Still planning a trip to Europe? If so, and you can depart in the month of May, you can save a bundle. Since the beginning of the year, many of the international airlines were demanding summer airfares starting May 15, 2010. Now, the new summer season kicks in AFTER June 1, 2010 to London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, and most cities in Italy.
The good news here is, you can now fly to Europe in late May and save yourself up to $500 more than you could have just a few weeks ago!
Since many of the summer airfares started to drop prior to the volcanic eruption. The question is, are summer airfares going to come down further like the spring airfares? That's the million dollar question. We have a chart below showing the airfare decreases in the past four months.
We could see more price drops, in the next three of four weeks if Americans decide not travel due to the possibility of future cancellations from another volcanic eruption. About 8 million Europeans had flights cancelled on them throughout Europe. They too may elect not to fly to the USA this summer. If the demand for summer travel drops by 10% or more. Then we could see the airlines panic to offer deals to persuade us to fly anyway.
If you remember last year, when there were false reports of thousands of people dying in the streets of Mexico due to swine flu. During that first week I got dozens and dozens of phone calls from reporters asking, how much have prices dropped to Mexico. My response was none, at least for the first week after the reports. However, three or four weeks afterwards when the airlines saw demand for Mexico flights drop off a cliff, that is when the airlines finally lowered their prices.
We think the same may hold true for the volcanic ash incident in Europe. The airlines are sitting on the sideline right now, hoping that you will pay $1,500 for a ticket to Europe for summer 2010.
But, if you hold off on purchasing that airfare today, and the airlines see travel to Europe dropping like a rock, like they did last year to Mexico. The airlines maybe forced to show their hand and will end up cutting airfare prices yet again like they did this past spring, and those were some amazing price drops!
So here is our best answer, you could wait it out and see what happens in the next three of four weeks. You could change your travel plans and stay closer to home. You could wait and if airfares DO NOT DROP any further for summer then you can fly to Europe in September or October. The weather is still great and airfares as of right now are up to $500 off summer prices.
We wish we could give you a better forecast for summer, but our summer crystal ball is a little covered with volcanic ash right now! Maybe in about two or three weeks it will clear up.
Now when we looked at our crystal ball a couple of months ago for spring travel it was crystal clear about forecasting spring airfares, and as you can see the airfares came down, and came down hard!
For those who were patient, and paid attention to our hot deals by email that we sent you in January and February we told you to hold off for spring and summer airfares. Those who waited and bought spring airfares in the past few weeks have made out like bandits!
For those of you thinking June, July, and August travel we have already seen a decrease in airfares of 20 to 25%. The real question is, if you wait another two or three weeks will the airfares decrease, and will you make out like bandits, like the folks traveling in April and May? The jury is still out on this one folks.
Airfares listed below are the base airfares only, they do not include international entry and exit fees, which can range between $100-$160. If you are traveling to most destinations in Europe your fuel surcharges will be an additional $300 roundtrip. London fuel surcharges will be $222, Dublin fuel surcharges will be $180 roundtrip.
To see prices from your home airport to Europe for spring and summer travel please, click here.
| Departure City/ Destination City | Booked Jan. 10 For Travel May 22, 2010 | Booked Today For Travel May 22, 2010 | Dollar Decrease | Percentage Decrease | Booked Jan. 10 For Travel July 22, 2010 | Booked Today For Travel July 22, 2010 | Dollar Decrease | Percentage Decrease |
| Los Angeles to London | $693 | $317 | $376 | 54% | $871 | $711 | $160 | 18% |
| Dallas to Rome | $918 | $357 | $561 | 61% | $1,050 | $981 | $69 | 7% |
| Houston to Rome | $868 | $367 | $501 | 58% | $1,050 | $738 | $312 | 30% |
| NYC to Paris | $668 | $309 | $359 | 54% | $940 | $727 | $213 | 23% |
| San Francisco to Madrid | $818 | $438 | $380 | 46% | $865 | $724 | $141 | 16% |
| Chicago to Zurich | $818 | $371 | $447 | 55% | $950 | $754 | $196 | 21% |
| Atlanta to Dublin | $1,276 | $404 | $872 | 68% | $1,276 | $694 | $582 | 46% |
| Phoenix to Prague | $1,357 | $888 | $469 | 35% | $1,357 | $888 | $469 | 35% |
| Boston to Milan | $868 | $332 | $536 | 62% | $1,000 | $671 | $329 | 33% |
| Wash. DC to Nice | $768 | $406 | $362 | 47% | $1,090 | $801 | $289 | 27% |
| Miami to Frankfurt | $948 | $428 | $520 | 55% | $1,118 | $964 | $154 | 14% |
This is just a sample of some of the cities on sale.
To see prices from your home airport to Europe for spring and summer travel please, click here.
