When to buy a flight? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**micdans** · 02-28-2010, 06:53 PM

So I'm hoping to take my sister to Europe this summer after she finishes her Bachelors degree this spring.

The thing is, I'm looking at flight prices right now to many different Northern and Western European cities, and it is very challenging to find flights for under $1000 from Minneapolis.

When I looked at flights the past few years, I seemed to find flights for much less ($500-700). Maybe this is because before I was looking only a few months out or maybe this is because flights just cost more now.

Does anyone have insight into this? If I'm looking into going End of July, is there a better time to be looking?

Danke

bertus · 03-01-2010, 09:57 AM

Well July is during the high season so tickets are more expensive than in March or April. If your flexible with your dates you can sometimes find quite a good deal, and flying on Wednesday is often the cheapest although that can change too.

**marc873** · 03-01-2010, 01:31 PM

Yeah, the summer season always produces higher rates... You could look at flying Aer Lingus into Ireland, and maybe Ryan air, or Aer Lingus to EU... You could also maybe check out Icaland air... They fly out of BWI pretty damn cheap and from Iceland into the EU very cheap as well...
But flying in July is tough... I would also suggest waiting another 6 weeks or so, as its a bit too far out now in March...
Good luck!

**travelpunk** · 03-01-2010, 04:51 PM

I believe the last week of July and the first week of August are the height of the summer travel season so if you want to save money, choosing travel dates outside of those two weeks will be cheaper.

I believe that rule is still in effect

.

**micdans** · 03-01-2010, 07:14 PM

I think I will look a few weeks before and after the end of July. The challenging thing is, that she will hopefully start teaching mid August. So we may need to look earlier.

Thanks for the insight...

xanthuos · 03-05-2010, 01:20 AM

Consider "nesting" two different tickets. Due to fare rules, it may be difficult to find a ticket to Europe for less than $1k...but if you found a $600 r/t ticket to Europe from New York and a $200 r/t ticket from Minneapolis - New York, that gets your costs under $1,000 while also giving you the opportunity to have a layover in a great city like NY. The same logic applies for your flights to Europe. On my last trip, I flew in & out of Ireland since I got a roundtrip flight for less than $300 and then just used Air Berlin & Ryanair for my flights on the continent.

Cheer123 · 06-24-2010, 11:24 AM

Its tough to know when to buy them. If you buy them in advance it is usually much cheaper, but sometimes you get lucky and rates go down. its all luck