Skyteam Alliance members Air France, Delta and KLM have low round trip fares in the $400s to San Francisco SFO from many European airports. These fares are mostly for departures from January to mid-March. Some go to April and May. Some of these low fares to San Francisco allow travel into June and July.
Stockholm ARN – San Francisco ($385 KLM, $406 Air France, $401 Delta)
Dublin DUB – San Francisco ($390 KLM, $413 Air France, $422 Delta)
Madrid MAD – San Francisco ($411 KLM, $413 Air France, $422 Delta)
Rome FCO – San Francisco ($411 KLM, $413 Air France, $422 Delta)
Barcelona BCN – San Francisco ($420 KLM, $424 Air France, $425 Delta)
Athens ATH – San Francisco ($457 KLM, $462 Air France, $468 Delta)
Copenhagen CPH – San Francisco ($473 KLM, $478 Air France, $478 Delta)
Vienna VIE – San Francisco ($484 KLM, $488 Air France)
Paris CDG – San Francisco ($497 Alitalia phone booking)
Munich MUC – San Francisco ($532 KLM, $532 Air France, $531 Delta)
Frankfurt FRA – San Francisco ($533 KLM, $538 Air France, $540 Delta)
Berlin TXL – San Francisco ($568 KLM, $578 Air France, $586 Delta)
Zurich ZRH – San Francisco ($570 KLM, $576 Air France, $550 Delta)
The strategy I have been using for cheap tickets to Europe is buying round trip tickets originating in Europe for travel to San Francisco. I traveled to Europe six times in 2015 and I plan to travel several times to Europe in 2016.
The ability to fly from Europe to San Francisco, stay several months, then fly back to Europe on the return ticket segments makes deep discount airline ticket opportunities from across Europe possible. This makes multiple trips to Europe possible at big discounts savings hundreds of dollars compared to flights originating from San Francisco.
Los Angeles as a destination does not have these same widespread low fares, although there are some good Skyteam deals to LAX too in the $500s.
KLM-Aer Lingus Dublin DUB – Amsterdam AMS – San Francisco SFO
$390 round trip Tuesday March 8 – Tuesday May 31
KLM June 22, 2016 Munich MUC – Amsterdam AMS – San Francisco SFO
Air France July 21, 2016 San Francisco SFO – Paris CDG – Munich MUC
$532 round trip
These are obviously great fares for European residents. Travelers going to Europe multiple times can benefit too. I flew home to San Francisco on a $500 American Airlines Stockholm ARN – SFO round trip ticket a couple weeks ago wih my return to Stockholm next July.
Here is a great opportunity to plan for low cost travel to Europe by starting in Europe. Norwegian Airlines has fares from Oakland and LAX to many places in Europe for under $300 one-way to get you started from the USA.
Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights tutorials.
