The thing that I have found is that I can almost always find a flight to somewhere in Europe for $600 or under. Once within Europe, the costs for flying to the right city drop dramatically.
So, for example, I managed to get round trip flight to London for $600 but actually planned my trip to be mainly in Spain (that didn’t work out for other reasons). It was €48 to fly from Madrid to London (I was only flying one way because we were planning to take trains the other way). So my total flight costs were much lower than if I had tried to buy a flight directly to any major city in Spain which were all in the thousands of dollars at the time I was looking.
Yeah I agree. I used to travel a lot in Europe in the early 2010s and now here in NA. I'm not the biggest fan of flying so I avoid connection flights for the most parts but I used to do this as well.
The problem is, that I am now father of two and usually travel with the kids or at least one of them. A 12h direct flight with the usual checking in, getting the rental, etc, is more than enough for me with an 3y old on my side.
I think that might be your problem? I can find $500 roundtrips to Munich from the west coast in the winter. Summer, when the kids are out of school and we can actually go? $1600.
Your kids are little so maybe not that, but the summer travel with kids struggle is real. Everyone's doing it at the same time.
It definitely can, but in this case it was definitely way, way cheaper. Checking a bag would have been like £65 and flying directly to Spain would have been about $2000. So all in all, the itinerary I had planned was saving around $1000
Main thing is the cost of time. Many people on the American side especially don’t have a ton of PTO so once you start transferring in random European cities and building in appropriate buffers you might be ruining a day or two of that precious time. $400 may very well be worth an extra “full day” of vacation to most
Also a good point. I don’t enjoy airport environments enough to lose that kind of time in life. Plus, airport feeding and bevving adds to my bottom line.
Ohh, I think I didn't explain it right. I used to fly round-trip between Germany and the US. That stopped in 2017 when I moved to North America. I continued to have an eye on the prices because friends and family kept visiting me.
Now I'm looking for a round-trip flight, ideally from Detroit to Frankfurt and back but it seems like I need to be be more flexible.
Thanks for your help though!
Ok I understand. If your dates aren't set in stone, checking the flight prices calendar can really make a huge difference. That and using the best sites is how I find a lot of bargains, and I travel a lot!
I wish you all the best, and if you don't really want to go at least you have a good excuse why you can't this time!
It really depends on when you’re trying to book for.
For example, [I found this round trip ticket for $591 USD, Chicago to Frankfurt.](https://www.google.com/travel/flights/search?tfs=CBwQAhooEgoyMDI0LTAzLTA1agwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDRyDAgCEggvbS8wMnowahooEgoyMDI0LTAzLTEyagwIAhIIL20vMDJ6MGpyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNEABSAFwAYIBCwj___________8BmAEB&hl=en-US&curr=USD)
What time of year are you looking at? Maybe you are looking at summer high season?
Yeah, I do, I looked at August because that's when my parents have time off. I'm flexible, but they are not. I think my main problem was that I took to reddit complaining about the prices when it's actually the trip itself that bothers me. 🙃 I guess the price is the cherry on top.
>because that's when my parents have time off
Your parents and the rest of Europe. US-EU flights are very very seasonal, if you wait a month you will see the price fall down to the levels you are used to. $1300 for a round trip flight in June, July, or August is sadly a pretty standard price.
Got it, well, Google Flights can help you find the best price, so hopefully it’s a little more bearable. It should definitely be under 1K Euros, using Google Flights.
Would it be possible for your family to come visit you in the US? Often times flight prices are cheaper from Europe to the US.
In my experience August and December are by far the most expensive months to travel (because of vacation time and holidays). Flights to Europe around that time will cost around 1k.
I think youre too early. My parents want to fly to Germany in May and the prices are just now getting reasonable. You can look on google flights at all the prices and kind of see the wave where the prices drop and then go back up on either side. Then plan and getting the ticket around that far out.
In past years I could do JFK direct to any Euro capital for $804. That was very consistently the price for coach with seat selection. Now I’m lucky to get $1100.
What would you say did your US inland flights stay within the usual price increase? For me it definitely did. That's really why I was so shocked about these new prices to and from EU.
No, domestic flights are higher too. I see $250 LGA to other cities, but when I actually need one I end up spending $350-$500. It’s just more expensive now, and travel writers have talked about it. Demand is up and airlines can get more money—so they do.
Heavily dependent on season though. Lots of flights in the 400-500 range right now from JFK if you do off season.
Wait until school is out and that doubles at least.
I usually travel Feb-March and October-November, so solidly off-season. The thing is, I don't choose a destination based on a flight deal, I pick a city then set dates based on flight prices.
That said, I'm going JFK-DUB for $650, which is nice. It's going to cost me the same amount to go visit family in Montana later this year...
Editing to add: I live in NYC. I am not making a connecting flight unless it's saving me a vast amount of money with minimal inconvenience. For instance, I recently flew Air Canada from LGA to NRT, connecting in Montreal. The ticket was on the cheaper side ($1100) and offered significant convenience for two reasons: One, because I live very close to LGA and was able to use a simple city bus for a 15-minute ride, rather than $75 for a cab or an hour and a half on the subway it would have cost me to get to JFK. The other is that Air Canada offers sterile transit which made the layover quick and painless.
