How far out to purchase flight to Barcelona?

[annimal]

Hi - just wondering what the consensus was on when to buy flights from US to Barcelona roundtrip for the best pricing. Taking a cruise out of Barcelona towards the end of May 2011 and wasn't sure if I should purchase now (about $1250-1300pp which is over 7 months out) or wait for better fares. Is that price a bit high? Thanks!

[riffatsea]

I have also been looking at Europe flights in May for my son and his gf.

Prices are VERY high right now. The so called "sale" prices are only listed through March and I don't know if they will actually get lower since all prices are up this year! I have told my son that if we don't see something closer to $1,000 per ticket( or below hehehe) by mid November then I'd just bite the bullet and buy. Usually sales are one season before so in winter for Spring.

I generally travel in the fall and have been able to stay under $1,000 so far.

[operafan]

We just switched from a cruise leaving Rome at the end of May to a cruise leaving Barcelona at the beginning of May and airfare dropped from $1200 to $800. I'm going to keep watching for fluctuations and purchase when it starts to move. (Hopefully downward.....)

[GlendaleCruiser]

Depends on where you are traveling from. I've seen posters on this board talk about $650-$850 prices from Philadelphia and New York, etc.

 

We are paying $1167 on Delta going through Atlanta both ways 5/07 and 5/23. We do have a travel agent who found it, though. That's from Phoenix and we have booked it.

[GlendaleCruiser]

Duplicate post.

[operafan]

Depends on where you are traveling from. I've seen posters on this board talk about $650-$850 prices from Philadelphia and New York, etc.

 

We are paying $1167 on Delta going through Atlanta both ways 5/07 and 5/23. We do have a travel agent who found it, though. That's from Phoenix and we have booked it.

 

Forgot to mention, we're flying out of dfw.......

[financialgrl]

Cruised out of Barcelona May 2010 - cruise ended in Venice. Prices began falling about January 2010 and is when I booked flights. Back then flilghts were cheaper to add London in the mix to be able to book one round trip from Washington DC to London and two one way flights (Heathrow to Barcelona and Venice to Heathrow at the other end).

 

The money saved by using London as the round trip destination paid for hotel costs to stay in London for 3 days on the way home. So, in our case we actually didn't save money in the end but got to extend our vacation and see another city on the way home at no extra cost. (Gotta love that line of thinking - spend more to save) :)

[hkto]

Hi - just wondering what the consensus was on when to buy flights from US to Barcelona roundtrip for the best pricing. Taking a cruise out of Barcelona towards the end of May 2011 and wasn't sure if I should purchase now (about $1250-1300pp which is over 7 months out) or wait for better fares. Is that price a bit high? Thanks!

 

I wouldn't buy for May 11 now. It's shoulder season and $1250-1300 looks high. Try subscribing to fare alerts. Try http://www.farecompare.com/ and

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/

 

Also there is price trend watcher for major destinations from expedia

 

http://www.expedia.com/daily/trend_tracker/details.asp?destination=fco&origin=dtw&pgood=a&mcecid=ipsplash_ca

[leslierx]

We want to fly out of St Louis to Barcelona, July 2011. The prices I can find are around $1300. They are a little cheaper from Chicago, but that is a 5 hour drive from home, compared to a 2 hour drive to St Louis. We are 3 hours from Nashville, TN. I have usually found my own airfare in the past to U.S. destinations, but am not too familiar with travel to Europe. Are travel agents able to find better airfare/connection options than by using the internet sites? I think we will wait till Jan and keep checking flights.

[riffatsea]

The Travel Agents just have more time to spend at their computers! They have the same info these days that we have on line. On occasion I have used a consolidator like 1800flyeurope.com when they were able to save me $300 per ticket. Most of the time their prices are the same as the airlines' prices. UNfortunately airfares are UP this year!!

[johnlh]

Can't add any advice just a rant. Last September we went to Barcelona for a cruise and our airfare was $574pp. We booked our own air. This year we waited the whole summer hoping the prices would drop and they didn't. They just kept going up up, so we decide to buy before we couldn't afford to go. This year we are going in November and we paid $862pp. That's more than a 50% increase. What has happen since last year to this year, fuel prices dropped. We didn't pay that much more for the cruise. We even tried booking 100 miles away to get a lower fare, didn't work. It is crazy, wish it was some way we could protest. Even more insulting, the airlines don't want to pay if they lose your luggage. They have us and they know we have no other place to go. All I can say is good luck.

[baggal]

Can't add any advice just a rant. Last September we went to Barcelona for a cruise and our airfare was $574pp. We booked our own air. This year we waited the whole summer hoping the prices would drop and they didn't. They just kept going up up, so we decide to buy before we couldn't afford to go. This year we are going in November and we paid $862pp. That's more than a 50% increase. What has happen since last year to this year, fuel prices dropped. We didn't pay that much more for the cruise. We even tried booking 100 miles away to get a lower fare, didn't work. It is crazy, wish it was some way we could protest. Even more insulting, the airlines don't want to pay if they lose your luggage. They have us and they know we have no other place to go. All I can say is good luck.

 

Its supply and demand. Less scheduled flights and seats = more demand and higher prices.

[operafan]

Time of year matters too. It's why we switched to a cruise that ends before May 15th. After that fares skyrocket.....

