cheap flights

[Fi(re) on the Farm]

So my husband is retired, I'm semi-retired and we have a 38 year old profoundly autistic daughter. This week our much loved 14 year old hound passed away. We've traveled a lot but have never traveled outside the continental US because he and DD were inseparable. I don't actually care where we go but it would be good for all of us to get on a plane to somewhere else. We're about 3 hours from both Boston and NYC so flying out of Logan and JFK are possibilities.  My daughter is good on flights but we've only tested her on ones that are 6 hours or less. Our schedules are flexible but I don't want to blow our budget. I'd love a suggestion on where to get cheap flights, places that we could go and any experiences you've had. I've thought about the Azores and Ireland but I'd love to hear anyone else's suggestions or tips.

[snic]

If you go to Google Flights, you can enter a departure airport (JFK or BOS, but don't forget LGA, HPN, SWF and BDL) and some dates, and click "Explore". It will show you prices for a bunch of different trips to different destinations. You can then move the map around, zoom in to different areas, etc. This is great for getting a general idea of where you could go and what it would cost. The nice thing is that because it shows you the flight costs, you can rule out expensive destinations (well, at least expensive-to-get-there destinations) and zero in on the ones that are within budget.

I once used this "fishing" method to select Honduras as a vacation destination. I never would have considered Honduras if Google Flights hadn't shown me this option, but after it showed me that the flight was quite inexpensive, I did more research to figure out what we could see and do there. It turned out to be a great vacation, with part of our stay next to a beautiful national park and the other part on a small private island with just a few other guests - all of it very affordable.

[Villanelle]

I've done something similar to what Snic mentions.  When I first moved to Europe and wanted to go just about everywhere, and hadn't been anywhere, it's often how we decided where to go on our long weekends.  I used Skyscanner and put "everywhere" in as the destination.  It will then list various countries and tell you the lowest price to that country.  Click on the country, and it has various cities and the prices.  Select the first few countries that even maybe interest you, and see what the cheapest cities are, and pick one that appeals to you.

[ixtap]

I have done this with Delta last minute deals, which often include the hotel. It has been a long time since I last did so, but it might be worth checking out.

If you haven't travelled internationally in a long time, have you double checked everyone's passports? The wait times are atrocious, then they get caught up and everyone gets theirs back in two weeks and brags about it, so everyone who was holding off send theirs in and they get backed up again...

[Valley of Plenty]

If you do end up vacationing to the European mainland, consider using Icelandic Airlines or Aer Lingus. They frequently have options of extended layovers (24+ hours) in Reykjavik and Dublin respectively. Not only does this break your flight up into shorter chunks, but it also gives you a day or two that you can spend in another really cool place before even getting to your actual vacation destination. From what I've seen those flights tend to be the cheapest options as well, which is a nice bonus.

My girlfriend and I are travelling to Germany at the end of this month for about 2 weeks. We're flying Icelandic Airlines out of Baltimore with a 24 hour layover in Reykjavik on the way there. Going to use the time to visit Sky Lagoon, a big volcanic hot spring. There's a ton of stuff to do in Reykjavik, easily enough to fill a day or two layover.

[lentil]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your dog.

As others have said, Skyscanner and Google flights are both good tools to look at general ticket availability/pricing over a variety of times & places. Be aware that everyone appears to be visiting Europe this year, so tickets (and everything else) are higher than usual. Planning travel during the off season is usually a reliable way to save a considerable amount of money, and experience places without the massive crowds.

Before buying plane tickets, take a moment to check out rental cars (or other transportation) and accommodation prices where you're going. Car availability & prices are still a struggle in a lot of destinations. E.g. I found some cheap tickets to Anchorage recently and was seriously debating a last-minute Alaskan camping trip, and then couldn't find a car for under $1200/week, which blew my little budget out of the water. And with the crowds in Europe this summer, I am hearing that budget accommodations are hard to find.

Also, Europe has a bunch of airlines that provide incredibly cheap flights from one country to another. So if you find affordable tickets to one major city, you can usually book another flight on Ryanair or EasyJet to pretty much anywhere in Europe for super cheap. There are usually significant luggage restrictions though, so it depends on how you travel.

Wherever you find to go, I hope you have a great time with your family!

[Catbert]

I think everyone has given you good advice. I'll add after using Google Flights or similar to get information, go directly to the airline to book flights.  If there's a problem you're better off dealing directly with airlines rather than having to go through a third party.

If your daughter hasn't flown in awhile and never without her dog, you might try a flight within the US first.

[snic]

I think everyone has given you good advice. I'll add after using Google Flights or similar to get information, go directly to the airline to book flights.  If there's a problem you're better off dealing directly with airlines rather than having to go through a third party.