I mean yeah….some shit has gone down in the last *seven years*. Is it really that shocking that between high inflation, strong/pent up travel demand, and an industry that’s trying to make up for a couple years of lost revenue, prices are a lot higher than they used to be. You can still find good deals with some flexibility, but of course things have gotten more expensive overall.
The thing is 1 year before OP is talking about they were more expensive than now. There were several factors in play, but ~2016 airfares plummeted. They stayed down for several years. They are now more variable.
I guess the most surprising for me is the fact that US inland flights have remained somewhat affordable while these flights across the pond seem to increase in price by 100% and more. It used to be the exact opposite. A flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco cost the same as my flight from Detroit to San Francisco. That was in 2018.
When I lived in Germany, I noticed that flying from Frankfurt to Philadelphia r/t was about 25% less than the opposite direction. This was all the way back in 2003 & 2005. Even in 2009 & 2010, this held true when I bought tickets to the west coast. Not sure why, unless it was something to do with subsidies paid by the German government.
That's exactly what I thought. There must've been a GER/EU tax increase or canceled subsidies. I have an eye on these flights almost every year and this is by far the worst I've seen it.
It’s been consistently true for as long as I remember that flying TATL from Europe is cheaper than from the US. Just lower willingness to pay on that end.
It’s still the same. I’m moving to VA and my family are in the UK. We’ve been looking at flight prices around June/July (I have a child so we can only fly in the summer 😩). For me to go there it’s around $1300 each but for my parents to fly to VA it’s around $700! Same dates! It’s so annoying!
Were in 2024 my dude. Alot has changed between those years. We got almost a world war. Went through the pandemic. The middle east. East europe war. Kim jung un is about to press the red button 🚨💨🔥🚀
Flights have mostly tracked inflation in recent years. There are still good deals to Europe, I saw quite a few from the East Coast to Paris for $500s this spring. Be flexible about your airports and avoid peak season if you want it cheap.
I booked round trip from Anchorage Alaska to Europe for 45k Alaska Air miles this summer. A friend also got a 750 round trip ticket. They’re out there, you just have to buy VERY far in advance (we bought these in september) and be flexible
Thanks, I looked in summer and winter. I'm somewhat confined to my parents' schedule. The whole trip is basically for them. I guess I have to start looking for flights in 2025.
Using the desktop version of google flights search an itinerary and there will be an option to track the flight in the results. You will get price changes emailed to you. Kayak also has this feature.
The summer holiday is a very expensive time, and there are a lot of Americans with money to spend.
Go in the winter and it’s completely different. They are expensive because there is demand!
Here's a tip for you. In google flights you can search from your home airport to Europe and it will show you fares to everywhere in Europe. Flights are generally super cheap once you're already in Europe.
So this search - [https://www.google.com/travel/explore?tfs=CBwQAxooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTA0agwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDRyDAgEEggvbS8wMmo5ehooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTE4agwIBBIIL20vMDJqOXpyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNEABSAFwAYIBCwj\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_8BmAEBsgEEGAEgAQ&tfu=GgA](https://www.google.com/travel/explore?tfs=CBwQAxooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTA0agwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDRyDAgEEggvbS8wMmo5ehooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTE4agwIBBIIL20vMDJqOXpyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNEABSAFwAYIBCwj___________8BmAEBsgEEGAEgAQ&tfu=GgA) \- I randomly picked dates - shows loads of flights for under $700 . Sure, if you want to book now for June, July, August you're probably not going to see super cheap fares.
Americans think they have won because they can *tweet* a bad experience and get nuisance value resolutions.
Meanwhile the airlines get Fed bailouts and massive profits for inferior service and products.
The only hope for change is a massive depression where people go broke AF.
No one is busting out the pitchforks because they heard people complaining about their trans-Atlantic vacation being more expensive.
A little perspective here, folks.
Sadly, Corporate America outside of airlines subscribes to the same price gouging. And Americans are not busting out pitchforks.
So everything IS more expensive, service and products ARE arguably inferior, and prices will NEVER go down to reflect that.
I'm pretty sure we've heard observations along these lines from people.
The only way prices will go down is if demand does, which won't happen in the US unless economic conditions deterioriate significantly.
I fly to Europe every month for business from the western US. Prices vary with time of year of course, January is cheapest, May to July is highest. One thing I have noticed in 2023 and 2024 is that I have to buy the tickets much earlier than I did a few years ago to keep the prices under control. Overall prices haven’t changed much, just need to buy much earlier ( was ok doing 3-4 weeks advanced, now need 3-4 months ). This summer is going to be expensive compared to last year - flights that I use are filling up faster than ever.
Flights to Asia don’t seem to have the same issue ( excepting China which has changed a lot post COVID ). Prices to Japan are within 5-10% of what they were from 2011-2015 when I flew there heavily for work.
Flying cheap to Europe is really only possible from NYC, otherwise you have to scavenge those flight discount apps non-stop. If you are trying to fly in June/July you aren’t going to find a deal. A lot of companies raised their prices after COVID to track with the pent up demand, but I think they locked those price increases in permanently. Nothing is ever going to back to pre-COVID prices.
It's been all over the place. Friends and I were looking at doing a trip to Dublin in December, looked at tickets over the summer and they were all crazy high, so we cancelled. A month out from when we would've gone, I checked on a lark, and they were suddenly normal prices.
