Questions about airfare to Europe for summer 2012

[MAHA]

We are planning on taking a Mediterannean cruise in June 2012. I usually find our own airfare. I am wondering when to book the airfare to get the best rates. I realize that airfare for next June is not available to book yet, but am trying to plan ahead. The cruise we are looking at will be Serenade out of Barcelona. We do plan on flying in at least a day in advance and flying home the day we depart the ship.

Thanks!

Mary Anne

[UKBayern]

You are far too early. People are now booking for summer 2011, most airlines do not even have the winter schedules out yet, let alone next years'. Check later in the year.

[Gardyloo]

Most international airlines don't publish schedules until 11 months out; a few publish at 12 months, give or take a few days. As a general rule of thumb (and there are more exceptions to this rule than most other rules I know of) you won't see the cheapest prices on flights right away - the airlines need time to take stock of how sales are going, how fuel prices are looking, competition, etc. - before they'll adjust prices downward.

 

IMO the best solution is to start looking around 11 months before you sail, and check back every week or so for maybe a month or two, or maybe six. It's not uncommon for the "cheapest" fares for transatlantic travel to show up around Feb. - March for that summer, but it's not always the case.

 

Also look at flying into hub cities where there's a lot of competition, rather than into your departure city. Venice is a classic case of this - you can fly into, say, Milan, often considerably cheaper than into Venice itself, then take the train or rent a car for the last couple hundred miles. It might be cheaper all in, might not, but it's worth researching. Flights within Europe can be quite inexpensive, too.

 

One final note is that often the best business class airfares to Europe occur when the highest economy fares are published. Business cycles tend to run opposite to tourist cycles - i.e. the summer is the "low" season for business travelers, so often the airlines will discount business fares (provided you book in advance) while inflating coach fares.

[Keith1010]

We are planning on taking a Mediterannean cruise in June 2012. I usually find our own airfare. I am wondering when to book the airfare to get the best rates. I realize that airfare for next June is not available to book yet, but am trying to plan ahead. The cruise we are looking at will be Serenade out of Barcelona. We do plan on flying in at least a day in advance and flying home the day we depart the ship.

Thanks!

Mary Anne

 

Mary Anne, no one knows for sure when the best time is to book but this is what I do.

 

As a baseline, look at this June and find the same type of flights you would book next June and write down the price of those flights. Then check this every few weeks just to get a sense of the price. That will at least give you a starting point for next June.

 

Then when you get inside the window when you can start to book flights for next year then start checking the flights and the pricing and when you get to a price that you are willing to spend then book it and then after that don't turn back. In other words, once you purchase the tickets don't check on the price again because you will drive yourself nuts.

 

If you can try to arrive a couple of days in advance. There is much to see in Barcelona plus the extra time will allow you to get over the jet lag. Mediterranean cruises tend to be very port intensive so I am a believer in being well rested when you get on the ship.

 

Keith

[FlyerTalker]

As a baseline, look at this June and find the same type of flights you would book next June and write down the price of those flights. Then check this every few weeks just to get a sense of the price. That will at least give you a starting point for next June.

Actually, what you will see is the pricing of the current inventory for June flights, which have already been available for purchase for seven months or so. Many of the lower fare buckets will have been sold out. So, you will see April inventory pricing for available seats on June flights. Now, if you are planning to wait until April of 2012 to buy, that may have some relevance.

 

Better would be to get a subscription to a service such as ExpertFlyer, where you can actually see the published fares for routes for any set of dates and airline, along with the fare rules. Even if the fare is not available, it will show in the fare listings. This type of information will prove more valuable. It is NOT readily available on airline websites or aggregator sites.

 

Remember, "fare" does NOT equal "price". "Fare" is the published pricing in the reservation systems, which is associated with a specific fare designation, with an inventory code, and with specific inventory for each and every flight. There can be fares on a route/airline, but no availability.

Thus the "price" is a result of the appropriate inventory availability combined with the applicable fare rules to get the amount you pay. And yes....the choice of words does matter.

 

For example, right now there is a round-trip "fare" of $323 between Seattle and Berlin in the system. However, the inventory for that is sold out, so your "price" will be different. The fare is there....just no seats left.

 

You will want to know what the "fares" are, so you can evaluate where your "price" fits into the continuum. You will be better informed as to whether it is a case of high "fares" or absent inventory when your "price" is higher than you might want.

 

For $10 per month, you can do a lot of research. Look now, then you will have your true baseline for June 2011 fares. And you can do even more data mining is you have the time or inclination. IMO, it's money and time well spent.