late May trip to Europe - what am i doing wrong (low cost, hotels)

[clarksvillemom]

I'm trying to find flights from any big city in Texas to London in late May and then from Paris back to any big city in Texas about 10 days later. Ideal would be to leave Houston or San Antonio on May 27 and get back around June 6. Are there any tips and tricks? Because all I'm seeing is $1700 flights and then $5000 flights - nothing in between, nothing lower. I guess I was thinking I could go for about $1200. Any ideas? Maybe I'm just searching wrong or not hitting the right airlines?

[beachmouse]

Change your dates if possible. 'Summer' airfares start in the middle of May, and if you can depart on May 15 (open return date), you can typically shave $500 off the ticket price and get it into the $1200 range pretty easily. Dublin ($1100 something from my area) right now is the cheap entire summer entry point into Europe from most North American cities not served by the Scandanavian LCCs if your dates are firm. Might be able to go into there and then do a Low Cost Carrier short hop between there and Paris.

As far as search engines go, I have the best luck with Google Flights/ITA Matrix for finding prices and routes and then booking directly on the airline web sites once I find that.

[elnina]

$882 R/T??

https://goo.gl/tOR9kY

$889

http://goo.gl/V6PNXj

I would wait with booking till next year...

[clarksvillemom]

ok, good advice. I'll look into a stopover in Dublin.

[jamies]

Yes I was going to say the same - you are traveling at the "high" season. May is when all the old people hit europe to avoid the kids and summer college travelers. So "season" really runs from May through Labor Day now.

Thanks a lot baby boomers.

[jamies]

And the way these air fares are going it's almost cheaper to just buy a boat and sail to Europe.

[botticelli]

Originally Posted by jamies

And the way these air fares are going it's almost cheaper to just buy a boat and sail to Europe.

don't understand the complaint here... international airfare is much cheaper than 5 years ago.

You need to be somewhat flexible with your schedule. If your destination and dates are all firmly fixed, of course it will be hard to find deals.

Also catch the promotional fares when you can, even though it is not the number 1 destination. If flying to Spain is cheaper, why insist on Italy?

I hardly ever spent more than US$800 RT to Europe (been there 5 times).

[John7777]

Just off the top of my head. Why do you have to leave from Texas? Maybe try searching for flights from JFK or Newark or Dulles, and then look for a separate flight to get to those places. Maybe it would be cheaper. Or Atlanta. maybe you could leave for Europe from Atlanta?

[Jimmyp25]

I just booked a 10 day vacation to Germany on trip masters.com for the first week of may

I entered the cities and dates and they do everything for you . You pick hotels and if you want to bounce from cities . They will figure out flights and book everything .

I'm flying from Austin to Georgia , then to Munich , and then to Berlin .

Tripmasters figured it all out .


FYI- my entire trip was 1600.00 per person including airfare , and a 4 star hotels for a ten night stay

[city living]

Originally Posted by clarksvillemom

I'm trying to find flights from any big city in Texas to London in late May and then from Paris back to any big city in Texas about 10 days later. Ideal would be to leave Houston or San Antonio on May 27 and get back around June 6. Are there any tips and tricks? Because all I'm seeing is $1700 flights and then $5000 flights - nothing in between, nothing lower. I guess I was thinking I could go for about $1200. Any ideas? Maybe I'm just searching wrong or not hitting the right airlines?

Are you looking at direct flights only? That sounds like direct flight pricing...

Forget about direct flights---I flew from Berlin to NY with a layover in London for less than $350 and that included a meal, a checked bag and picking my seat.