Airfare Deals Europe fare war

AA/DL/UA major fare sale price drop $600s across USA to much of Europe Sep-March

Most of the time there are a few cities in the USA with low fares to a few cities in Europe. Today I see big price drops from many cities around the USA to many cities in Europe. These deals are not the $300 to $400 round trip tickets to a particular city like Dublin or Stockholm. The airfare trend I see today is a city like New York has $500 to $600 round trip ticket prices to dozens of cities around Europe while a regional airport like my hometown of Monterey also has fares in the $600s to several major cities in Europe.

American/Oneworld has all of Spain on sale from New York, Delta has all of France and Italy on sale from JFK. In general, there are relatively low fares in the $600s to much of Europe from New York, and Chicago, and Washington DC, and Dallas and San Francisco and even Monterey, California. There are many airports across the USA with low fares to Europe.

This could be a reaction to the Nice terror attack and the general 24/7 cycle of violence reporting on USA media scaring people away from international travel between the USA and Europe. Regardless of the reasons for lower fares, the fares are there today and there are some good deals to be found for travel to secondary regional airports around Europe for people who want to travel to a place in Spain besides Madrid or Barcelona or a city in France besides Paris and other European airports not frequently on sale.

Here are some sample fares seen on Google Flights to illustrate this lower airfare trend buying opportunity today.

(Oops. I forgot that I am in Poland and all the Google Flights data in priced in local currency. That is one of the difficulties I have when outside the USA.  Google Flights automatically goes to the local currency. I don’t know of a way to switch it to US Dollars. Please let me know if you know how.)

Google Flights New York JFK – Spain Oneworld Alliance Sep 12 – Sep 19

Google Flights JFK-Spain PLZ

The exchange rate for Polish zlotys is about 3.95 PLZ = 1.00 USD.

  • JFK – Barcelona = $583.82 USD
  • JFK – Madrid = $597.24
  • JFK – Palma, Mallorca = $601.66
  • JFK – Santiago de Compostela = $605.36
  • JFK – Ibiza = $610.27
  • JFK – Almeria = $611.28
  • JFK – Vigo = $614.58
  • JFK – Valencia = $615.09
  • JFK – Alicante = $616.35

Delta and United match the fares to many of these cities in Spain. This is a fare war and it is more obvious in San Francisco where Delta attacks Zurich and Munich with lowest fares, while United attacks American and Delta alliance countries on Italy, Spain and UK routes.

Google Flights San Francisco – Europe Sep 12-Sep 19

Google Flights SFO-Europe Sep 12-19

SFO – Belfast BHD = $560.06 Delta/KLM

SFO – Barcelona = $588.66 United

SFO – Amsterdam = $612.85 Air Canada

SFO – Zurich = $629.36 Delta

SFO – Paris CDG = $638.16 United nonstop

SFO – London LGW = $641.66 United ticket for Air Canada operated flights

SFO – Rome FCO = $641.36 United

SFO – Edinburgh EDI = $650.96 United

SFO – Manchester UK = $654.06 United

SFO – Munich = $670.66 Delta

SFO – London LHR =  $673.06 United nonstop

SFO – Split, Croatia = $756.16 United

I see similar low fares with attacks on each others alliance routes in several other cities.

Seattle United has lowest fare to Madrid

Los Angeles United has lowest fare to Barcelona

Denver United has lowest fare to Amsterdam

Houston American and Delta have lowest fares to Zurich

Atlanta United has lowest fare to London

Chicago American has lowest fare to Prague

Google Flights Monterey – Europe Sep 12-19

One of the primary barometers I use to gauge the extent of a USA fare sale is when prices drop from my regional airport of Monterey, California. Normally a ticket to Europe from Monterey is over $1,200 round trip. When prices from Monterey are low, then most of California is low and often this means regional airports around the country have low fares to Europe. Prices from Monterey are around $30 more than San Francisco and the fare difference is normally several hundred dollars more.

MRY – Barcelona = $603.55 United

MRY – Amsterdam = $624.96 United

MRY – Paris CDG = $652.76 United

MRY – London Gatwick = $656.26 United

United Airlines Monterey – Paris, France CDG

$657.26 USD  Wed March 29 – Thursday April 6

MRY-CDG $657.26 UA Mar 29-Apr6

Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights and Kayak Explore tutorials.

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2 Comments

  • Andy July 18, 2016

    On the phone, left bar with 3 lines, currency, USD

  • Ric Garrido July 18, 2016

    Thank you Andy.

    Now I feel like a dip shit to have never searched hard enough to find that currency link before. That will certainly speed up my airfare posts in the future when outside of the USA.

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