No, it’s not too late to find a good deal for flights during the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend - but you’re cutting it close.
Some ideas:
- Low cost carriers: Focus on AirTran, JetBlue, Southwest and others as you are not yet inside their 7-day advance purchase window
- Budget: Check the cheapest prices in the U.S. (and beyond) by using FareCompare’s Where-to-Go cheap flight finder for May with a $300 air travel limit (or set the limits to any amount you’re willing to pay)
- Surcharge: many airlines will include $30 airfare surcharges (folded into the price of your ticket) for travel May 27 and May 28
- Cheapest day to fly: probably Saturday May 29
Please take a look at How to Get a Last Minute Memorial Weekend Airfare Deal for more advice and tips.
I can hear you now…
“Why do I need to ‘understand’ airfare, Rick? Why don’t you just tell me when to buy?” But it’s not that simple (nothing about airfare is simple).
Believe me when I say, I would if I could – but like you, I have no crystal ball that determines exactly when to buy airfare to get the best deal. Unlike you, though, I have spent years studying airfare (it’s more interesting than you’d think), so there are things I can tell you.
Like the “hurdles” the airlines set up for you – and how to make all those leaps successfully.
Please check out my “Understanding Airline Ticket Prices: Why Your Seatmate’s Airfare Cost More (or Less) than Yours” – it’s full of news you really can use.
Cheap airfare to Europe is so last year. Literally! It was cheap then, but as shoppers are discovering, travel to Europe this summer is much higher.
But you’re going anyway. Should you buy your tickets now – or wait?
That is the question I explore – and answer – due to overwhelming demand from readers. Check it out – “Summer Airfare to Europe – Buy Now or Wait?”
I think it will answer all your questions (but if not, leave a comment).
Did you hear about the World’s 50 Best Restaurants? It’s the annual list presented by S. Pellegrino (of bottled water fame), cobbled together by chefs, food writers and expert eaters.
Number one restaurant in the world? A place called “Noma” in Copenhagen. In fact, here’s the top five (and see all 50 restaurants here):
- Noma (Copenhagen, Denmark)
- El Bulli (Roses, Spain)
- The Fat Duck (Bray, England)
- El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain)
- Mugaritz (Errenteria, Spain)
Some totally random observations:
- The top U.S. ranked restaurant is Chicago’s “Alinea” (#7)
- Shockingly, France did not make the top ten (Paris’ “Le Chateaubriand” is #11)
- Best name - tie: “Iggy’s” of Singapore (#28) and New York’s “wd-50″ (#45)
So how to get to these restaurants? Easy. Just head for FareCompare’s Where-to-Go Flight Finder and click the destinations for the restaurants you want to try. For example, The Fat Duck is just outside London, so click on “top cities in Europe” and then, “find my deal”.
Right now, I see a cheap flight from New York to London for under $700 roundtrip total.
Fair warning: I can get you a flight for a good price, but when the waiter brings you the bill – you’re on your own.*
*The Fat Duck’s “tasting menu” is 150 pounds ($227)
UPDATE: He’s home at last.
Just because airspace is opening up throughout Europe, don’t think everyone can just hop on a plane and head home.
With so many thousands of canceled flights, the airlines will be struggling for days to come.
Which of course means stranded passengers will too – people like freelance lighting director Ross Williams – who graciously spoke to my editor earlier today via his Blackberry.
Williams, who lives outside London, is currently residing in Las Vegas where he attended the National Association of Broadcasters convention (which ended April 15). The biggest hardship so far – the personal and professional commitments he’s missing: “I’ve missed my only son’s first day of pre-school.”
Then there’s the financial hit he’s taking: “Being self-employed, each day we are away equals a lack of income,” and he added, “I’m due to fly to India on 28th. I won’t make this trip if things stay as they are.”
So how is Vegas? People have been treating him right, he says – but the airlines are another story. Keep reading…
Stranded Brit in Vegas: “Missed Son’s First Day of School”
I was mentioned in a recent Bloomberg news article – which began by noting that a nonstop airline ticket from New York to Paris on the first weekend in May actually cost less than a nonstop to Omaha, Nebraska – the scene of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting.
You know, the event that some refer to as Warren Buffet’s “Woodstock for Capitalists”.
However, the picture the reporter painted was a little dark for me – so I’m going to give some advice: if any of you financial wizards out there still want to go, but worry about the cost – here’s one of my Top Five Secrets to Finding Cheap Airfare:
Don’t fly nonstop.
Yes, even corporate titans might want to follow this rule because if you can endure even a single stop, the hefty $1,422 economy nonstop fare cited in the article can easily turn into a very cheap one-stop flight from NY to Omaha for just $263 roundtrip total. And I just found that flight this morning (and the one below) on FareCompare’s When-to-Fly Flight Finder.
You say you must fly nonstop? Okay, here’s a cheap nonstop, NY to Omaha, for just $402 total.
In the article, I point out that when seats are selling out, prices go up – but apparently they didn’t all sell out; and the article does note that fares can and do change – boy, do they ever! And I’ll add that shopping starting on Tuesday afternoon is a smart thing to do – in fact, it’s one of my Cheap Airfare Secrets (because Tuesdays are when you often see a flurry of sales).
Of course, a lot of this will be moot for some BuffetFest participants – those arriving on their private jets.
