Saturday, May 16, 2009

Stupid Cheap Summer Airfares That You Would Be Stupid to Ignore

Photo by Gun Sydney

These are some of the deals I've found for round-trip international travel in June, July, and August (some even extend into the fall, when the weather's heating up Down Under). Dust off the passport (or apply for one) and get them bags packed:

Chicago to Dublin*, Ireland - $498 on Delta

Chicago to San Jose, Costa Rica - $277 on TACA

Los Angeles to Buenos Aires, Argentina - $598 on United

Los Angeles to Frankfurt*, Germany - $517 on Delta

Los Angeles to Manila, Philippines - $588 on Delta

Los Angeles to Panama City, Panama - $297 on American

New York-JFK to Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep. - $341 on JetBlue

New York-LaGuardia to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - $513 on United ($541 on Delta)

Newark to Berlin*, Germany - $519 on Continental/KLM

Newark to Cartagena, Colombia - $393 on Continental/Copa

Newark to Sydney, Australia - $712 on United ($573 from LA!!!!!!)

San Francisco to Tokyo, Japan - $454 on Air Canada (early-mid June only)

Washington to Frankfurt*, Germany - $526 on Lufthansa

*Once in Germany or Ireland, you can hop over to almost any other major European city for as little as $40 each way.

And right now, round trips from the East Coast out West and vice-versa are also stupid cheap, often $200 or less, so not living in San Fran or LA is no excuse; DC people, hit that Chinatown Bus to The City. I found these fares by first checking the forums on frequent traveler website FlyerTalk, then verifying on the individual airline sites, or on Farecast, Orbitz, Expedia, Farecompare, or Airfare Watchdog (which is especially handy by alerting you of fare sales from any airport you desire). If you can, play around with the dates or destinations; I'm sure you'll find something worth salivating over.

Fly Brother
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8 comments:

kwerekwere said...

that is a mighty big asterisk.

i know you're talking about airlines like ryanair and berlin air by that "as little as $40 each way". throw in the caveats regarding luggage or "any major european city" -- as the costs associated with that often mean that you might as well paid full ticket to the major airport.

["oslo" and "london" are at the top of the list of places served by ryanair that you really should have just paid a big airline for.]

JFK to SDQ isn't bad at all. but then again the caribbean is dirt cheap during hurricane season.

is that direct to rio, or is that get off the plane to go through customs in sao paulo and then get back on to go to rio? [american makes you do that for many of its flights, which is why i'm asking.]

Fly Girl said...

These are supid cheap. I'm looking for a cool family vacy destination and it looks like I'll be able to grab one. I'm heading over to FlyerTalk, thanks for the tip!

Oneika said...

so where are you going?!? and when? ;-)

MDUBB said...

I don't know I've flown Ryanair and others like it a few times, in fact I'm going to Sweden this weekend on Ryanair.

Good, minimal packing is of the essence, their are websites dedicated to this.

Those low cost joints aren't like a traditional plane ride but you get to where your going just fine.

A Cuban In London said...

So, where next, bro :-)?

Greetings from London.

Fly Brother said...

Kwere: True, the weight restriction can run up what would otherwise be a cheap airfare, but even traditional "legacy" carriers are charging for luggage these days. Just pack light. And in the interest of competition, some of the major airlines are matching the European low-fare carriers on certain routes, often from more centralized airports and without the baggage limits. On the routing tip, most of the flights are at least same-plane service; United stops in Sao on the way to Rio and in Sydney on the way to Mel, but you remain on the plane in both instances.

Fly Girl: Both FlyerTalk and Airfare Watchdog are excellent for finding last-minute or location-specific deals.

MDUBB: Let me know how that Sweden trip turns out. I haven't been since 94, and I'm getting that itch.

Nikita and Cubano: You guys haven't been paying attention to my puzzle pieces, have you? Our paths may be crossing sooner than later.

Oneika said...

Awesome!
So did you book this travel already? You doing an around the world trip?

Holla at a sista if you find yourself in or around HK from August onward!

Stephina Suzzane said...

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