New York to Europe flight deals for April and May travel heavily favor flying Norwegian Airlines, Aeroflot or Ukrainian Airlines. Assuming you don’t want to fly east to Moscow or Kiev and then west back to London or Madrid, then great flight deals are surprisingly missing for many destination cities in Europe. Here are the ones I located today, primarily for travel to mid-May before summer fares kick in. This post covers Scandinavia, UK and Ireland, Eastern Europe, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey.
This is a long post. Here are the flight deals mentioned if you don’t care about commentary.
New York to Europe Flight Deals for April and May travel
- $437 – $505 New York JFK – OSL Oslo, Norway Norwegian Airlines
- $647 Newark EWR – OSL Oslo, Norway SAS Airlines
- $654 New York JFK – CPH Copenhagen, Denmark Swiss
- $684 New York JFK – CPH Copenhagen, Denmark Swiss May 25-30
Milan, Italy
- New York JFK – Milan MXP $631 United into May 2015.
- Iberia, American, British Airways discount JFK-MXP in late August to $701-$720.
- Delta, Air France, KLM, Alitalia Skyteam JFK-MXP lowest fare at $669 to $700 in late August.
- Swiss Airlines is $716 in late August.
- New York JFK – LUG Lugano, Switzerland $769-$771 Swiss, Austrian, United
Aer Lingus flights lowest for these airports
- New York JFK – BCN Barcelona, Spain $749 May 12-18 Aer Lingus ($995 American, Iberia)
- JFK – SNN Shannon, Ireland $663 May 10-18
- New York JFK – NCL Newcastle, England $797 (Delta, Aiir France $888)
- New York JFK – MAN Manchester, England $834 (AA/BA $837, UA/LH $844)
- New York JFK – BRS Bristol $837 (KLM/Delta $1,048)
New York JFK to Europe airports with lowest fares today on Norwegian
- Berlin $656 April 10-16 (United/Lufthansa price $1,020)
- LGW London Gatwick $742
- Prague $682 April 9-15 (Aeroflot $689)
New York JFK to Europe airports with lowest fares today on Aeroflot
- Vienna, Austria VIE $732 April 8-15 (AA/BA, Delta/AF/KLM, Virgin Atlantic $1,012)
- Rome, Italy FCO $707 April 8-15 (United $1,281 EWR-FCO nonstop)
- Venice, Italy VCE $691 April 8-15 (TAP Portugal $801)
- Bologna, Italy BLQ $688 April 8-15 (TAP Portugal $897)
- Athens, Greece ATH $712 April 8-15 (Air France, Delta $991)
New York JFK – BLL Billund, Denmark April 20-28
- $597 United/SAS EWR-CPH-BLL flights
- $641 Lufthansa
- $657 SAS
New York JFK – BGO Bodo, Norway (north of the Arctic Circle)
- $668 United/SAS/Lufthansa
Ukrainian Airlines
- $632 New York JFK – Vilnius VNO Lithuania
- $549 New York JFK – Istanbul IST Turkey
New York JFK – London (all airports LON)
$742 New York JFK – LGW London Gatwick Norwegian
London is a ticket you have to grab quickly when there is a deep discount sale. Low prices hover around $1,000 from the USA for much of the year since the market will pay that for London. You can often save hundreds of dollars flying to another airport in Europe and then fly to London on a low cost carrier airline like Norwegian, RyanAir, EasyJet and numerous other airlines.
Norwegian Airlines can move into the New York market due to the big airlines keeping high prices. $742 is the low price and most dates are $50 to $100 more on Norwegian.
London is same price whether flying New York JFK or Los Angeles LAX
Compare these New York – London fares to Los Angeles – London airfare for similar times. Norwegian undercuts airlines for London and Scandinavian traffic. Airline alliances tackle Norwegian routes with low fares. The flyer wins with lower fares in the competition market and a choice of airlines.
Why are there flight deals in some places and not others?
Some of the best deals seem to be flights where United and Star Alliance are challenging low cost carrier Norwegian Airlines. When I say low cost carrier, the aircraft are new and state of the art Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes and provide free Wi-Fi for all passengers. The low cost carrier aspect is you pay if you want a seat, any flight service food and beverage and checked bags. These fees can add $200 to the price of the ticket quickly.
