Airfare to Europe Yikes!

[Smugpugmug]

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.

Are you talking about Japan or Italy? United still has a nonstop to Tokyo (Narita) and I'm so glad Covid didn't kill that off. I did a nonstop on my first trip and it was SO worth it. There are no Rome nonstops from Dulles or BWI which stinks.

 

[Ronneeaght]

Now I’m not feeling so bad at the nearly $3k it’s costing to fly my family of 4 down to Florida from Philly for an April cruise. I thought I was getting such a good deal with the Disney+ offer and then there it all went on airfare. Flights anywhere are crazy expensive now it seems.

 

[cmph]

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.

I knew June was going to be tough, but I guess I was overly optimistic.

The return options were not great via AA/BA even without using mileage! One BA flight left Copenhagen early in the morning, too early coming off a cruise, and the other required an overnight in Heathrow. I thought - ok, which is better: staying the night in Copenhagen or booking an airport hotel in London? and ultimately decided that it was a little ridiculous to add an unplanned night to our trip, for whatever minimal savings we'd get after factoring in the hotel and meals. SAS has multiple afternoon flights out of Copenhagen to Chicago, and we have just a 3h or so layover from there to home. They have a lounge in Chicago plus one in Copenhagen of course, so it made more sense to spend the money on the better flight options that came with no added cost/hassle afterward.

 

[cmph]

Now I’m not feeling so bad at the nearly $3k it’s costing to fly my family of 4 down to Florida from Philly for an April cruise. I thought I was getting such a good deal with the Disney+ offer and then there it all went on airfare. Flights anywhere are crazy expensive now it seems.

Ouch! We used to live in Maryland, and the one nice thing used to be that you could fly up and down the east coast without it costing too much.

 

[soniam]

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.

That’s not much more than I remember seeing from either Austin or Dallas to Tokyo for summer 2019.

Are you talking about Japan or Italy? United still has a nonstop to Tokyo (Narita) and I'm so glad Covid didn't kill that off. I did a nonstop on my first trip and it was SO worth it. There are no Rome nonstops from Dulles or BWI which stinks.

We ended up choosing DFW instead of Austin to get a decent non-stop to Rome this summer. We usually just pay the extra to fly out of Austin, but it saved us more than $300/person. We are used to not getting many international non-stops from Austin, but it is improving.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just looked up what we paid to fly to Barcelona when we sailed the Med. $1180 for non-stop from Philly.
In 2013!! I can't believe it's been 10 years. My mom has since passed away so I'm so glad we did that trip when we could.
Life is short; make happy memories!!

 

[Dailymeel]

I feel your pain, but for the other way around… I live in Europe and the only cruise I am able to afford right now are the ones sailing from Europe - waiting for 2024 itineraries to release and I’ll be jumping in to book right away!

 

[princesscinderella]

My son is singing with his school choir at Carnegie hall in April and the airfare to go see him is $600 from mia to jfk on spirit and $700 on jet blue. We have decided to just let him go and have the experience as we won’t be able do anything in the city with him while he’s there with his group. Usually you can get $200-$300 flights direct to NY I was flabbergasted at the cost.

 

[emilymad]

Now I’m not feeling so bad at the nearly $3k it’s costing to fly my family of 4 down to Florida from Philly for an April cruise. I thought I was getting such a good deal with the Disney+ offer and then there it all went on airfare. Flights anywhere are crazy expensive now it seems.

Everything out of Philly is expensive these days. We have been driving to BWI lately.

 

[emilymad]

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.

I think this is very true, at least for this year. We have been looking at airfare even through very late September and it is the same prices as the summer.

 

[Smugpugmug]

That’s not much more than I remember seeing from either Austin or Dallas to Tokyo for summer 2019.


We ended up choosing DFW instead of Austin to get a decent non-stop to Rome this summer. We usually just pay the extra to fly out of Austin, but it saved us more than $300/person. We are used to not getting many international non-stops from Austin, but it is improving.

