June 24, 2004 -- Whoops, they've done it again. The folks at 1-800 Fly Europe have unleashed more fall fares to Europe, and as usual, they've got great rates. These prices are a higher than the fall fares we saw from them in May -- in some cases, they're $50 higher than Fly Europe's May fall fares. But they still whomp the competition.
Fly Europe's current crop of fares covers "shoulder season" in Europe, from Sept. 8 to Oct. 31. In many ways, we think May and September are the best times to go to Europe, and hey, May is over already. June is pretty good, too, but airfares start going up in June. July can be hot, and all the locals go on vacation in August.
As usual, Fly Europe has a huge grid of fares to a slew of European cities. You can see them all at .
Our favorites include (all round trip, before $100 or so tax):
- From New York: London $237; Paris $328
- From Boston: London $242; Paris $328; Madrid $446
- From Washington DC: Paris $378; London $369; Brussels $373
- From Chicago: Brussels $365; London $409; Paris $393
- From Dallas: London $412; Brussels $401; Zurich $468
- From LA/SF: Paris $407; London $459; Brussels $460
These prices wreak cruel destruction on published fares. Virgin Atlantic's current fall sale, as shown on Expedia (www.expedia.com), offers Boston-London for $361 and British Airways offers New York-London for $339, both plus tax. Air India (also via Expedia) comes close to Fly Europe's prices, with a fall fare of $420.33 from New York to London including taxes. Want to fly from Dallas to Paris? Published fares right now are over $600, plus tax. Ditto for flights from Chicago to Brussels.
Fly Europe is also offering some pretty good packages from New York and Boston to London -- $399 for three nights from New York, $419 from Boston -- but they don't beat Off Peak Traveler's ridiculously low $349 per person three-night London package from New York (www.offpeaktraveler.com/action/offer?OFFER_ID=814155) or their $389 package from Boston (www.offpeaktraveler.com/action/offer?OFFER_ID=814533). Fly Europe's advantage is that they'll put you in the La Reserve Hotel in Kensington, which is pretty basic but it's still a notch above the very basic and tiny Mina House hotel Off Peak uses for their ultra-discount packages.
To book Fly Europe's low fares, call 1-800-359-3876 or go to . As usual with Fly Europe, they'll sell 'em until they sell out.
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