What is going on with summer airfares to Europe?

 I was expecting coach class airfares to Europe this year during the summer months to climb into the stratosphere. I am shocked! This week I was checking last minute flights from Omaha to Rome and the price was less than $1000 RT. This is less than half the price they were last June. Summer travel to Europe is expected to break records this year, however, all the major airlines have added hundreds of extra flights across the pond in the last year. What the airlines are not saying, but their prices are saying, is that they added too many seats and are having to lower prices to fill them. 

Business class to Europe has also fallen like a rock – Business Class airfares from the U.S. to Europe this summer have also fallen like a rock. Checking prices in August found RT business class fares for $3500 or less to many cities in Europe. This is less than half the price of normal. I also checked July and found the same thing. 

Prices this fall to Europe are amazingly low – I found a RT airfare departing October 27 and returning Nov 5 from Omaha to Rome for the amazing price of $742. Here are others; Athens $743, Paris 549, Barcelona $557, Vienna $853, Stockholm $699. WOW!

Southwest Airlines seems to be having an airfare sale every week – This week I found airfares from Omaha to Miami traveling June 29-July 6 for $168 RT, Orlando $194 RT, Dallas $58, Phoenix $121. This is the high summer season yet Southwest must have a lot of empty seats or they would not be giving away low priced tickets. I also checked flights in July and August and found amazingly low prices. 

American Airlines has decided to reverse its “Scorched earth” policy and asks travelers to forgive and forget – American Airlines for the last year has been beating up corporate travelers and travel management companies with a big stick. They tried to do everything possible to make it hard for their customers to make reservations outside of their website. They even had the audacity to say if you don’t book on their website you would not earn frequent flyer miles. Well this week the AA CEO put his tail between his legs as he told Wallstreet that their NDC (New Distribution Capability) strategy was a massive failure and they would be quickly reversing course in hopes their customers and travel management companies would forgive and forget. I bet you are going to see some massive airfare sales by AA with the hope they can fill millions of empty seats that were the result of this strategic fiasco. 

Don’t charge your credit card in US Dollars – It is time for me to fess up. For years when traveling in foreign countries I have always charged my credit card using US Dollars as the currency to charge when presented with my credit card bill. It turns out this a a big mistake as you should always charge your credit card in the local currency. CLICK HERE to find out all the reasons you should always use the local currency when using your credit card.

Check out our Weekly Travel Alert Podcast – In this week’s episode of the podcast we break down the top 10 searched international destinations during the summer months. Tune in to see who took the top spot and who slid down the list this year. The Weekly Travel Alert Video Podcast is available on YouTube plus all your favorite podcast stations, Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Podcast.  Don’t forget to subscribe to stay up to date with everything travel.