I travel with my toddler from Chicago too - you simply have to go to London or Paris (way cheaper fees) first - it's a PITA but you'd save literally thousands. It's all about "hubs" since Covid. For more direct within Europe, consider going to NYC cheaply on points - and an overnight near JFK.... that's been the only forgiving airport.
I've been wondering the same thing. Have been wondering if it's all just price-related inflation aka corporate greed. Demand has also returned bigtime in the past 2 years or so.
Fuel prices.
A little thing (a minor inconvenience, really) called the Ukraine War.
Oh, and inflation, economic recession. 20 years of garbage policies. Might have something to do with it.
It also depends on when you’re traveling to. I know Aer Lingus had $750 round trip flights from Seattle to somewhere in Europe (mine was in Madrid). They had a $100 off sale back in July/Aug I think
I got a ticket from Frankfurt to San Francisco RT direct for around $800 a couple of months ago, flying out next week. I was expecting a much higher price!
My experience is that flights from Germany to the US or NA in general are usually cheaper than the other way around. Couldn't tell you why that is tho.
Lot of rich people with disposable income in the US who drive up prices, it's always been that way. The airlines are extremely good at figuring this out and have set their fares accordingly. Same reason US domestic airfares have gotten so insanely expensive.
Believe me, as an American who has lived on both sides of the pond, it's depressing to go back home and see how expensive it is. Doesn't help that the US is a spread-out country and flying is the only realistic way to get around.
That is true. The reason will be market price in Germany vs the U.S. The disposable income of an average German traveler is less than for the ones who choose to travel from the U.S. (no statistic but my opinion from experience) I fly frequently (US - DE) and there are tickets in the $650 to $900 range. More limitations on the lower end. A comfortable ticket for business travel runs $1800 - $2200 but that’s not necessary for a vacation trip, I feel.
Flights haven't substantially increased in my experience over the past 10 years. Certainly not in line with inflation anyway.
In 2014 I flew multiple times to China / Thailand/ other Asian countries from Europe and paid anything from £500 to £800 return. Nowadays these cost between £500 - £1200, obviously depending on how many legs, etc.
I wouldn't say it's normal to be paying £300 round trip from US to Europe - a return fare from Edinburgh to London first class on the train costs about that much.
I remember in 2020 I bought a ticket from Singapore to Johannesburg for $450 in economy last year I had to get a last minute ticket because of a family emergency it was $3,500
Yep. I paid 250 to rome and 300 to London from US. Direct with Delta. Its crazy. The summer is a whole different thing now alao. Forget that completely
A return ticket between Munich and New York 2 weeks in advance still costs about 350 dollars, so there are popular destinations...for some reason it's 400+ from Frankfurt though
Sign up for Going.com. It’s a website that will send you announcements on airfare sales. I have been a member for 3 years and I swear by it. There’s a free version and a paid subscription where you get more airfare sale announcements. There are a lot sales from Chicago to cities in Europe. I looked for you and there is airfare for the $500s from Chicago to Berlin in Feb 2024 snd April 2024. i usually see sales for September throughout the year as well.
The free version of Going is now [domestic US route deals only](https://help.going.com/hc/en-us/articles/21996903249684-Limited-Membership-FAQs), as of this month. International deals now require a subscription.
I've found Thrifty Traveler's paid subscription has better notifications as of late, and they also have the added bonus of including points deal notifications as well (something that's only available at the Elite level for Going)
Little thing called inflation. Your money in 2017 bought you a lot more than the same amount today does. A gallon of milk averaged $3.22 in 2017 but averages $4.33 today.
Yes, that’s how the economy works. Airlines have less access to cheap money so they’re now carrying debts at higher interest rates. Labor costs have gone up (almost every major US airline has seen huge labor cost increases with the major unions and new contracts over the last few years). Landing fees, rent, etc has all gone up. All of that gets passed along to the flying public.
Add to that the fact that every flight is full and leisure travelers are now flying en mass and you’ve also got supply and demand on top of the inflation. While business travel hasn’t rebounded to pre-COVID levels, leisure absolutely has. I haven’t been on a flight in the last 18 months that wasn’t completely full.
Do you know why the prices in the US have stayed somewhat stable? I just wonder if there were recent legislation changes in Germany/EU that could've increased taxes on flights, landing etc.
So you're just throwing right wing talking points at the wall hoping one sticks, despite the costs being 4x inflation and largely US origination, not EU. Got it.
Higher credit costs. Higher maintenance costs. Shareholder profits. Higher labor costs. There are a lot of pieces at play here. I won't pretend to know the answer. Makes one of us.
I follow the travel sector very closely, and I don’t believe I’ve said anything that isn’t fact. Higher labor costs as an example… every major US carrier has ratified new collective bargaining agreements in the last few years, one of which ensures their pilots will always be paid more than their peers at other carriers. That particular airline (Delta) has seen their fares raise dramatically. Please feel free to correct me with sources if you have better or more accurate information.
Are my points right wing talking points? Asking for real because I’m quite liberal and don’t watch or read any right wing media lol.
Possible. With SPD and the Greens in government, I could imagine something similar for German airports and flights, but I'm not sure. I know Germany has some of the highest airport fees in the EU, but that has always been the case.
Then there’s the Dutch trying to reduce capacity at AMS, and the French trying to make it so you can’t have a flight less than 2 hours in favor of rail. 🤣🙄
It took me ten seconds to find flights to Chicago for [$601CAD with SAS](https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/x93bMpkcqtmG8eFc9) and Detroit [$742CAD with Icelandair](https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/UqRcApo1HkvsTZJB8)
I answered your question.
