Airfare, finding the best price

The best price I ever paid on a roundtrip flight (from Denver to Frankfurt) was $408.00 which included airport taxes. That was a fluke, as Lufthansa had just begun non stop service out of Denver and had rolled out some amazing specials. This was our most recent trip, which we took in May of 2001.

Prior to that, we paid roughly $650 (Denver to Zurich) which seemed like a pretty decent fare at that time (September 1998).

Since our most recent trip, I have seen some fares in the $400'ish range, though travel needs to be completed during the colder winter months. Although I'm not a big proponant of traveling in the middle of the summer, Europe in the winter can be quite cold, very wet, and the days tend to be extremely short. For my vacation dollar, I find traveling in the Spring and Fall gets you the best of both worlds.....relatively dry mild weather, and (virtually) no crowds!

At the right, you'll find links to various travel sites specializing in discounted fares. We've also listed airlines that offer discount flights within Europe. Keep in mind, time is money. In fact, I tend to place a very high value on my time while vacationing. Considering this factor, it is often a much better value to fly within Europe then to take a train. Most flights between European destinations take between 20 to 45 minutes and can cost as little as $20 USD one way. Contrast that to train travel which may take up to 24 hours and easily cost twice as much! I love train travel, but concentrate my train trips in the areas with breath taking scenery.

Lastly, rates can very tremendously between service providers. I have found descrepencies of 40% and greater, while inquiring about the exact same route and dates. Here is an excellent article that delves into price discrepancies.

Please send me any tips you have on finding the best airfare.