour layover at JFK. I plan on getting a day room at the TWA hotel. Business class out of London to Lax 64,500 miles and 12.5k miles to get from FCO to LHR. The one negative is I have to pay LHR's obnoxious depart tax which was 600.00 for the two tickets.

I think AA added another LHR to LAX flight and I happened to get first dibs at it when the mile redemption was extremely low. Last time I checked it was 212k miles and business class was two/thirds full.

May, June and July are horrible for award flights to Europe. The last week of July through August you can usually finds some deals. I got lucky and found some good deals in May, but it was pure luck especially the business class flight out of LHR. We will spend the night at LAX and then take SW for the one hour flight home.

 

[AquaDame]

We ended up booking on Iceland Air both for this summer and over xmas. We were able to get saga cheaper by booking each leg separately on the way home (should be fine, we have a stopover for a few days) which seems weird. Over xmas it was way more expensive so we'll rough it in economy exit rows; even then it was around $1200 per person round trip. We could have booked on British Airways and used miles but their taxes always get us; it would have been 90K miles each way AND still been $900 per person each way just in taxes to go business class. For that they can keep them.

 

[DCLMP]

We ended up booking on Iceland Air both for this summer and over xmas. We were able to get saga cheaper by booking each leg separately on the way home (should be fine, we have a stopover for a few days) which seems weird. Over xmas it was way more expensive so we'll rough it in economy exit rows; even then it was around $1200 per person round trip. We could have booked on British Airways and used miles but their taxes always get us; it would have been 90K miles each way AND still been $900 per person each way just in taxes to go business class. For that they can keep them.

The BA fuel taxes out of the US are nuts. It's over 700 at ticket. The depart taxes out of LHR are equally as nuts 325.00 dollars a ticket out of LHR vs 62.00 out of Rome. I just don't have enough miles to fly out of Rome.

 

[AquaDame]

Those two things probably explain it; we did pay it the last time we went to Africa and likely will when we go again, unless Alaska partners with someone else. We could also choose Qatar but I don't really want to go through Dubai, and the mileage for business and first class on them is much higher anyway.

 

[DCLMP]

Those two things probably explain it; we did pay it the last time we went to Africa and likely will when we go again, unless Alaska partners with someone else. We could also choose Qatar but I don't really want to go through Dubai, and the mileage for business and first class on them is much higher anyway.

You can get some really low mileage redemptions on BA, but you pay for it. I would only do it to fly business class. If your flying somewhere like Africa it would be totally worth it to pay the taxes for the lie flat seats.

 

[jvalic33]

Sounds pretty normal for summer. We're headed to Croatia later this year, just a bit over $6k for 4 ppl. Have family from overseas and flights have been about $1300-$1600 pp the last three or so years. If you can, plan your travel outside of peak times like summer, you might find better prices.

We're heading to Croatia as well but flying into Venice. I booked a few weeks ago and we got super lucky 700 each round-trip (basic economy but we have the option to purchase seats). The flight have already gone up to 950 each round trip. Later in the summer seems to be cheaper by a great deal. If you can travel in August it is much cheaper than June or July.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Transatlantic airfare prices are crazy expensive in general, not just to Europe. I'm trying to gauge flights from DC to Tokyo for a potential Japan trip next year and it's $2500 roundtrip per person. That's regular economy, by the way. Premium economy is like $3000+. My family + extended family previously considered an Italy trip, but the airfare was way too expensive so we're holding off. Cheapest we found was $900 from Newark to Milan where we would also have to do DC (or BWI) to Newark or drive to Newark. It's $2000 to do DC to Rome.

 

[AquaDame]

You can get some really low mileage redemptions on BA, but you pay for it. I would only do it to fly business class. If your flying somewhere like Africa it would be totally worth it to pay the taxes for the lie flat seats.

Oh, we did, it was glorious. We did business one way and first home for 150K per person round trip, plus the tax. But I cant think of anything better than using it to lie flat for those long flights. Cape Town to London on the way home was around 12 hours.

Transatlantic airfare prices are crazy expensive in general, not just to Europe. I'm trying to gauge flights from DC to Tokyo for a potential Japan trip next year and it's $2500 roundtrip per person. That's regular economy, by the way. Premium economy is like $3000+. My family + extended family previously considered an Italy trip, but the airfare was way too expensive so we're holding off. Cheapest we found was $900 from Newark to Milan where we would also have to do DC to Newark or drive to Newark. It's $2000 to do DC to Rome.

Not looking forward to this... that is the next flight we need to purchase for next year and they killed our lovely nonstop during covid. I keep hoping they bring it back, even though we'll likely save money by it being gone. It was so convenient we just tossed our money at Delta.