“It’s interesting to see how high the rates have been and how they’ve fluctuated,” said Saull, a public relations executive who lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
The couple saw prices go from as little as $900 round trip to $2,500 for flights from Washington to Edinburgh, Scotland, and back from Copenhagen. They ultimately opted for premium economy seats at $2,000 each on Delta Air Lines and its partner Air France.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for summer trips to Europe,” Saull said of what they paid.
That's not unreasonable, it's a good way to describe transatlantic air travel this summer. Even with high demand for travel, tickets are on average cheaper than last year.
“Flight tickets to Europe are 10% cheaper than last year,” said Hayley Berg, the flight booking app's chief economist. Hopper. The average round-trip ticket before any additional fees costs $882, according to the data.
The highest rates are in June, July and August, Berg added. Travel in shoulder month — for example, September and October — could save travelers up to 30 percent.
Plan data for an aviation analytics company Cirium Dioio shows that airlines will offer 8 percent more seats on U.S.-Europe routes from May to September than last year.
Philadelphia gains new non-stop calls to Copenhagen and Naples, and Nice, France, on American Airlines. Phoenix gets its first nonstop service Paris on Air France. Washington, a new flight to Zurich on Swiss International Air Lines. And many other routes, additional flights or options on larger planes.
“In transatlantic shipping, we're looking forward to another strong summer,” said Glen Hauenstein, president of Delta Air Lines, referring to early April bookings. He added that the airline was seeing “healthy demand” for seats to Europe.
Paris has flight deals, but hotels are expensive
THE Paris 2024 Summer Olympics are a dent in the finely tuned machine that is summer air travel to Europe. The Games will take place from July 26 to August 11 and the French capital is expected to host some 15 million visitors during the event and subsequent Paralympic Games. Last summer, the city saw more than 6.2 million visitors in July and August.
“Paris will be like an Olympic village in July and August,” said Christine Ourmières-Widener, CEO of the French airline. French bee. All these visitors still need a way to get to town. French beewhich caters to leisure travelers like those heading to the Games, has added flights from Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco to meet demand.
Flight offers to Paris can still be found. Expedia booking site recommended Travelers purchase tickets at least 21 days in advance of their trip and, for international travel, consider leaving on a Monday to find the best airfares.
Finding a cheap hotel in Paris during the Games is another matter. Expedia said it has seen a “massive increase” in searches for accommodations there this summer and recommends travelers look to nearby cities for more reasonably priced options.
Think Nice, Prague and Reykjavik
Finn Vigeland, a transit planner who lives in Washington, was “pretty surprised” last month when he found a good deal on flights to Nice, France, in July.
Prices for American Airlines' new nonstop flight to Nice from Philadelphia were only $700 to $800 round trip, he said. It was affordable enough to make a trip to France with friends possible, and he booked the flight (with points, not cash).
Average fares to Nice from the United States are down a quarter to $907 compared to last summer, according to Hopper data. The city also has the distinction of being one of the few European destinations to offer lower airfares this summer than in 2019, 11% less to be exact. This drop is partly due to a plethora of new flights on American, Delta and United.
Amsterdam, Brussels, PragueAnd ReykjavíkIceland, are other European cities where ticket prices from the United States have fallen more than 20 percent compared to last year, according to Hopper.
However, airfares are not experiencing a double-digit decline in all markets. Fares to cities like Berlin and Glasgow, Scotland, are comparable to last year.
Traveler after traveler said they felt like they could find reasonably priced plane tickets for trips between the United States and Europe this summer. Those who said they couldn't often lacked the flexibility to tailor their trips to when and where fares were cheapest.
“I felt like it was doable. It made sense,” Alexander Giess said of his plan to take his 10-year-old daughter on a three-week trip to France this summer.
After much research, in March the marketing executive paid about $1,000 each for two round-trip tickets from Nice to San Francisco on his favorite airline, Delta.
