Greetings All,

Looking for the best airfare, either from the west coast or from NY. Will be departing early October and staying approx. 10 days. With so many so-called cheap and last-minute websites as well as the consolidator/bucket shops advertising in the paper, would appreciate hearing from those who have flown to Spain this time of year and hwo to locate the lowest possible price. One caveat, however. Though departure and return dates are somewhat flexible, it will not be possible to wait until the last minute so that I can coordinate with a travel companion and for the purpose of arranging hotel accommodations.

Please either post to the list or email me directly.

Thank you.

Ron Landskroner

Hi Ron --
I feel that I am qualified to call myself the queen of airfare bargains since when my husband and I were "dating" (he in Spain, me in Philadelphia), I would travel to Spain 4-5 times in a year (and he vice versa), mostly for extended weekends. Finding the absolute cheapest flight was essential.

The cheapest flight I ever found was right before the Christmas holidays at $198 roundtrip. Given, that was back in 1998. However, the main search tool that I used at the time was expedia.com. I have gotten a little wiser and am now a registered frequent flyer with many airlines and am registered at their websites to be notified of great deals. Now, airlines are beginning a little direct competition with some of these travel sites and reserving the absolute best fares for their website customers. Be sure not to just rely on the travel sites like Travelocity or Expedia (or the many others that are out there) definitely take the time to register at the different airlines websites. Don´t forget about the smaller international companies along with the larger American carriers.

I found great prices at Iberia.com. Iberia is the Spanish national airline. $545 RT from Phoenix to Madrid in May, including a Saturday return.

I returned from Spain yesterday. I had been in Spain teaching english with a group of fellow Americans. Several people in our group reported that they bought their airfares on Priceline.com. I have always been a little tentative about using their services but the people in my group said that they have used them many times and have had excellent results. Some of the airfares were: Dallas - Madrid on Delta $400 including tax, San Francisco - Madrid on Delta $450 and Chicago - Madrid on British Airways $400. Some of these tickets were purchased with only 2 week's notice. I got my ticket directly through Lufthansa (wanted to use frequent flyer miles). Most people in my group reported paying approximately $600 for the airfare from the USA to Madrid.

Ron, I fly with US Airways from Philadelphia airport, they have the cheapest fare but customer service is just a mess and flight attendants are rude (just my experience, hopefully someone else had a better experince and they can post their opinion).
If you are looking for cheap airfare and don't mind to have a "not very pleasant" flight go with US Air... they usually have better prices if you order online.
Nuria