This whole airfare thing-- help me?

[bekkle]

OK.

I'm flying from Orlando to Paris round-trip this summer, dates May 28 and July 19.
I've heard of people getting all sorts of deals for this fare, a friend of mine paid $500 with icelandair a while ago.
I've waited throughout the supposedly "best time" to search for good deals on summer airfare..

So WHY is are all the airfare websites telling me the cheapest I can get is $1,250?

It's really frustrating and I especially don't want to wait so long that the prices to start going up on me. Is it because my flight dates are two months apart?

Does anyone have any knowledge/ tips/ advice for me?

Thank you so much!

[TheJake]

it's the wrong time of year basically. It's the "rush time" for the european airfare's and I think you will be hard pressed to find much of a deal anywhere. It has more to do with the time of year you're flying than much else. Right in the threshold of the euro trip season. I don't have much advice for ya other than to check out
www.kayak.com

they always come through with good prices for me even when everything else is crazy high.

[joe7f]

Originally Posted by bekkle

OK.

So WHY is are all the airfare websites telling me the cheapest I can get is $1,250?

Thank you so much!

The secret to cheap airfares is to be flexible. My advice would be to not fly to Paris. I checked Travelocity and a flight from Orlando to London was in the 780-830 range. From London you can fly to Paris/any-where-in-the-known-world

You can also fly from New York to Dublin for 576 and if you will drive across I-4 to St Pete Clearwater, you probably can fly on USA3000 to New York for 59 bucks each way for a grand total of 1000 bucks (when you include the Dublin Paris flight)

One thing to remember is that on such a long trip 50+ days is that the flight is a small part of the trip cost so while getting a good deal is great, keep your eye on the big picture.

If I were you I would fly to London and then to Paris, or fly Orlando to Amsterdam (I believe there are direct flights) and then break out that shiny new rail pass to get yourself to Paris.

--Joey

[Delaney]

I also think its pretty cheap to fly into Frankfurt, I found some on travelocity for $890. It's also worth giving STA Travel a call. I went through a local office and got a much better price than advertised on the net. And they are pretty lenient on the student requirement.

Let us know what you find!

[xanthuos]

Originally Posted by bekkle

OK.
I'm flying from Orlando to Paris round-trip this summer, dates May 28 and July 19. I've heard of people getting all sorts of deals for this fare, a friend of mine paid $500 with icelandair a while ago. I've waited throughout the supposedly "best time" to search for good deals on summer airfare. So WHY is are all the airfare websites telling me the cheapest I can get is $1,250?

Summer is the peak time for fares to Europe. If you were to do the same flight during the late fall through early spring, you could probably get away with a sub-$500 roundtrip.

Is this a backpacking trip where you will be traveling around Europe? If so, why did you choose flying into Paris?

Right now, your cheapest option is to fly to either Manchester, England or Glasgow, Scotland. US Airways is approximately $600 ($593) roundtrip between Orlando and those cities. If you are only going to Paris, you can use one of the European low-cost airlines (RyanAir, easyJet, etc) to fly onward to Paris. If you need help booking this, please PM me.

Just a little tip to you and everyone else who is searching for fares to Europe in summertime. BUY IMMEDIATELY if you find a relatively good deal! There's a chance you'll be able to find it for less in the future, but the odds are not in your favor! The seasoned travelers on this board can tell you that $600 roundtrip to Europe isn't a bad price at all, especially for summer travel and especially from Florida! During the summer, you're lucky to get a roundtrip fare that low from NY to Europe! As it stands, for those dates, I can barely find a roundtrip under $600 (the exception is Air India to London for $565, $30 cheaper than your fare!).

[buzzingtalk]

once you get to london you can get to paris stupidly cheap - coach for about £20, plane ticket around £40-50...your much better off flying the england first, it will be a lot cheaper. if you want me to find you links for travel to paris from manchester/london or england, ill be glad to help

[bekkle]

Thank you all SO much. I think that stupid panicked post saved my sister and me each hundreds of dollars! Hooray!

And now I have an excuse to see London!

For those of you who were wondering, I'll be backpacking in France and Benelux exclusively-- that's the railpass I'm getting (2 months, 10 travel days).

Looking thru fares it appears I'll be going MCO - LHR round-trip. I wish I could leave directly from Paris (or at least not from "weird" airports, boo hoo), but the money and experience should be worth the extra travel time & coordination.

Are there any European low-cost airlines besides RyanAir and Easyjet?

thank you thank you thank you all again. MWAH.

[xanthuos]

Which airline do you plan to fly to LHR and how much it's giving you for a fare?

[bekkle]

Originally Posted by xanthuos

Which airline do you plan to fly to LHR and how much it's giving you for a fare?

I'm going to wait just a couple of days to see if I find a freak low fare. The lowest I found tonight was just under $850 dollars. I'll post when I actually make the purchase.

Why?

[xanthuos]

Originally Posted by bekkle

I'm going to wait just a couple of days to see if I find a freak low fare. The lowest I found tonight was just under $850 dollars. I'll post when I actually make the purchase.

Why?

Manchester is about 200 miles from London.

