Want to get away for a lovely European vacation? It seems like everyone in America does, and it’s driving up prices. If you still want to head out on that big adventure, you’ll probably have to pay out the nose — or get creative.
When you peruse the web for summer flights to Paris or Rome, good luck with finding a flight for less than $1,000.
“Delta just released their earnings, and one of the starkest data points that they mentioned in there is that 75% of their international seats for this summer have already been sold,” said Scott Keyes, founder of Going.com.
Not good news for folks who have yet to book their summer plans.
Budget airlines like Play and North Atlantic Airways are giving a lot of good nonstop flights to Europe at really remarkably cheap prices. That may help, but the demand is still high.
“Travel between the U.S. and Europe is up 15% compared to the same time in 2019. There are a lot of Americans heading over to Europe right now,” said Keyes.
He said if you want to go on a trip but are destination-flexible, a good strategy is to make ticket price the top priority.
Iceland is an affordable destination this summer, because of the budget airline influence and shorter flight.
“Dublin is one that regularly pops up under $500 round trip. Take a look at a place like Copenhagen, Denmark. It has cold weather certainly for much of the year, but it’s a beautiful, wonderful and bikeable place to go in the summer.”
But if a hotspot like Paris is a must for your summer getaways, there may be some workarounds that will get you there a little cheaper if you are vigilant.
“The best strategy from a cheap flights perspective is, rather than pay $1,500 for a flight to Paris, instead book that $600 flight to Amsterdam and just take the train down to Paris, or take a budget flight down,” said Keyes.
Wherever you end up going, book sooner rather than later.
“Airfares are likely to move in one direction, from here on out … and it’s not down.”