That's excellent advice. Google Flights usually gives you a direct link to the airline website to book, but they've also started listing 3rd party booking services like Expedia and some other fly-by-night operations. Avoid those at all costs. Also keep in mind that Google Flights shows you the cheapest fares, but nowadays you usually - but not always - have to pay extra if you want to select seats in advance and sometimes even have a carry-on bag in addition to your "personal item". Some fares it quotes will include these, and others will not, so sometimes what looks like the cheapest fare isn't when you add in the cost of these options.

[FLBiker]

I've had good luck with Kayak as well.

It might also be worth looking at the websites of the airports themselves (although BOS and NYC might be too big for that to be useful).  We live ~an hour outside of Halifax, and the airport website tells you where all the direct flights go to.  There's a direct flight from Halifax to Frankfurt on Condor that you can get for as low as ~$700CAD (off season) that we found that way.

[slappy]

Maybe time to look into travel hacking, if you haven't already.

[Valley of Plenty]

I think everyone has given you good advice. I'll add after using Google Flights or similar to get information, go directly to the airline to book flights.  If there's a problem you're better off dealing directly with airlines rather than having to go through a third party.

That's excellent advice. Google Flights usually gives you a direct link to the airline website to book, but they've also started listing 3rd party booking services like Expedia and some other fly-by-night operations. Avoid those at all costs. Also keep in mind that Google Flights shows you the cheapest fares, but nowadays you usually - but not always - have to pay extra if you want to select seats in advance and sometimes even have a carry-on bag in addition to your "personal item". Some fares it quotes will include these, and others will not, so sometimes what looks like the cheapest fare isn't when you add in the cost of these options.

Why avoid third party booking services? I can understand staying away from the dodgy unfamiliar companies with no history or track record, but what's the issue with booking through a well known company like Expedia? You can sometimes save a lot of money by booking third party,

[2sk22]

Why avoid third party booking services? I can understand staying away from the dodgy unfamiliar companies with no history or track record, but what's the issue with booking through a well known company like Expedia? You can sometimes save a lot of money by booking third party,

It's a matter of how you handle problems in a journey. As you may have heard there were severe disruptions to United flights last week. If you had booked directly with United, you at least had some chance of getting rebooked although even that was taking a very long time. If you booked through a third party site like Expedia, you would have been totally out of luck since the airline would refuse to rebook you. You would have to go back to Expedia and they are notorious for having much worse customer service.

[snic]

Why avoid third party booking services? I can understand staying away from the dodgy unfamiliar companies with no history or track record, but what's the issue with booking through a well known company like Expedia? You can sometimes save a lot of money by booking third party,

It's a matter of how you handle problems in a journey. As you may have heard there were severe disruptions to United flights last week. If you had booked directly with United, you at least had some chance of getting rebooked although even that was taking a very long time. If you booked through a third party site like Expedia, you would have been totally out of luck since the airline would refuse to rebook you. You would have to go back to Expedia and they are notorious for having much worse customer service.

Exactly. Absolute horror stories about these outfits are not hard to find on the internet. Some things are not worth the cost savings, if those are in fact real. (I've never found Expedia etc to be any cheaper for air alone or hotel alone, but maybe package deals are different?)

[Valley of Plenty]

Why avoid third party booking services? I can understand staying away from the dodgy unfamiliar companies with no history or track record, but what's the issue with booking through a well known company like Expedia? You can sometimes save a lot of money by booking third party,

It's a matter of how you handle problems in a journey. As you may have heard there were severe disruptions to United flights last week. If you had booked directly with United, you at least had some chance of getting rebooked although even that was taking a very long time. If you booked through a third party site like Expedia, you would have been totally out of luck since the airline would refuse to rebook you. You would have to go back to Expedia and they are notorious for having much worse customer service.

Exactly. Absolute horror stories about these outfits are not hard to find on the internet. Some things are not worth the cost savings, if those are in fact real. (I've never found Expedia etc to be any cheaper for air alone or hotel alone, but maybe package deals are different?)

I booked my Germany trip that is happening in a few weeks through Expedia. It was about 15% cheaper than if I had booked directly through the airline (Icelandic Airlines).

Now I'm slightly paranoid that something is going to go wrong and ruin my trip. Fingers crossed I guess!

[Fi(re) on the Farm]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I've been hiding out up on the side of a mountain. I'll start looking at flights tomorrow.

[Kwill]

Ireland seems like a nice idea if you are looking for something not too much further than 6 hours and are flying out of either Logan or JFK. There are probably enough flights from both airports that you could find some deals. From Ireland, you could use Ryanair to see the rest of Europe without spending a huge amount.