Of course, you're free to plan your trip however you please. If it were me, though, I'd book the roundtrip to Manchester, save $250 each ($500 total if it is you & your sister going), and take a 1 quid ($2) funfare on National Express (bus company) to London. The journey takes about 4 hrs 30 minutes. That's a savings of about $25 per hour of travel time!

That, and while I'm not the biggest fan of US Airways, I'd rather be flying them than Martinair - I believe the routes between the US and Europe on Martinair are considered charter flights, not regular scheduled service. That means if there is a problem with the flight, they do not have to put you on another carrier.

Just some suggestions!

As for low-cost carriers, I would probably suggest easyJet between London and Paris. I can't even think of any other airlines that fly that route. easyJet flies to Charles De Gaulle, so it isn't an out of the way "weird" airport. Right now, a roundtrip flight around your dates from London to Paris is about 50 quid, or $100.

[marc873]

I would also say to check Iceland air website and sign up for the "Lucky Fares". I bought roundtrip ticks to Amsterdam last week for $760.00. I know the same flight out of Orlando was sold out, I am flying out of Baltimore. But you could get lucky with your date and that you are flying into a different location.

Oh and if you do end up flying on Iceland air, you should plan a stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland for a few days.

[bekkle]

Originally Posted by xanthuos

. The journey takes about 4 hrs 30 minutes. That's a savings of about $25 per hour of travel time!

That's really worthwhile information, and I'm super-super grateful for your (and everyone else's!) help. What I'm anxious about is that even though I'd be saving hundreds of dollars, I'd be miserable to have to wait to begin my very first journey! Then again, if I'm even considering sacrificing that money I should just take the Manchester flight and donate it to charity.. moral dilemma!

I'm going to relate all these ideas to my sister and make a decision with her. I'm really excited and (need I repeat it?) SO FUCKING GRATEFUL for your helpful suggestions. Y'all just saved me hella cash AND led me to include another city and culture in my trip. Fuck yeah! I love travelpunk!

[joe7f]

I think you will find that London is a better choice for flying into anyway (it sure helps to speak the language ... assuming you don't speak French).

--Joey

[buzzingtalk]

if its much cheaper to fly into manchester then do it - get a megabus coach to london, then transfer to paris by air. id recommend staying in london for a night when you arrive, it will allow you to refresh yourself and chill, and also if there are any problems with the coach you have more time to find a solution and get to london on time

check these websites out:

www.megabus.com

for slightly better class of coach (but still quite cheap) check

www.nationalexpress.com

if you go on this google link theres quite a few sites which will act as a search engine so you can look for flights on the cheap. also if your a student check out STA travel

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...m+london&meta=

hope this helps.

[xanthuos]

Originally Posted by bekkle

That's really worthwhile information, and I'm super-super grateful for your (and everyone else's!) help. What I'm anxious about is that even though I'd be saving hundreds of dollars, I'd be miserable to have to wait to begin my very first journey! Then again, if I'm even considering sacrificing that money I should just take the Manchester flight and donate it to charity.. moral dilemma!

I'm going to relate all these ideas to my sister and make a decision with her. I'm really excited and (need I repeat it?) SO FUCKING GRATEFUL for your helpful suggestions. Y'all just saved me hella cash AND led me to include another city and culture in my trip. Fuck yeah! I love travelpunk!

You ARE starting your journey! As soon as you land in the UK, your trip begins! Don't go in with the opinion that it begins just once you get to Paris. Have you been to the UK before? I've been told Manchester isn't that exciting, but London - gotta love London! You'll see some sights on your way to London on the coach, and then once you're in London, you should spend a night or two and explore!

Hella? Are you from Florida or California!?

Anyways, good luck on making your decision...try to do it soon though! Don't want to miss that fare to Manchester if you decide to go that route.

[bekkle]

we paid just under $600 bucks for two round-trip flights to Manchester. Rrrock.

I'm super excited about seeing London. I even have a free place to crash for a night!

Thanks for the links, buzzingtalk, and xanthuos- i am a citizen on the GLOBE!

i love you all!!

[bekkle]

and by $600 i mean each. I wasn't that lucky!

[xanthuos]

Originally Posted by bekkle

we paid just under $600 bucks for two round-trip flights to Manchester. Rrrock.

I'm super excited about seeing London. I even have a free place to crash for a night!

Thanks for the links, buzzingtalk, and xanthuos- i am a citizen on the GLOBE!

i love you all!!

Glad to hear it was helpful to you! Enjoy your trip.

[BelfastFlyer]

Oops, Ive missed most of this thread. A little tip for the future though - Dublin is one of the cheapest european cities to fly into from the USA (aerlingus have dirt cheap flights) and it's also the home of the scummy ryan air (not that I'm recommending them to anyone!) so there will always be a cheap connection

Belfast have a few airlines that fly into it (continential, flyglospan) but you will still have to pay the high british taxes.

Hope it helps!

[buzzingtalk]

Originally Posted by bekkle

we paid just under $600 bucks for two round-trip flights to Manchester. Rrrock.

I'm super excited about seeing London. I even have a free place to crash for a night!

Thanks for the links, buzzingtalk, and xanthuos- i am a citizen on the GLOBE!

i love you all!!

nice one!!! if you want any help with getting connections from manchester to london give us a holla, i think i linked you up OK though. hope you have a safe journey and if your up for a drink in london town