Wow, airfares certainly have jumped this year. I'm looking at having to pay double what I did last year...at least! Where is everyone getting their tickets this year? I've tried every online site I can think of, and then some. My travel dates would be leaving around July 3, for about a month. And I'm in an obscure part of NY so USAir has the best connections for me. Thanks for any tips. ~Karen

I hear ya SalaChic! We have a bunch of people flying over for our wedding and it has been terrible trying to find affordable airfares. It seems that nobody even offered sales this year! The bad thing is that I am afraid it is only going to get worse.

I second that ... finding very high prices for mid summer trips.. I am due to fly back to Madrid middle of July and found outrageous prices.. Iberia has some good prices Spain to US but not vice versa apparently

SalaChic,
I checked all the airlines and the cheapest I found is British Airways. JFK/LHR/MAD leaving 07/03/2006 and returning on 08/03/2006. The price is $1040.00
Hope this helps!

Thanks Carlos. But unfortunately, where I live, getting to JFK is a long drive. We did try it one summer to save money. It took us only 4hrs to get there, but 7 hrs on the way home because of traffic!! And with 2 kids in tow, it was way too much. I'm looking for ITH-PHL-MAD. Also, I've found that while the fare via London is cheaper, I'd get killed in taxes on that fare. USAir taxes are about $85, but on BA it's in the neighborhood of $250 !! Ouch. When I find something, I'll post back for everyone else looking too. ~Karen

SalaChic,
You must have your tickets by now.How did you make out?

Not well. They were still in the neighborhood of $1000 +tx. We got them from www.flights.com There were probably cheaper fares to be had, but not from my small (centrally isolated) town with the specific routing we wanted. We checked other sources like the usual Orbitz etc and also directly with USAir and they tickets were still going up - topped off at $1800 !! So we cut our losses, bit the bullet and bought the tix. It just amazes me on how the exact same itinerary on the exact same airline can fluctuate so much in price. In 2002 I paid $600 *sigh*

I'm visiting the Parental Units (anyone in the USA get that SNL reference?) towards the end of July (already had that ticket as the return trip of a round-trip ticket when I first came here at the end of December 2005).

So last month I bought a one-way ticket from Columbus, Ohio (USA) to Madrid on August 2 for $1,250 on www.ORBITZ.com with Iberia, making one stop in Chicago. The next best price was like $1,500 so it seems I got a good deal. It was the same price one-way as round-trip too.

But don't get too crazed about the summertime airfares. They're ALWAYS high, historically being around $1,200 - $1,700 from the USA to Spain. In springtime/autumn I usually pay/paid $600 - $700 and felt good about that.

And should we really complain so much? In the 1970s and 1980s the airfares to Europe were - EVEN THEN - between $1,500 and $2,000!! I remember when my sister went to Europe on summer with a high school group the ticket alone was in that range. My parents nearly changed their minds about sending her until she begged, cried, threw a small tantrum (just kidding), promised to help pay some of the ticket, washed the dishes for a month - without complaining, etcetera.

For years and years now we've been spoiled by these low airfares due to constant price wars among the airline companies, these companies operating at a loss, and going deeper and deeper in dept every year. And look what happened! Now most of them are out of business, bankrupt, or about to go under. So with fewer airlines making those routes (plus fuel prices) they can now raise the rates because there are fewer choices and less competition among the airlines. So really, we've shot ourselves in the foot.

SalaChic, in 2002 you paid $600. Was that for summertime travel too from/to the same travel points?

Happy Travels, everyone!

Saludos, MadridMan

We just found out that Air Transat flies Madrid Toronto While I'm not too fond of flying charter the only other option is a connection via Frankfurt or London and 4 hours extra travel time. The main negative I find is that you have liminted flights, right now only once a week.

Air Transat now offers club class, while not quite business class the seats are a bit roomer so it may make the flight a bit more tolorable.

krob

I just paid $933 RT non-stop Newark to Madrid via Continental leaving July 27 & returning August 22. it was about $75 less than Delta RT to and from JFK. What cinched the deal for me was that Continental threw in five free Apple iTunes downloads.