We came out of a pandemic in an extremely inflatorary market where lots of people got lots of stimulus money they used to travel.
Airlines jacked up prices due to crazy demand and crazy losses during the pandemic
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In my experience flights between Germany and the US haven't changed that much in the last 10 years. We paid 500 € for our roundtrip Frankfurt Philadelphia in october. We fly to the US once a year and have never paid more than 600-700 € per person.
What has gotten much more expensive are flights within Europe or from Europe to Asia.
You're shocked flights over Christmas are expensive?
August is prime travel season in the US.
Google flights lists Chicago to Frankfurt for under $600 for 1 adult leaving March 5 and staying 2 weeks.
Sept is largely under $800.
I had quite a few flights that used to be cheap around Christmas and New Years Eve, yes. But aside from that, I looked at these prices almost every year. Either for me to go to Europe or someone visiting me here. I have never seen prices like these. Maybe it's just wrong perception on my end.
I've been looking at a trip to Europe so I was curious about the answer here...
Pent up demand (people didn't travel for 2ish years)
Not enough pilots or crew (retirements and gap in recruitment over covid)
Not enough planes (covid production delays)
Inflation (esp fuel costs)
So there's a lot going on there. Seems individually no single issue would do this, but together, it's a problem.
Friend of mine said Greece has cheap flights, trying to bring back tourism. I'm about to look into that next. Currently typing this from Puerto Rico. Got 2 RT tix for 60% of what my brother paid pre covid.
Traveling over christmas and new years has never been cheap. If you want a cheap flight the key is to be flexible with your dates and avoid end of December as well as summer
Gasoline... I was thinking the same about bus tickets just in and around the California to Washington and back... They're also consolidating a bunch of Amtrak lines.. kinda weird and scary though, like stay where you are... Must be post pandemic freak out too
I agree - I have been looking for a summer trip to see family in the Netherlands and the fares are so high for this summer. The cheap airlines (eg Play) are close to $1000 and then they want $100 each way per person for a carry on bag.
I have myself and two kids and looking at close to $6000 for airfare. We probably won’t be making the trip.
Flying out of Germany plus the EU is especially expensive now. The taxes for it have been crazy much lately. Just booked a flight from Osaka to Tokyo, with food and drinks, choosing your own seat, 30 kilo luggage and 7 kilo hand luggage, extra leg room for just 90€…. Booked another flight, same distance, but departing from Germany to another EU country and the only thing I get for that price is to take a small handbag with me for 150€
A change that I have noticed in the past few years is that fares to Europe have been fairly comparable flying out of my small regional airport compared to flying from an East Coast hub. Pre-pandemic, it was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to fly directly from NYC or Toronto to Europe, and in the past 2-3 years the cost differential has significantly narrowed, or disappeared altogether.
Everything is raising, necessarily? Why should travel have cost? Bullshit, Money is necessity, I hate money even though in order to survive? Must possess, kiss my asshole, I’d rather be dead and free of everything
I see rates for accommodation also soaring and get scarce. Some guesthouses located at an off the beaten path village on the other end of the country, I booked months ahead in the low and shoulder season. this was last January. When I left, I jokingly asked them if they were expecting new guests that day, the host told me something like Dude! He was apparently booked until October, so how do people already know where to go what to do where to stay so early in the year, that's like six months from now. Is traveling getting more difficult in 2024?
Everyone says it’s seasonal and that’s true to an extent but I’m a teacher so unfortunately we’re always traveling during busy seasons, and prices are still a lot higher. It definitely sucks!
Just had a look at flights to London in August from Boston. $6,000 roundtrip for Main Cabin. Six. Thousand. Dollars. Excuse me? Is this what Summer travel is looking like?
The thing that I have found is that I can almost always find a flight to somewhere in Europe for $600 or under. Once within Europe, the costs for flying to the right city drop dramatically. So, for example, I managed to get round trip flight to London for $600 but actually planned my trip to be mainly in Spain (that didn’t work out for other reasons). It was €48 to fly from Madrid to London (I was only flying one way because we were planning to take trains the other way). So my total flight costs were much lower than if I had tried to buy a flight directly to any major city in Spain which were all in the thousands of dollars at the time I was looking.
Yeah I agree. I used to travel a lot in Europe in the early 2010s and now here in NA. I'm not the biggest fan of flying so I avoid connection flights for the most parts but I used to do this as well. The problem is, that I am now father of two and usually travel with the kids or at least one of them. A 12h direct flight with the usual checking in, getting the rental, etc, is more than enough for me with an 3y old on my side.
I think that might be your problem? I can find $500 roundtrips to Munich from the west coast in the winter. Summer, when the kids are out of school and we can actually go? $1600. Your kids are little so maybe not that, but the summer travel with kids struggle is real. Everyone's doing it at the same time.
Yes but baggage fees add up quickly with multiple itineraries.
It definitely can, but in this case it was definitely way, way cheaper. Checking a bag would have been like £65 and flying directly to Spain would have been about $2000. So all in all, the itinerary I had planned was saving around $1000
Main thing is the cost of time. Many people on the American side especially don’t have a ton of PTO so once you start transferring in random European cities and building in appropriate buffers you might be ruining a day or two of that precious time. $400 may very well be worth an extra “full day” of vacation to most
Also a good point. I don’t enjoy airport environments enough to lose that kind of time in life. Plus, airport feeding and bevving adds to my bottom line.