[riffatsea]

Planes are definitely fuller this year than last even with the price hikes!! This year I got an e-mail from Delta BEFORE I arrived at the airport asking if I'd voluntarily bump myself from the flight!

BTW last year I flew from California to Barcelona in Oct. for only $515. THIS year in September it was $960 and THAT was considered a "sale" price!!

[hubofhockey]

One of the problems with flying to Barcelona, even from major US cities, is that there is often only one flight per day that fits well. I didn't want to risk not sitting where we wanted, sitting together, or even the flight filling up. It's just not worth it for us. From Boston, we found $400 one way flights out for flights next summer and jumped on them. That was Icelandair. On the way back, we booked with Aerlingus as last year, I noticed our flight price never dropped and got ours for $560. So our total was less than $1,000 R/T. But I wasn't comfortable in waiting.

[GlendaleCruiser]

We want to fly out of St Louis to Barcelona, July 2011. The prices I can find are around $1300. They are a little cheaper from Chicago, but that is a 5 hour drive from home, compared to a 2 hour drive to St Louis. We are 3 hours from Nashville, TN. I have usually found my own airfare in the past to U.S. destinations, but am not too familiar with travel to Europe. Are travel agents able to find better airfare/connection options than by using the internet sites? I think we will wait till Jan and keep checking flights.

 

 

I think $1200-$1300 from Dallas or St. Louis is high.

[hubofhockey]

I think $1200-$1300 from Dallas or St. Louis is high.

 

$600 each way in the summer is not bad at all from anywhere in the US and I would think it would be more from Dallas or St. Louis than it would frrom Boston or NYC.

[annimal]

I guess I'm going to wait and just keep checking the fares for a few weeks. I'd love to say I'm comfortable waiting until sales for spring come up, but then I am worried about losing flight options if I wait too long. So for now, I'll just keep an eye on prices to see if they get any lower in the next month or so.

 

Just out of curiosity, I got a notice from American Express that our business platinum card offers 20% off flights on British Airways. I believe it's for a limited time only (through the first week of November). That's a pretty good discount especially since there are 10 of us traveling. However, I'm a little worried about connecting through Heathrow (London). The ideal return flight for us has only a 1.5 hr layover in Heathrow and I'm worried about late disembarkment off the ship in Barcelona or a delayed flight out of Barcelona as well as possible terminal changes in Heathrow between the flights. Plus, Heathrow seems to be more likely to have issues due to BA strike, terrorist alerts, etc. over other connecting airports. However, flights cost over $1400pp on Air France (via Paris), Swiss Air (via Zurich), etc. What's everyone's thought on connecting via London? And do you think 1.5 hours is enough time to connect? Is it worth the 20% off?

[hkto]

Without knowing what city you are traveling from it's hard to advice on price. Typically Iberia is very competitive. Try http://www.iberia.com. For example nonstop JFK-BCN-JFK is around $750 RT in late May 11. They (Iberia) will also ticket with stopover from other major US cities (I think AA is their partner). I personally will avoid London Heathrow and Paris CDG; had bad experience in both. There is a very good chance of not making a connection and even better chance of not seeing your luggage on arrival. Smaller airports like Zurich or Vienna are much better. Also if you like that JFK price you can purchase a separate domestic ticket from your city to JFK if it turns out to be cheaper.

[iron9er]

All are right. Time of year matters. And timing of your purchase. I agree with earlier poster, use farecompare.com and they will email you if the price for said flight drops alot. I used this last year to purchase a $360 ticket from Charlotte to Paris in late September. Yes, that included taxes, but was only available for a couple of days.

 

This year, ticket prices are up. Use farecompare, you still have plenty of time. We did end up booking Charlotte to Barcelona tickets on Delta for $775 each, although that is for our trip in November, bought the tickets in July.

[wcook]

One of the things I've been doing is checking for open seats. For example, one of our best options is on US Air via Philla. The PHL -> BCN flight is still pretty empty. I'm willing to wait to see if the price will come down from $1150. If more seats were sold, I be thinking about going ahead and booking.

[lowroller]

We paid $1160 r/t p/p from BWI via PHL to BCN on Usairways. Much better flight times then American Airlines (BWI/JFK/BCN) and around the same price for a 6/2011 flight. If we used FF miles during that time it was 60k each way on AA.

[debt]

Take a look at the Air Berlin website. I'm just a few days under a year until my cruise, but fares from LA to Barcelona are amazing, even one way tickets. A bit of caution that Air Berlin doesn't offer individual entertainment screens, but i plan on sleeping most of the flight anyway.

[joandian]

We are flying from Houston to Barcelona in June 2011. We prefer to fly Continental because we can upgrade our coach tickets to business first, but there are no direct flights. I have booked Houston to Heathrow and then British Airways from Heathrow to Barcelona.

 

Price was just under $1000 each. We are flying in a few days ahead and then plan to stay overnight in London on the way back so this option works for us.

 

Heathrow is incredibly busy so leaving only a short time between flights is a risk. If you are saving 20% on your flight, check out hotels for an overnight staying near Heathrow. It still might work out cheaper for you.

[slotmomma3]

Try travelocity. I just booked jfk-bcn nonstop on American for 936 RT including taxes for next June. It was much cheaper than it was on AA.com