How early can I book my plane tickets?

[K.Pecas]

I want to get most of the big stuff out of the way as soon as I can. We want to leave the end of may 2009, when do you think we should start looking for good ticket deals? Also, how much do you think an open jaw ticket out of Cincinnati or Columbus Ohio into the europe would cost? What would be the most economical country or city to land in?

[pointofnoreturn]

Fuel prices are rising and airlines are tacking on more charges to accommodate this change in economy. I'd say buy the tickets as soon as you know the dates. You might have to shop around to find the best prices although the price you pay may not be exactly what you'd actually want to pay.

As for flying into cheap cities.... Dublin is the cheapest one - it has the lowest tax and Spain is pretty reasonable. London and Paris are also good places although they have higher taxes but there's more demand with these two cities.

[Eagle]

K.Pecas, you'll probably find that the airlines won't start listing their flights for next year until sometime late this fall. As far as the "cheapest cities", the best prices are usually to the larger "hub" cities as there are more passengers wanting to use those routes and therefore a better return for the airlines. Cities to check out include Dublin as PONR suggested, in some cases Belfast (some charters fly there), London (either Heathrow or Gatwick), Paris and especially Frankfurt. From any of those airports, it's fairly easy to get anywhere in Europe. When heading for England, I normally prefer Gatwick if I'll primarily be in the south, or Manchester if I'll be in the north.

As I might have suggested previously, using open-jaw flights would be the most efficient method. You might want to speak with a travel agent to find out what's available from your area. You'll probably find better prices out of JFK, but not sure how easy or cost effective an option that would be for you?

Cheers!

[K.Pecas]

Thanks for the tips!

[K.Pecas]

How do I book an open jaw ticket?

[Eagle]

K.Pecas, you might want to speak with a travel agent regarding open-jaw tickets. These are basically just tickets that allow travellers to fly into one city and fly home from a different city. This is often the most efficient method, as one doesn't have to spend the time and money returning to their starting point. Open-jaw tickets are often slightly more expensive than normal "return" tickets, however in most cases if the cost of open-jaw tickets is compared with the costs (rail or air) of returning to the initial airport, the open-jaw ticket is the better value.

You can book these on the Net if this is that's what you prefer. Look for something on the airline website that indicates "multi-city" booking (or something along those lines). It might take a bit of time to find the best combination of starting and ending cities.

Good luck!