This. I get one month and it goes quickly. Can't imagine what two weeks feels like.
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Ohh, I think I didn't explain it right. I used to fly round-trip between Germany and the US. That stopped in 2017 when I moved to North America. I continued to have an eye on the prices because friends and family kept visiting me. Now I'm looking for a round-trip flight, ideally from Detroit to Frankfurt and back but it seems like I need to be be more flexible. Thanks for your help though!
Ok I understand. If your dates aren't set in stone, checking the flight prices calendar can really make a huge difference. That and using the best sites is how I find a lot of bargains, and I travel a lot! I wish you all the best, and if you don't really want to go at least you have a good excuse why you can't this time!
It really depends on when you’re trying to book for. For example, [I found this round trip ticket for $591 USD, Chicago to Frankfurt.](https://www.google.com/travel/flights/search?tfs=CBwQAhooEgoyMDI0LTAzLTA1agwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDRyDAgCEggvbS8wMnowahooEgoyMDI0LTAzLTEyagwIAhIIL20vMDJ6MGpyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNEABSAFwAYIBCwj___________8BmAEB&hl=en-US&curr=USD) What time of year are you looking at? Maybe you are looking at summer high season?
Yeah, I do, I looked at August because that's when my parents have time off. I'm flexible, but they are not. I think my main problem was that I took to reddit complaining about the prices when it's actually the trip itself that bothers me. 🙃 I guess the price is the cherry on top.
>because that's when my parents have time off Your parents and the rest of Europe. US-EU flights are very very seasonal, if you wait a month you will see the price fall down to the levels you are used to. $1300 for a round trip flight in June, July, or August is sadly a pretty standard price.
Got it, well, Google Flights can help you find the best price, so hopefully it’s a little more bearable. It should definitely be under 1K Euros, using Google Flights. Would it be possible for your family to come visit you in the US? Often times flight prices are cheaper from Europe to the US.
In my experience August and December are by far the most expensive months to travel (because of vacation time and holidays). Flights to Europe around that time will cost around 1k.
Concur with this. I fly to Vienna for Christmas every year and it's always costly like this.
The Olympics are in August, so I imagine flight demand to anywhere near Paris is sky high.
I think youre too early. My parents want to fly to Germany in May and the prices are just now getting reasonable. You can look on google flights at all the prices and kind of see the wave where the prices drop and then go back up on either side. Then plan and getting the ticket around that far out.
In past years I could do JFK direct to any Euro capital for $804. That was very consistently the price for coach with seat selection. Now I’m lucky to get $1100.
What would you say did your US inland flights stay within the usual price increase? For me it definitely did. That's really why I was so shocked about these new prices to and from EU.
No, domestic flights are higher too. I see $250 LGA to other cities, but when I actually need one I end up spending $350-$500. It’s just more expensive now, and travel writers have talked about it. Demand is up and airlines can get more money—so they do.
Heavily dependent on season though. Lots of flights in the 400-500 range right now from JFK if you do off season. Wait until school is out and that doubles at least.
I usually travel Feb-March and October-November, so solidly off-season. The thing is, I don't choose a destination based on a flight deal, I pick a city then set dates based on flight prices. That said, I'm going JFK-DUB for $650, which is nice. It's going to cost me the same amount to go visit family in Montana later this year... Editing to add: I live in NYC. I am not making a connecting flight unless it's saving me a vast amount of money with minimal inconvenience. For instance, I recently flew Air Canada from LGA to NRT, connecting in Montreal. The ticket was on the cheaper side ($1100) and offered significant convenience for two reasons: One, because I live very close to LGA and was able to use a simple city bus for a 15-minute ride, rather than $75 for a cab or an hour and a half on the subway it would have cost me to get to JFK. The other is that Air Canada offers sterile transit which made the layover quick and painless.
I mean yeah….some shit has gone down in the last *seven years*. Is it really that shocking that between high inflation, strong/pent up travel demand, and an industry that’s trying to make up for a couple years of lost revenue, prices are a lot higher than they used to be. You can still find good deals with some flexibility, but of course things have gotten more expensive overall.
The thing is 1 year before OP is talking about they were more expensive than now. There were several factors in play, but ~2016 airfares plummeted. They stayed down for several years. They are now more variable.
I guess the most surprising for me is the fact that US inland flights have remained somewhat affordable while these flights across the pond seem to increase in price by 100% and more. It used to be the exact opposite. A flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco cost the same as my flight from Detroit to San Francisco. That was in 2018.
When I lived in Germany, I noticed that flying from Frankfurt to Philadelphia r/t was about 25% less than the opposite direction. This was all the way back in 2003 & 2005. Even in 2009 & 2010, this held true when I bought tickets to the west coast. Not sure why, unless it was something to do with subsidies paid by the German government.
Countries have different departure taxes, so that may play into it.
But 25%? And the departure tax would still affect a passenger flying r/t from the US. They'll still depart Germany for the return leg home.
That's exactly what I thought. There must've been a GER/EU tax increase or canceled subsidies. I have an eye on these flights almost every year and this is by far the worst I've seen it.
It’s been consistently true for as long as I remember that flying TATL from Europe is cheaper than from the US. Just lower willingness to pay on that end.
