Where are the sale fares to Europe?

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

This year the sales to Europe have been sparse.

Usually, NWA comes out with zone certs good to anywhere in Europe covering the period November to March, with a long booking period. I have used them to destinations like Moscow, Kiev, and Bucharest, and they could be used to any NWA or KLM destination in Europe at a very good price.

This year there have been no zone certs to Europe. Recently there was an email with an e-cert to Europe, but limited to London, Paris, and Frankfurt at an OK price with with only about a week booking period. I tried to line up a trip through Frankfurt, with onward travel on the free seats (pay taxes and fees only) offered on Germanwings from Cologne to Belgrade. Unfortunately, when I went back to the NWA site, the dates that could possibly work for me were gone. I went back to the drawing board looking for LCC possiblities out of London. I did nab dates that worked from NWA on the e-cert and an outbound flight on RyanAir (1 penny plus taxes and fees - total 10 GBP plus 1.75 credit card fee) to Pula, Croatia, with return on Wizz Air (1 euro cent plus taxes and fees - total Euro 19.97 plus E 3.01 for credit card fee) from Llubjliana, Slovenia.

This year, one has to really watch the sales and then use the LCC's to broaden travel options. That is getting easier, as the LCC's fly to more destinations. Some of them now fly to Istanbul, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sofia, and Bucharest, for example.

[jbercu Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jbercu]

This year the sales to Europe have been sparse.

I think global worming makes Europe more attractive to tourists in the winter.
Just a thought.

I am planning a trip to Bucharest for may 2007 and I was looking at BlueAir http://www.blueair-web.com/. Has anybody used them?
Now it has becomes an art to book the Cross-Atlantic flight early, and catch the no frill European Carries from alternate Airports.
I have used Consolidators such as http://www.wholesale-fares.com/ or http://www.airlineconsolidator.com from the West Coast to a central point in Europe for the cross Atlantic, and I usually book 21 to 45 days in advance for the best price. I think the best prices to Europe this winter will be in the 21 to 30 days in advance range. This is excluding Holiday periods where flights should be booked 90 days in advance.

How did you like NWA to Bucharest?
Thanks,
Jake

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I think with Gas prices just now starting to come down. It might take the airlines months to bring down the pricing. Most airlines bought there fuel months ago and paid much more than it is today so they are still bound by the higher pricing.

[Carol C Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Carol C]

Carolinian, do you subscribe to Delta's email newsletters and pay attention to the routes they're adding? Even though they're in bankruptcy, they now are getting approval to add many international routes from both Atlanta and NYC. They've added at least a dozen in the past year. Everytime they introduce a new route it is on sale. So it would pay to follow Delta's doings.

P.S. They're also adding Caribbean and Latin American routes. They just introduced Martinique which I recall starts in mid December, and introductory fare is $249 if I recall. (I'm just going from memory so don't quote me on this...LOL)

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Aerlingus has some, but it's for the chilly months.

www.aerlingus.com

B