Star Alliance and SkyTeam Strike Back
New York JFK – Billund BLL Denmark April 20-28
- $597 United/SAS EWR-CPH-BLL flights
- $641 Lufthansa
- $657 SAS
New York JFK – BGO Bodo, Norway (north of the Arctic Circle)
- $668 United/SAS/Lufthansa
There are all kinds of fare wars happening in Scandinavia between Norwegian and the alliance airlines of Europe. Scandinavia is a chess match with the players moving airport discounts across the countries day to day.
$437 – $505 New York JFK – OSL Oslo, Norway Norwegian Airlines
Norwegian Airlines has fares at $437 to $505 for April departures. In May fares rise to about $631-$657.
The flight deals for Scandinavian destinations is competitive pricing from Star Alliance members SAS, Lufthansa and United. Some of the lowest fares to Europe from New York are flights to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland where Star Alliance is competing with Norwegian. When the fare difference is $100 to $150, Star Alliance carriers might be the better deal due to no extra charges for seat, bags and food.
There are some dates when SAS has lower fares than Norwegian Airlines.
- $647 Newark EWR – OSL Oslo, Norway SAS Airlines
May 12-May 19, 2015 is an example where SAS has a lower fare than Norwegian Air on a route where both airlines fly nonstop.
New York JFK – Copenhagen CPH Denmark $654 Swiss
An example where flying Star Alliance airline Member Swiss is probably the better deal for Copenhagen despite the fare being $138 higher than Norwegian. You will pay more than that amount if you need to check one bag for the Norwegian Airlines flight.
$684 New York JFK – CPH Copenhagen, Denmark Swiss Airlines May 25-30
This is an example of Star Alliance competitive pricing against Norwegian Airlines flights to Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Available into late May.
Swiss is the most prevalent European airline discounting at the moment for flights from the USA. Aer Lingus is also discounting to countries around Europe. Many of the low fares from New York are on these two airlines. Lufthansa and Air France/KLM or American/British Airways are also competitive.
Italy Deals
Italy seems to be the bargain destination from New York JFK with the Emirates $1,400 for two passengers to fly Emirates nonstop to Milan MXP offer ending at midnight March 26.
Here are some other deals to Italy.
- New York JFK – Milan MXP $631 United into May
- Iberia, American, British Airways discount this route in late August to $701-$720.
- Delta, Air France, KLM, Alitalia Skyteam has the low fare at $669 to $700 in late August.
- Swiss at $716.
Another good fare is a ticket to the Alps in Lugano, Switzerland for slightly more money than flights to Milan.
- New York JFK – LUG Lugano, Switzerland $769-$771 Swiss, Austrian, United
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus is an airline I saw competing in San Francisco, Chicago and New York this week for certain markets like Spain. Travel to Spain is high-priced for April and May.
- New York JFK – Barcelona, Spain BCN $749 May 12-18 Aer Lingus ($995 American, Iberia)
- New York JFK to Ireland besides Dublin DUB gets you to another part of the country for about the same price.
- JFK-Shannon, Ireland SNN $663 May 10-18
Aer Lingus is also an airline with discount fares to airports in England for cheaper tickets than flying to London. Here are examples for April 20-28, 2015 flights.
- New York JFK – NCL Newcastle, England $797 (Delta, Aiir France $888)
- New York JFK – MAN Manchester, England $834 (AA/BA $837, UA/LH $844)
- New York JFK – BRS Bristol $837 (KLM/Delta $1,048)
Ukrainian Airlines
$632 New York JFK – Vilnius VNO Lithuania
Ukrainian Airlines flight to Vilnius via Kiev KBP is a route $150 less than Aeroflot. This is an example of one of the low fares that requires a layover in Moscow or Kiev. An alternative is to fly to Oslo and catch a low cost carrier flight to Vilnius.
I recall being in JFK a few years back waiting for my flight in the same area as a Ukrainian Airways flight. The reason I remember the airport scene was due to the way women were dressed for the flight heading to Kiev. Most of the women looked like they were about to enter a nightclub. Reminded me of Las Vegas flights.
Ukrainian Airlines
$549 New York JFK – Istanbul IST Turkey
Ukrainian Airlines undercuts Air France by more than $400 on this flight.
This flight priced out on Ukrainian Airlines website at $548.76.
$707 New York JFK – Minsk MSQ Belarus Aeroflot
The reason I mention Minsk is I saw a news piece last night about Belarus stating the country is more Russian conservative than Russia and the stronghold for old style communism. The Belarus currency was the second worst performing currency worldwide in 2014.
My curiosity had me researching the price of beer in Belarus. I did not find a definitive average price for a pint of beer from a source I trust. Anyone been to Belarus lately with first-hand knowledge of the price of beer?
