United Airlines with fares in low $600s to Barcelona, Paris, Madrid and Rome from California regional airports like my home base of Monterey MRY are far from the norm for California, even in this age of low fuel prices. One of the most significant aspects of the sudden low fares from the USA to dozens of airports in Europe is how low the fares dropped over the weekend from regional airports in California.
American was competing in California regional airports over the weekend with similar fares to United, but now American has retreated to only offering low fares from San Francisco and Los Angeles, while United still has London and Europe on sale from many California regional airports across the state.
From Bakersfield BFL, Fresno FAT and Sacramento SMF in the Central Valley, to the SoCal lands with Ontario ONT, Orange County SNA and San Diego SAN, to the North Coast redwood country with Arcata ACV, and Central Coast with Monterey MRY, San Luis Obispo SBP and Santa Barbara SBA, low fares to places like Barcelona Feb 7-15, 2017 are the same $643 round trip ticket price from any of these airports. The fares are only around $20 to $30 more than flying out of San Francisco. Many of the California regional airports have lower ticket prices to cities like London than the ticket price United has from Los Angeles or San Francisco for the same dates.
This is a fare worth looking into if you live in a California regional airport location. There are not many opportunities to get a ticket to Europe from a California regional airport within $100 of the ticket price from LAX or SFO.
United Airlines California to London Heathrow ticket comparison
- $710 round trip San Luis Obispo SBP – London LHR for February 7-15, 2017.
- $710 round trip Monterey MRY – London LHR for February 7-15, 2017.
- $1,163 round trip Los Angeles LAX – London LHR for February 7-15, 2017.
- United $1,195 round trip San Francisco SFO – London LHR for February 7-15, 2017.
- United Express flight from San Luis Obispo connects through Los Angeles.
- United Express flight from Monterey connects through either Los Angeles or San Francisco.
- British Airways $690 round trip San Francisco SFO – London LHR for February 7-15, 2017.
Here are sample United Airlines ticket prices from Monterey, California. These fares are likely similar for most other California regional airports I mentioned. I use the dates Feb 7-14 at random. Travel dates are November 2016 to March 2017 with a couple of weeks in December not offering low fares. These fare prices were accurate at time I inserted links from Google Flights.
MRY – Barcelona $643 Feb 7-14, 2017
MRY – Madrid $645 Feb 7-14, 2017
MRY – Amsterdam $634 Nov 2-16, 2016
MRY – London LHR $710 Nov 2-16, 2016
MRY – Paris CDG $667 Nov 20-28 (Thanksgiving week)
MRY – Rome FCO $680 Nov 20-28 (Thanksgiving week)
MRY-Milan MXP $692 Feb 11-18 (Presidents Week for Alps ski season)
These are examples of fare deals available today from Monterey and other California regional airports. Now that Los Angeles and SFO have higher United fares than regional airports and American Airlines is no longer competing, I doubt these low fares will last beyond today.
But I would also never have guessed we would be on Day Four of a USA to Europe fare war.
Related Loyalty Traveler posts to these May 13-15 fares in USA to Europe fare war
Monday May 16, 2016
Philadelphia to Dublin United $300 Nov-Mar; American $520 May-June
American and Delta San Francisco to Munich $681, Frankfurt $693, Stuttgart $672 Nov-Mar 2017
AA and UA low fares to Europe from Phoenix, like $695 London Xmas
LAX some United low fares to Europe still on, AA and DL mostly drop out of fare war
Sunday May 15, 2016
American Airlines low fare deals San Francisco to Europe
United PHL to Dublin $300 round trip still available and recap of Europe fare war
Saturday May 14, 2016
American $600s DFW to London and Spain low, Europe low Star Alliance fares
Fare Alert USA Delta and United hubs to Sydney $761 Oct-Nov 2016
AA, DL, UA fare war to Europe still hot from across USA
Fare Alert United Airlines Philadelphia-Dublin $302 round trip
Star Alliance fares $600s Miami to Europe, AA lowers Spain to $593
Friday May 13, 2014
American joins fare war $600s SFO to many European airports
United Monterey to Paris $666 Nov-March 2017; UA deals many California regional airports to Europe
Delta and United low fare war to Europe today is real deal $300s to $600s round trip
United EWR and ATL to Dublin, Rome, Athens low $532-$696 fares to Europe
Fare Alert SkyTeam Denver, Cleveland, Houston, IAD, SFO to Dublin, Istanbul or Moscow $376 to $518
Fare Alert $376 Delta SFO to Dublin
Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights and Kayak Explore tutorials.