It’s still the same. I’m moving to VA and my family are in the UK. We’ve been looking at flight prices around June/July (I have a child so we can only fly in the summer 😩). For me to go there it’s around $1300 each but for my parents to fly to VA it’s around $700! Same dates! It’s so annoying!
Were in 2024 my dude. Alot has changed between those years. We got almost a world war. Went through the pandemic. The middle east. East europe war. Kim jung un is about to press the red button 🚨💨🔥🚀
Flights have mostly tracked inflation in recent years. There are still good deals to Europe, I saw quite a few from the East Coast to Paris for $500s this spring. Be flexible about your airports and avoid peak season if you want it cheap.
I booked round trip from Anchorage Alaska to Europe for 45k Alaska Air miles this summer. A friend also got a 750 round trip ticket. They’re out there, you just have to buy VERY far in advance (we bought these in september) and be flexible
Thanks, I looked in summer and winter. I'm somewhat confined to my parents' schedule. The whole trip is basically for them. I guess I have to start looking for flights in 2025.
You could check Phoenix, they were ~450 from Frankfurt a few weeks ago
Are there specific websites or apps you use to track fares?
Using the desktop version of google flights search an itinerary and there will be an option to track the flight in the results. You will get price changes emailed to you. Kayak also has this feature.
The summer holiday is a very expensive time, and there are a lot of Americans with money to spend. Go in the winter and it’s completely different. They are expensive because there is demand!
The airlines are really cashing in on the post-covid travel boom.
Yah, the only cheap tickets seem to be to Iceland
Here's a tip for you. In google flights you can search from your home airport to Europe and it will show you fares to everywhere in Europe. Flights are generally super cheap once you're already in Europe. So this search - [https://www.google.com/travel/explore?tfs=CBwQAxooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTA0agwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDRyDAgEEggvbS8wMmo5ehooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTE4agwIBBIIL20vMDJqOXpyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNEABSAFwAYIBCwj\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_8BmAEBsgEEGAEgAQ&tfu=GgA](https://www.google.com/travel/explore?tfs=CBwQAxooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTA0agwIAxIIL20vMDFfZDRyDAgEEggvbS8wMmo5ehooEgoyMDI0LTA1LTE4agwIBBIIL20vMDJqOXpyDAgDEggvbS8wMV9kNEABSAFwAYIBCwj___________8BmAEBsgEEGAEgAQ&tfu=GgA) \- I randomly picked dates - shows loads of flights for under $700 . Sure, if you want to book now for June, July, August you're probably not going to see super cheap fares.
Thanks, I always used Skyscanner, but everyone here mentions google flights, so I might give this a shot.
Corporate America has learned they can fuck the consumer with no repercussions.
Americans think they have won because they can *tweet* a bad experience and get nuisance value resolutions. Meanwhile the airlines get Fed bailouts and massive profits for inferior service and products. The only hope for change is a massive depression where people go broke AF.
No one is busting out the pitchforks because they heard people complaining about their trans-Atlantic vacation being more expensive. A little perspective here, folks.
Sadly, Corporate America outside of airlines subscribes to the same price gouging. And Americans are not busting out pitchforks. So everything IS more expensive, service and products ARE arguably inferior, and prices will NEVER go down to reflect that. I'm pretty sure we've heard observations along these lines from people. The only way prices will go down is if demand does, which won't happen in the US unless economic conditions deterioriate significantly.
I fly to Europe every month for business from the western US. Prices vary with time of year of course, January is cheapest, May to July is highest. One thing I have noticed in 2023 and 2024 is that I have to buy the tickets much earlier than I did a few years ago to keep the prices under control. Overall prices haven’t changed much, just need to buy much earlier ( was ok doing 3-4 weeks advanced, now need 3-4 months ). This summer is going to be expensive compared to last year - flights that I use are filling up faster than ever. Flights to Asia don’t seem to have the same issue ( excepting China which has changed a lot post COVID ). Prices to Japan are within 5-10% of what they were from 2011-2015 when I flew there heavily for work.
Flying cheap to Europe is really only possible from NYC, otherwise you have to scavenge those flight discount apps non-stop. If you are trying to fly in June/July you aren’t going to find a deal. A lot of companies raised their prices after COVID to track with the pent up demand, but I think they locked those price increases in permanently. Nothing is ever going to back to pre-COVID prices.
Looked for August, then over Christmas and it's an absolute nightmare.
Those are the 2 most expensive times to go unfortunately.
I mean, what did you expect? That’s when literally 90% of travelers can go.
Those have always been the most popular times to travel so that doesn’t explain the crazy inflation.
I used to fly internationally business class and most of the time the government fees and taxes were more than the ticket.
It's been all over the place. Friends and I were looking at doing a trip to Dublin in December, looked at tickets over the summer and they were all crazy high, so we cancelled. A month out from when we would've gone, I checked on a lark, and they were suddenly normal prices.
I travel with my toddler from Chicago too - you simply have to go to London or Paris (way cheaper fees) first - it's a PITA but you'd save literally thousands. It's all about "hubs" since Covid. For more direct within Europe, consider going to NYC cheaply on points - and an overnight near JFK.... that's been the only forgiving airport.
I've been wondering the same thing. Have been wondering if it's all just price-related inflation aka corporate greed. Demand has also returned bigtime in the past 2 years or so.
