Earlier this week, I was contacted by someone who caught a radio spot I did last year. He and his wife want to travel to Europe from May 21 to May 31. They are flexible on destination cities and hope to depart from Madison, Milwaukee, or Appleton. They’re willing to fly out of Chicago, but it’s not their first choice. They had found airline tickets from Chicago to London for $599, but they’re hoping to find something less if they can, having traveled to Dublin before for just over $300. I would like to walk through the process that will help them (and others with similar vacation plans) find the cheapest flights to Europe, but first I would like to point out some things currently affecting the price of airline tickets to destinations across the Pond…

Right now, the minimum taxes and fees on flights to Europe are between $90 and $140. On top of that, we’re seeing fuel surcharges on international flights of $200 $240. That means you’re spending around $300+ just to get in the game. Also, the end of May is is typically the start of a high travel season. This means a person traveling in early May could spend hundreds of dollars less on airfare then someone traveling just a few weeks later. Also, traveling close to the end of May excludes most lower airfares from Spring airfare sales. While Open Skies is creating more options to/from Europe and more carriers such as Iberia Airlines are entering the market, many of the deals related to new routes aren’t kicking off until after summer, so an airline ticket to Europe in late May for between $500 and $600 is actually a really good deal.

Now, I’d like to demonstrate how you can use our website to find the best available deals to Europe…

Here’s what I would do for this specific trip to Europe, but you can easily substitute your own departure and destination cities.

On the FareCompare homepage, enter a search for Madison to London. The lowest airfare prices for this month through January of ‘09 will come up. Right away, we see a huge change in airfare from May to June. This means that there is most likely a “breaking point” towards the end of May. If I click on May, I see that the cheapest flights are highlighted, and I also see that after May 28, ticket prices skyrocket. So, departing May 21 is a better choice than leaving a little more than a week later. If you click on the dates with the cheapest airfares, you’ll see which airlines are offering those deals.

Next, I click the back button, and under “Options,” I have the ability to add city pair prices. This is a great tool for comparing airfare side-by-side. You can check airfare for Madison to other European cities, or check airfare from different departure cities to a range of European destinations. Each new list of fares will be displayed under the last, so you can easily compare them:

Even if you have a set departure city, it’s a good idea to check airfares from other major airports such as JFK and La Guardia, Atlanta, DFW, and O’Hare. There is a chance you can find a great deal to Europe and then find a low domestic airfare from your home airport to that departure city.

I hope these steps help anyone looking for cheap flights to Europe. Remember, there are a lot of factors that go into the rising cost of airline tickets, so if you can get out the door for $500 to $600 R/T, you’re actually only paying between $200 and $300 for the airfare itself.