I'm looking at going to Europe next summer, like July timeframe ( i know, i know, worst time ever, but my wife, brother, and sister will only have time to go then) and I'm trying to get over there as cheap as possible.

I can leave from DC, Philly, or NYC, and can land anywhere in Europe thats the cheapest. Any thoughts on where i should concentrate my search? I'd prefer Paris or Madrid, but will change my itinerary if i can get significantly cheaper deals into somewhere else. Orbitz and Cheaptickets.com are giving me prices up in the $900s...I've only flown to the continent once in the summer, that was 9 years ago. Last year got to Dublin from Philly for $500.

Will the prices come down as I get a little closer to the summer (but not tooo close)? help?

Prices should come down but keep checking around. London is often the cheapest place to fly into, and then you could get a cheap flight from there.

Don't quote me on this, but I had been told by another traveler that if you bought your ticket 90 days to the day out, from midnight to 5:00 a.m. that the price would at least cut in half. It worked for me last spring. I used orbitz and checked a North West flight out of Boston to Amsterdam the week before the 90 day mark. It was around $1150. with taxes etc... I logged on at 4:00 a.m that morning and the tick price dropped down to $450.00. Unfortunately, the ticks at that price weren't available anymore, and I ended up getting mine for 617.00 each. I managed to save about 600.00 for 2 ticks. I also learned that I am going to log on right after midnight next time. That was the first time I tried that and it worked. I don't know the reasons as to why. In discussions with people, the concept that the airlines issue the tickets to the online travel sights 90 days out came up and that they offer a break for 5 hours. If anyone else tries this and it works, please post your results so that we can all learn from this. I will be buying my next ticks in March, and am crossing my fingers. :cheers:

thats awesome, please let me know how that works out for you in March, because i'll still have 90 days to get mine before i leave in mid-july

Yeah man, I was stoked that it worked. And trust me, if it works this time, it will confirm it for me and I will definately be posting my results so all can benefit. Where you heading in July MB0108?

All over Europe. My fiancee and sister have never been there so my brother and I are taking them around for 16-20 days. Thats the most my fiance and i can take off from work. kinda sucks but what are you going to do. And the summer is the only time my sis and bro can come because of school and whatnot.

our itinerary is something like...
Paris
Pamplona
Barcelona
Cinque Terra
Florence
Rome
Dubrovnik
Budapest
Prague

Sounds like a good trip man, my wife and I got back a few months ago from Holland, Belgium and France. This june we are going back to Holland for a week and then connect to the greek Isles and island hop for a few weeks. I feel ya on the time off, I have to beg and plead and then make up days, but luckily I'm getting about 25 days a year off. Not nearly enough though. Itching to do a 3 month trip ya know!!! I was recently in Paris, and have been in Rome and Florence if you have any questions go for it. By the way, thats a shit load of cities for a 16-20 day trip. Consider your travel days etc... I would definately suggest at least 2-3 days in which ever cities you choose to go to. Thats the least amount of time to get a feel for the place and absorb it. You don't want your trip to be a big blur of travel from city to city without being able to enjoy a pint and the scenery! :cheers:

I wish our employeers would cut as a break on the vacation thing, I only had a week off this year and I'll have two weeks next year, itching so badly to go to Europe but I don't know if it's even worth it, what do you guys think? :comando:

It might be worth looking for two one way tickets too. I've noticed when looking up ticket prices for the US that it's cheeper to fly to the US from Europe (sometimes half price) than it is to fly to Europe from the US. If your buying a return ticket they could be charging you US prices. So you might at least be able to bring the price down a bit by buying a one way ticket to the US from Europe.

That's not a bad idea, i'll have to look into that as it gets closer to ticket buying time...

Thanks, i'll probably have questions at some point. I've actually been to all 3 cities before, Rome for a full 7 days back in 2003, so i have a working knowledge of that place.

Yeah, i know, but i consider this trip almost a "starter" as sorts. See, as I've said here before or on other posts, the point of this trip to get my sister and my wife into the travel thing (or at least give them a chance to catch the bug - if not, looks like a life of solos for me). When I went to Europe in high school we had a similar itinerary and it seemed to work out. As long as you travel as much as you can at night (overnight trains and ferries work well) then it doesn't impinge too much on city-time. And it is a blur, you're right, but we're going buffet here, figuring out places we'd want to come back to and spend some real time at later on.

Thanks for everyone's help. As promised I'll let you guys know how that ticket buy goes.