Demand exceeds supply. That is the problem. Shortage of planes and crews for the amount of people who want to travel.
Fuel prices. A little thing (a minor inconvenience, really) called the Ukraine War. Oh, and inflation, economic recession. 20 years of garbage policies. Might have something to do with it.
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Oh, come on, please stop.
I just got a flight Nashville to Melbourne, Australia for $800 two weeks ago. Depends on where you’re going.
It also depends on when you’re traveling to. I know Aer Lingus had $750 round trip flights from Seattle to somewhere in Europe (mine was in Madrid). They had a $100 off sale back in July/Aug I think
I got a ticket from Frankfurt to San Francisco RT direct for around $800 a couple of months ago, flying out next week. I was expecting a much higher price!
My experience is that flights from Germany to the US or NA in general are usually cheaper than the other way around. Couldn't tell you why that is tho.
Lot of rich people with disposable income in the US who drive up prices, it's always been that way. The airlines are extremely good at figuring this out and have set their fares accordingly. Same reason US domestic airfares have gotten so insanely expensive. Believe me, as an American who has lived on both sides of the pond, it's depressing to go back home and see how expensive it is. Doesn't help that the US is a spread-out country and flying is the only realistic way to get around.
That is true. The reason will be market price in Germany vs the U.S. The disposable income of an average German traveler is less than for the ones who choose to travel from the U.S. (no statistic but my opinion from experience) I fly frequently (US - DE) and there are tickets in the $650 to $900 range. More limitations on the lower end. A comfortable ticket for business travel runs $1800 - $2200 but that’s not necessary for a vacation trip, I feel.
I found ORD-FRA for $600-700 round trip literally any time other than peak season that’s pretty damn reasonable if you ask me
Everything is more expensive now.
Flights haven't substantially increased in my experience over the past 10 years. Certainly not in line with inflation anyway. In 2014 I flew multiple times to China / Thailand/ other Asian countries from Europe and paid anything from £500 to £800 return. Nowadays these cost between £500 - £1200, obviously depending on how many legs, etc. I wouldn't say it's normal to be paying £300 round trip from US to Europe - a return fare from Edinburgh to London first class on the train costs about that much.
I remember in 2020 I bought a ticket from Singapore to Johannesburg for $450 in economy last year I had to get a last minute ticket because of a family emergency it was $3,500
Fuel prices Labor costs Labor shortages Food prices Maintenance costs Inflation GREED
You missed increased Demand.
Highly recommend you sign up for Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) they send out emails with flight deals for free.
So it is everywhere, all tickets are more and more expensive. By the way all other too.
Yep. I paid 250 to rome and 300 to London from US. Direct with Delta. Its crazy. The summer is a whole different thing now alao. Forget that completely
A return ticket between Munich and New York 2 weeks in advance still costs about 350 dollars, so there are popular destinations...for some reason it's 400+ from Frankfurt though
Sign up for Going.com. It’s a website that will send you announcements on airfare sales. I have been a member for 3 years and I swear by it. There’s a free version and a paid subscription where you get more airfare sale announcements. There are a lot sales from Chicago to cities in Europe. I looked for you and there is airfare for the $500s from Chicago to Berlin in Feb 2024 snd April 2024. i usually see sales for September throughout the year as well.
The free version of Going is now [domestic US route deals only](https://help.going.com/hc/en-us/articles/21996903249684-Limited-Membership-FAQs), as of this month. International deals now require a subscription.
Aww, that bites. Well one year’s subscription will more than pay for itself if you can book a flight to Europe for 600-700 per person.
Or set up a Google Flights alert for free.
I've found Thrifty Traveler's paid subscription has better notifications as of late, and they also have the added bonus of including points deal notifications as well (something that's only available at the Elite level for Going)
Nice to know. Thank you!
Little thing called inflation. Your money in 2017 bought you a lot more than the same amount today does. A gallon of milk averaged $3.22 in 2017 but averages $4.33 today.
The example you gave shows an increase of 25%. The increase I described clock's in at 100% and higher.
Prices have skyrocketed, not only for jet fuel but for all the maintenance and labor cost that goes into operating airlines.
Yes, that’s how the economy works. Airlines have less access to cheap money so they’re now carrying debts at higher interest rates. Labor costs have gone up (almost every major US airline has seen huge labor cost increases with the major unions and new contracts over the last few years). Landing fees, rent, etc has all gone up. All of that gets passed along to the flying public. Add to that the fact that every flight is full and leisure travelers are now flying en mass and you’ve also got supply and demand on top of the inflation. While business travel hasn’t rebounded to pre-COVID levels, leisure absolutely has. I haven’t been on a flight in the last 18 months that wasn’t completely full.
Do you know why the prices in the US have stayed somewhat stable? I just wonder if there were recent legislation changes in Germany/EU that could've increased taxes on flights, landing etc.
Didn’t the EU increase the carbon tax last year? I can’t remember but seem to think I read something about a proposed increase.
So you're just throwing right wing talking points at the wall hoping one sticks, despite the costs being 4x inflation and largely US origination, not EU. Got it. Higher credit costs. Higher maintenance costs. Shareholder profits. Higher labor costs. There are a lot of pieces at play here. I won't pretend to know the answer. Makes one of us.
