[DanG]

My beloved girlfriend lives in Bavaria and, after having spent almost six months of wonderful time together here in Massachusetts, we decided to continue the relationship across the Atlantic. It actually wasn't a hard choice for either of us. What will be hard, however, is paying for the ridiculously high price of summer air travel when I visit her in August. I'm planning on leaving at the beginning of August and coming back at the end of August or very beginning of September.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can find a cheap ticket to Munich (ideally) or Frankfurt (not bad either)? So far the best I've found is about 600 EUR. American sites get me no cheaper than 800 USD. My brother got a ticket to Brussels last August for around $550 but, being the oblivious CalTecher that he is, has no idea where the ticket was from. So I'm wondering if it's possible to get something cheaper that *isn't* a "no longer available" flight (found one for 400 EUR today). Any suggestions?

I appreciate any help you guys can offer me.

 

[iluvcans]

I've flown several times to Frankfurt and I've bought my tickets from local agents (and surprisingly I got a very good rate-- $700 is probably the most I've paid). If you're a student check out http://www.statravel.com/cps/rde/xch...sion_web_live/ (you might have to go into a local shop though as I don't know if they publish their same rates online as they give in the store). This company is actually huge-- I just happen to run into one of their shops in Austria on that same trip.

That's who I flew with last. I was going to the east of the country (about 1/2 hour from the Czech border) and so I took a train from Frankfurt to there.

 

[Canman]

Airfare to Europe seems to be more expensive than it has been the past couple of years. I am flying to Munich in two weeks. Luckily, I was able to use frequent flyer miles. Otherwise, my ticket through American Airlines would have cost over $1,000.

Check all of the travel sites like Orbitz, travelocity, and expedia. Then check each of the airline websites. Also, be sure to check flights out from multiple airports. You might be able to fly out of JFK for much cheaper than Boston.

My girlfriend checked with STA Travel for a flight to Munich and they quoted around $1,200 two months ago. I'm not so sure you'll find a deal there.

 

[RYCeT]

With the world cup still going on in Germany, I don't think you'll get a better rate. Try to book after world cup final. With a lot of fans going home, you might get a better rate coming to german.

 

[DanG]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm already only checking fares from JFK since Boston seems a couple hundred dollars more expensive, and I'm planning on visiting STA travel today. It's a good thing I can take the Chinatown bus and have places to stay in the City. If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

www.ltu.de

Learned about this airline from my days lurking at backpacking websites. A quick check indicates they can fly you from JFK to Munich in July for about 400 USD.

They do offer flights from Boston, but only to Dusseldorf, and only in business class (about 2000 USD).

EDIT: Very sorry. The 359 price is for one way. *sad*

 

[DanG]

Thanks for the heads-up, Jeff, but yeah, tickets show up as being between $900-1000 r/t to Germany from NYC.

I was thinking I could fly to another European city that might be cheaper, especially London since I have an old friend there whom I haven't seen in a long time. Then I could fly with some discount airline from London to Germany... does anyone have ideas on that front?

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Again from my backpacking lurking days:

www.easyjet.com
www.ryanair.com

 

[DanG]

Those are actually the two I had in mind for cheap European flights.

I'm mainly just trying to figure out how to get to Europe cheaply to begin with.

I signed up with some travel association, cheaptrips.com, at the end of last week. They seem to have some interesting ways available for getting cheapish tickets.

But I've also noticed, since I've been checking prices daily for the past week or two, that the prices are going down every few days. Even Travelocity is down to just over $800 which is still more than I'm willing to pay, but better than the $870 or so it quoted me a week ago. My girlfriend's been using google.de (which gives completely different search results) and found a $700 ticket already, Newark to Munich. So I think that flying for around $600 might not be out of the question.

Thanks again for the suggestions. And go Germany (I guess...

).