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| Booking summer travel |
| by Brian Kelly |
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Airfare this year should be similar to last year — we haven’t seen huge increases like in previous years. With that being said, I have a few observations after booking my own travel to Europe for the summer. In general, I think availability in business class for paid and award seats is better than last year.
Here are a few of the ways that I find cheap flights if I’m paying cash:
- My favorite tool is the Google Flights Explore Map: It will let you enter your home airport and the destination as “Europe,” so you can see the options for multiple airports populated on the map with fare prices. You can search for specific dates or, in general, by time frame: a week, seven nights, etc. It can be dramatically cheaper to fly into a country and then take the train to other locations. It’s a great way to save money, so make sure you learn how to use this tool.
- Travel tip: I’m noticing American Airlines is now flying first class to Rome this summer. I’m seeing some pretty good first-class fares that are just a little more expensive than business-class fares — British Airways is matching that as well. I see under $3,700 round-trip first class on both BA and American, which is pretty incredible — you’ll earn a lot of extra miles and get better lounge access.
For anyone recently status-matched to BA Gold with the current offer, you must complete at least one paid round trip to maintain your status. Business-class fares to London this summer are in the high $2,000 range, but this is much better compared to last summer, when I saw $6,000-$7,000 fares.
There are two tools that I use to find award availability.
- Use an award search tool like Seats.aero or Point.me: Both are great if you are flexible on dates — both sites pull in award programs. Seats.aero lets you search up to a year in advance and sort by month and pull in multiple cities, so for example, if you’re open to traveling out of Washington, DC, New York or Boston, you can view all of those options at once. It also lets you sort by cabin — first, premium, economy. In general, I’m noticing that June is tough — not much inventory, but then July gets a little better and August has much more availability.
Bilt and American Express both have partnerships with Point.me. Eligible Amex cardholders can use the service for free and Bilt members can enjoy what Bilt calls “the Bilt Transfer Partners experience” by using a Point.me-powered search in the Bilt app. (full disclosure: I’m a Bilt advisor and investor)
- Sign up for email alerts: I get email alerts (paid subscriptions) from Thrifty Traveler and Points Analyst. Both send out alerts when huge tranches of award seats are available. Recently, both sent out emails that American’s nonstop flight from Philadelphia to Nice, France, had just released a bunch of award space. The key to getting in on these deals is booking immediately when you see it. Most award programs will let you cancel or change for free or for a minimal fee, so whenever I see award availability that looks good, I book it and change it later if I have to.
Booking tip: A key thing to remember when searching Google Flights or award inventory is to be on the lookout for what I call “fake business class” or “business class lite.” For example, business class on Azores Airlines and Icelandair is always really cheap because it’s not a true business class — it’s basically premium economy with a recliner seat. So, do not be fooled by thinking you got the best deal.
Remember, whenever you are flying with connections, you risk flight disruptions and delayed baggage; I try and go as direct as possible. When looking at Turkish Airlines, you’d have to fly across Europe to its hub in Istanbul and then backtrack to your destination, so make sure you are always putting a value on your travel time as well.
I usually filter out Azores Airlines, Icelandair, Turkish Airlines and Egyptair if I am heading to Western Europe.
Overall, there are deals to be found this summer; you just have to be savvy, act quickly and use technology.
Also, make sure you are booking with a card that earns points — like 5 points per dollar on airfare* with The Platinum Card® from American Express. Don’t have the card yet? You can check to see if you are targeted for an elevated welcome bonus of up to 150,000 points via CardMatch.
Have a great weekend,
BK
* Airfare purchases earn 5 points per dollar on up to $500,000 per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar when booked directly with the airline or American Express Travel.
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| Photo Credit: WYATT SMITH/THE POINTS GUY. |
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