Buy now? Buy later?
Sun, 07/20/2008 - 13:18
I am looking to buy a ticket from Portland, OR to Berlin for a late September departure (preferably the 29th). The return date is not important, because I will probably be attending a language school there and extending my stay. I have been checking fares over the past few weeks, and they seem to be getting more and more expensive as time goes on. This is making me feel the need to purchase my ticket right away so that the prices don’t skyrocket further (they have already reached $1000+). I wanted the opinions of you here on the forum, though. Is it a good idea to get the ticket now? Or are fares likely to drop closer to the departure date?
-Veronica
It’s a tough call. On one hand, fuel surcharges are likely to increase. On the other, with perception of increasing fares, passenger numbers could dip, and airlines might have harder time filling seats, thus sale fares. I certainly wouldn’t expect them to be any cheaper than last September, however.
Check Farecompare: http://www.farecompa… ... and sign up for sale alerts there. Also look for the historical fare data on this route—so you can estimate a decent fare and maybe when to expect it.
Will you be returning for Christmas-tag?
Also be sure to try consolidators. They are often cheaper for international flights with stays > 30 days. Check one-ways, too. http://www.bookingbu… will search many for you, plus regular airline prices, too. http://www.cheapflig… lists some more. Alles klar?
If you happen to be a student (or faculty with .edu e-mail) check out statravel.com and studentuniverse.com. Both sell “student” tickets, which tend to be cheaper for stays longer then 30 (and especially 90) days. (The later currently shows $755 on NWA all in for September 29th departure with later December return.)
Also take a look at generationfly.com although I have not seen any good fares from Lufthansa in a long while.
what language schools were you looking at in berlin?
I attended the Goethe Institut in Berlin about four years ago, and while it was a wonderful school, it is completely out of my price range now. I can’t even remember the names of the other schools I was looking into, but I have friends in Berlin currently that have tried out several different school so I will get their opinions when I get there. To be brutally honest, I will probably just go to the school that is the cheapest because I am most interested in staying in Berlin the longest that I can afford.
Don, I went to Farecompare and judging by the fare history, I think I’m going to hold off until closer to my departure date. I’m hoping to find a fare $800 and under, which is hopefully do-able, considering I have booked fares in the past as low as $430.
Seva, thanks for the link, but I am not a student. Although I am curious… is there anyway to “work the system” and use my friend’s .edu e-mail to purchase MY ticket? It seems like there must be a way!
Well, guess what, would you rather be honest or frugal?
Studentuniverse contract with airlines mandates that they only sell tix to students and faculty, so they claim to check your status. Perhaps they simply make sure that the .edu e-mail address you provide is a valid one. It could be that they try to trace it to actual name and see if the name matches that on the reservation, but that would be too complicated thing to do just for compliance reasons.
In addition you are supposed to carry a student/faculty ID when you board. Neither I nor my spouse was ever asked to produce one. (Think 20-30 plane boardings altogether over the span of 11 years.) But it may well happen to you.
So this is strictly your call, not ours.
i ask cause i was looking at the eurocentres school or the cactus language school in berlin