I remember seeing flights from DC to Tokyo in the $1400-1700 range, but now it looks like $1700 is the lowest I've seen (this is in April). Summer looks to be $2300-2700. I tried checking other airlines such as Delta and it's the same price as a nonstop with United, but it has a stop in Atlanta. I would be going with just my sister, but still....crazy expensive.

 

[DCLMP]

I knew June was going to be tough, but I guess I was overly optimistic.

The return options were not great via AA/BA even without using mileage! One BA flight left Copenhagen early in the morning, too early coming off a cruise, and the other required an overnight in Heathrow. I thought - ok, which is better: staying the night in Copenhagen or booking an airport hotel in London? and ultimately decided that it was a little ridiculous to add an unplanned night to our trip, for whatever minimal savings we'd get after factoring in the hotel and meals. SAS has multiple afternoon flights out of Copenhagen to Chicago, and we have just a 3h or so layover from there to home. They have a lounge in Chicago plus one in Copenhagen of course, so it made more sense to spend the money on the better flight options that came with no added cost/hassle afterward.

It makes sense. I'm using points for my layover hotels too so my savings are pretty significant. I'd rather have an overnight layover or a layover that's less than 4 hours. I hate sitting around the airport for hours. If CPH is like last year plan on getting there early. Lines were out the door.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It makes sense. I'm using points for my layover hotels too so my savings are pretty significant. I'd rather have an overnight layover or a layover that's less than 4 hours. I hate sitting around the airport for hours. If CPH is like last year plan on getting there early. Lines were out the door.

We used points for our hotel in Venice (which would have cost about $500 per night and we're there two nights worth) although we've yet to book our Athens hotel.

British Airways about 8 months out from our flight moved our Athens to Heathrow connection to several hours earlier which means no breakfast at the hotel (so we'll have to get it at the airport lounge). Then about 6 1/2 months out from our Chicago to Paris connection flight via Air France was changed to about 3 hours earlier causing about a 7 hour layover instead of a 4 hour layover and means we have to get the rental car the night before (we're driving from our home to Chicago to avoid a potential but very real issue with getting to Chicago)

Although we all know flights can change it's annoying for us to have had these flight changes already especially as we paid for our seat assignments already (although not the Athens to Heathrow connection).

 

[Toulou]

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!

Yes..it's great to share this with others! Booking a RT for another cruise later in the year is the way to do it!

 

[sadiecatie]

This post made me curious, so I went to look and see what flights are going for now for our Alaska trip this June - I am so glad we booked a month ago, because I can’t even find the same itinerary now, and the only flights I’m finding from Columbus to Vancouver that don’t have TWO layovers (eww) are more than $200 more per person than we paid a month ago.

 

[jujubiee4]

Yup it is terrible. We decided not to cruise in Europe this year because of the crazy prices.
I have been looking daily and they are not going down. Wanted to visit a friend in the UK also.
Put that on the back burner also.

No matter what days I put in or different airports prices are still high. I will be curious once
summer is here if they drop. Doesn't look like it for now.

 

[wendlle]

$8K for my family of 4 to come to the USA from Australia.
Unfortunately that's the cost of flying these days.

 

[sjuncfan]

We're paying $1050ish per person to go from DC to Copenhagen this summer for a non-Disney cruise. It felt like a lot but I guess we got a deal. FWIW I just looked and that's still where the prices are.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[Marthasor]

My son is singing with his school choir at Carnegie hall in April and the airfare to go see him is $600 from mia to jfk on spirit and $700 on jet blue. We have decided to just let him go and have the experience as we won’t be able do anything in the city with him while he’s there with his group. Usually you can get $200-$300 flights direct to NY I was flabbergasted at the cost.

Have you looked at alternate airports for your flights? We live just north of NYC and always price out EWR, JFK, LGA and HPN. Perhaps look at flying out of FLL as well? I'm not sure if that is convenient for you.