April 16, 2004 -- Europe is warming up. Australia is cooling down. Our spring may be the true sweet spot for global fares, because it's everybody's "shoulder season" -- the time when fares are neither particularly low (boo) nor particularly high (yay!). Celebrating that global fare balance, we found good deals to foreign countries in both hemispheres today.
First, let's head north. Iceland is thawing out right now. April and May are pretty mild months over there, with temperatures in the 40s. The days are long, too: by May 15, the sun is up from 4:15am until 10:34pm.
That makes April and May excellent months to explore the glaciers, hot springs, volcanoes and nightlife of Iceland, and it's easy to do so with a top-notch Icelandair fare of $298 (about $390 after tax) from Boston, New York, Baltimore, Minneapolis or Orlando. This special fare is available through April 20 for outbound flights up to May 20 and returns through May 31 (fares from Minneapolis are only available on flights through May 8.) There's no advance purchase, either, so if you want to leave right now you can -- you just have to stay over a Saturday night.
Fares to Iceland typically shoot up between June and August, the high tourist season over there. We'd expect mid-June fares to be $200 above this sale, and that's well worth the slightly cooler temperatures you'll encounter in May. If you're interested, make haste to book your tickets at www.icelandair.com/sebastian.
As we've been reporting, it's certainly possible to find reasonable fares to the rest of Europe for May trips. The latest sale we've noticed is a very wide-ranging one from Iberia, as long as you can leave from New York. For outbound trips through May 31 and returns up to 30 days later, your fare is $365 plus tax to the following cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Milan, Porto, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Venice and Zurich. You may be able to find matching or better fares on other airlines, but this $365 fare (call it $450-$475 after tax) probably won't show up on travel agency sites, so remember to go to Iberia's website if you're traveling to Europe in May. You can buy these tickets online at www.iberia.com/OneToOne/gateway_us.jsp -- click on "Online Sales" at the top of the screen, then "Special Offers."
A Fair Dinkum Aussie Sale
Heading south, it's getting on wintertime in Australia and New Zealand, which means much lower fares than we saw earlier in the year. Qantas' $748 from LA to Sydney is the best we've seen so far; it's good for flights in May and August, and it's on sale through April 30. Other US origination cities include:
- San Francisco: $860
- San Jose: $875
- San Diego, Las Vegas: $885
- Seattle: $1,025
- New York: $1,048
- Portland: $1,060
- Dallas, Denver: $1,140
- Chicago: $1,165
- Boston, Washington, Miami: $1,205
Add $100 for flights to Melbourne or Brisbane, and $200 for flights to Cairns. For an additional $100, you can also stop over in LA, Auckland, Sydney or Fiji.
As with most Qantas fares, you can make this ticket cheaper by getting to LA on your own, though you give up the assurance of a guaranteed connection if your domestic flight is late. For instance, Qantas charges you $457 to get from Boston, Washington, or Miami to LA, and $417 to get from Chicago to LA. We've seen plenty of fares under $200 on various domestic airlines for those routes.
To get this fare, book online at http://qantasusa.com/webDeals/168.
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