I still don't have the answer to the question, "should I wait for a sale to buy my airline tickets?" My instincts tell me that demand is way down, prices are bound to drop, and yet I see few signs of lower fares for the high season. Yesterday, however, Lufthansa sent an email blast touting fares to Europe from the U.S. starting at $180 each way for Miami-Milan plus taxes and fees. New York-Turin is $190, Washington to Frankfurt is $193, and Los Angeles-Manchester is $216. There are other gateways and destinations. Problem is you have only a few days to buy the tickets, plus travel, in most cases, must be completed by the end of April. This indicates, however, that there are seats to sell. It also shows us how the airlines get rid of their empty seats: brief sales, second level destinations; one or two stops; and many restrictions. Travel websites are splashed with banners advertising low transatlantic fares. But after five minutes of clicking you find out the fare is for the coming weekend, makes three plane changes each way, and the taxes and fees more than double the advertised price that caught your eye in the first place. Do I exaggerate? Only a little. So: to give you an idea of what air tickets to Europe are actually selling for these days, here's a handful of itineraries booked this week by Laura Riedel, our air ticket manager. The prices include all taxes and fees:
• Lufthansa, April 14 - 29, New York-Hamburg, return from Nürnberg - $661
• Swiss, July 12 - Aug. 5, Los Angeles-Stuttgart - $1276
• Lufthansa, May 14 - 25, Charlotte-Munich - $974
• Lufthansa/United, June 18 - July 10, San Francisco-Vienna, return from London - $1370
• United, June 11 - July 1, Salt Lake City-Amsterdam, return from Paris - $1371
Get an email quote at or phone Laura at 800-521-6722x2)
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