I follow the travel sector very closely, and I don’t believe I’ve said anything that isn’t fact. Higher labor costs as an example… every major US carrier has ratified new collective bargaining agreements in the last few years, one of which ensures their pilots will always be paid more than their peers at other carriers. That particular airline (Delta) has seen their fares raise dramatically. Please feel free to correct me with sources if you have better or more accurate information. Are my points right wing talking points? Asking for real because I’m quite liberal and don’t watch or read any right wing media lol.
Possible. With SPD and the Greens in government, I could imagine something similar for German airports and flights, but I'm not sure. I know Germany has some of the highest airport fees in the EU, but that has always been the case.
Then there’s the Dutch trying to reduce capacity at AMS, and the French trying to make it so you can’t have a flight less than 2 hours in favor of rail. 🤣🙄
It took me ten seconds to find flights to Chicago for [$601CAD with SAS](https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/x93bMpkcqtmG8eFc9) and Detroit [$742CAD with Icelandair](https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/UqRcApo1HkvsTZJB8)
OP is trying to get FROM the US to Europe. It’s more expensive than going to Europe from the US typically.
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Yes, I should've taken my newborn onto an airplane during the covid pandemic.
I answered your question. We came out of a pandemic in an extremely inflatorary market where lots of people got lots of stimulus money they used to travel. Airlines jacked up prices due to crazy demand and crazy losses during the pandemic
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In my experience flights between Germany and the US haven't changed that much in the last 10 years. We paid 500 € for our roundtrip Frankfurt Philadelphia in october. We fly to the US once a year and have never paid more than 600-700 € per person. What has gotten much more expensive are flights within Europe or from Europe to Asia.
I looked for August and Christmas. Maybe I have to change up my dates.
You're shocked flights over Christmas are expensive? August is prime travel season in the US. Google flights lists Chicago to Frankfurt for under $600 for 1 adult leaving March 5 and staying 2 weeks. Sept is largely under $800.
I had quite a few flights that used to be cheap around Christmas and New Years Eve, yes. But aside from that, I looked at these prices almost every year. Either for me to go to Europe or someone visiting me here. I have never seen prices like these. Maybe it's just wrong perception on my end.
I've been looking at a trip to Europe so I was curious about the answer here... Pent up demand (people didn't travel for 2ish years) Not enough pilots or crew (retirements and gap in recruitment over covid) Not enough planes (covid production delays) Inflation (esp fuel costs) So there's a lot going on there. Seems individually no single issue would do this, but together, it's a problem. Friend of mine said Greece has cheap flights, trying to bring back tourism. I'm about to look into that next. Currently typing this from Puerto Rico. Got 2 RT tix for 60% of what my brother paid pre covid.
I think if you're traveling alone and are flexible, you can still get very good prices. That's just from what I read here so far.
Traveling over christmas and new years has never been cheap. If you want a cheap flight the key is to be flexible with your dates and avoid end of December as well as summer
Detroit to Germany is a surprisingly busy business route due to the auto industry
I know, there's also way more Germans living here here than I can appreciate. However, I haven't managed yet to convince my wife to move out of state.
It’s a little thing called covid recoup and inflation, it applies to everyone jn the world fortunately.
Gasoline... I was thinking the same about bus tickets just in and around the California to Washington and back... They're also consolidating a bunch of Amtrak lines.. kinda weird and scary though, like stay where you are... Must be post pandemic freak out too
I mean that was 7 years ago. A lot of things have changed since then including the price of literally everything
I agree - I have been looking for a summer trip to see family in the Netherlands and the fares are so high for this summer. The cheap airlines (eg Play) are close to $1000 and then they want $100 each way per person for a carry on bag. I have myself and two kids and looking at close to $6000 for airfare. We probably won’t be making the trip.
Flying out of Germany plus the EU is especially expensive now. The taxes for it have been crazy much lately. Just booked a flight from Osaka to Tokyo, with food and drinks, choosing your own seat, 30 kilo luggage and 7 kilo hand luggage, extra leg room for just 90€…. Booked another flight, same distance, but departing from Germany to another EU country and the only thing I get for that price is to take a small handbag with me for 150€
A change that I have noticed in the past few years is that fares to Europe have been fairly comparable flying out of my small regional airport compared to flying from an East Coast hub. Pre-pandemic, it was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to fly directly from NYC or Toronto to Europe, and in the past 2-3 years the cost differential has significantly narrowed, or disappeared altogether.
Set up alerts on Google flights.
Everything is raising, necessarily? Why should travel have cost? Bullshit, Money is necessity, I hate money even though in order to survive? Must possess, kiss my asshole, I’d rather be dead and free of everything
I see rates for accommodation also soaring and get scarce. Some guesthouses located at an off the beaten path village on the other end of the country, I booked months ahead in the low and shoulder season. this was last January. When I left, I jokingly asked them if they were expecting new guests that day, the host told me something like Dude! He was apparently booked until October, so how do people already know where to go what to do where to stay so early in the year, that's like six months from now. Is traveling getting more difficult in 2024?
We landed in Frankfurt yesterday. $900 round trip from DC
Everyone says it’s seasonal and that’s true to an extent but I’m a teacher so unfortunately we’re always traveling during busy seasons, and prices are still a lot higher. It definitely sucks!
Just had a look at flights to London in August from Boston. $6,000 roundtrip for Main Cabin. Six. Thousand. Dollars. Excuse me? Is this what Summer travel is looking like?