Cheap flights to Europe are still possible for the flexible traveler
With oil prices continuing to spike, and those mysterious fuel surcharges continuing to go up, many so-called experts are claiming that this summer Europe will be out of the price range of most Americans. While it’s true that prices are definitely higher this summer than they were last summer, things don’t have to be all that bad if you can be a bit flexible.
The day of the week matters more than ever
Especially for Americans, who famously struggle to get even one week at a time off, much less two straight weeks, the summer vacation traditionally starts and ends on the weekends. Since there are basically the same number of trans-Atlantic flights every day of the week, the demand for those weekend flights has pushed prices up into the stratosphere.
Take a look at the two charts below, which represent the cheapest possible flights leaving one week and coming back the next. The top chart is from New York City to London, and the bottom chart is from Los Angeles to London.
Notice that the combination of Tuesday to Tuesday is the cheapest in both cases, and that weekday to weekday flights are all cheaper than those involving Saturdays.
In the case of Los Angeles to London the Sunday to Sunday flights are only a bit more expensive than the Tuesday to Tuesday flights, so that seems like the ideal combination for many people. So many of us are so excited to leave on our first day off that those flights get filled up first, without realizing that we might be able to save hundreds of dollars per person by pushing the whole thing forward or back by a day.
Fridays to Europe might be best of all
You’ll notice on these charts that Friday to Friday flights are also much cheaper than the Saturday to Saturday flights. And as you may know if you’ve flown across the Atlantic before, nearly all flights from North America land in the morning there, usually leaving the US or Canada in the evening.
You might have to take a couple hours off that Friday that you leave if you are coming from the West Coast, and possibly no extra time at all if you are coming from farther east, and then you’ll arrive in Europe early on Saturday morning. ready to explore without having to deal with their rush hour.
The other benefit of this schedule is that you’ll arrive back home in the afternoon of the following Friday, with two full days to get over the worst of the jetlag. In case you are new to this, you should be aware that most people going east experience little jetlag (partly because of the excitement of starting a trip), while those flying west are often incapacitated for days.
The wonderful experience of a European vacation, whether it’s 7 days or 14 days, is usually well worth the late-afternoon drowsiness for most people upon returning home, but if you come back on a Friday you’ll have the longest possible time to get over it without it interferring with an office schedule.
Midweek is best for those with very flexible schedules
If you work in a restaurant or a retail store instead of an office then you might already have, say, Mondays and Tuesdays off. If this is the case then Tuesdays and Wednesdays are almost always the cheapest days to fly, as well as the days with the smallest airport crowds to deal with.
When we search for the cheapest possible flights we always start our search on a Wednesday since that’s usually at the bottom. This is a good strategy in general, which allows you to first see what the lowest possible fares are, and then you can compare the other days to see if it’s worth spending more for a schedule that might suit you better. In some cases the difference will be small, but in cases like this, it can be substantial.