When airfare goes up, travelers instinctively start looking closer to home to save on travel. But as airfare begins to drop after months of sky high prices, it's the close-to-home flights that are most expensive while international fares are tumbling.
Searching for domestic airfare is akin to a root canal right now. I have a summer and fall of weddings and get-togethers in and around the U.S. – and fares seemingly start at $300 roundtrip for basic economy and go up precipitously from there. The high fares have been relentless, and I've been waiting for an airfare cliff.
Well, the cliff is happening. I'll show you some examples shortly. It's just not showing up for domestic flights (yet) – it's happening for international flights to Europe, specifically.
How about an example courtesy of this phenomenal sale from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) this week? This New York (JFK) to Brussels (BRU) fare for just $347 roundtrip is one of the cheapest transatlantic flights we've seen in months.
SAS is known for deals like this, but, like most airlines, it's paused the best stuff for the last few months as jet fuel costs skyrocketed across the industry. Well, something changed this week, because SAS went ahead with this fare and many others like it.
But if you want a simple domestic flight out of New York (JFK) to anywhere other than the eastern seaboard, you're looking at fares like this …
Those are the same dates of travel and the same departure airport, but not for the same price. Belgium is cheaper than Kansas City for NYC travelers next year, as international airfare is finally starting to drop. SAS's sale can do you better than just JFK to Belgium, though, too.
Here are all of the low fares we rounded up for our Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert subscribers.
And just as SAS launched its sale, Icelandair said hold my Einstök – launching its own massive promotion offering roundtrip flights to Iceland starting at just $345 roundtrip from all of these cities.
This deal was awesome, and it got me thinking about a hilarious example that perfectly illustrates my point that international airfare is a significantly better deal than domestic flight prices right now.
So, from Boston (BOS) and Minneapolis (MSP) to Iceland (KEF), you can find roundtrip fares from Oct. 7-14 under $396.
So that made me think: What would it cost to simply fly between BOS and MSP? Well, it's barely less expensive than the flights to Iceland from each city!
This pattern is becoming increasingly obvious every day as airlines look to fill seats left empty due to high airfares earlier this summer and spring.
Where to Look for the Cheapest Flights
Icelandair and SAS, two low-cost airlines, are both known for their sales. But the two budget-friendly carriers are also known for driving the airfare market to Europe. They are often trend-setters in dropping airfare to Europe, specifically northern Europe.
So, while most of this list will be northern European destinations, I expect a broader drop in airfare to Europe this fall. But if you want something right now, here's where to look as fares drop.
First stop: Denmark.
Northern Europe and Scandinavia have already gotten a lot of love in this post. Add Copenhagen (CPH) – one of my favorite cities in the world – to that list. Thanks to cutthroat competition from SAS and Icelandair, airlines the world over have had to slash fares, including that deal (above) from Air Canada flying out of Seattle (SEA). We also saw big fare drops to places like Oslo (OSL), Stockholm (ARN), Bergen (BGO), and Helsinki (HEL) thanks to these competing sales.
The same goes for the Faroe Islands (FAE), the Atlantic island chain I can't stop thinking about. One quick stop in Iceland can get you there under $400 roundtrip from the East Coast this year!
Scandinavia is the center of the world of cheap flights right now. But don't count out some other fun destinations like Dublin (DUB).
Our latest Dublin (DUB) deal, including this nonstop flight from Toronto (YYZ), includes more than a dozen U.S. airports with flights to the Emerald Isle under $499 roundtrip.
Europe is a clear winner for cheap flights right now, but it's not the only region where you can find a great fare this summer, fall, and beyond. This roundtrip fare to Santiago, Chile (SCL) is proof of that!
More than a dozen U.S. cities could find fares under $599 roundtrip to SCL – the lowest of which was this Orlando (MCO) fare.
Finally, you can even find low fares to Mexico and the Caribbean right now. If you want to fly this fall or next winter, you could jump on any one of these roundtrip flights to the Cayman Islands (GCM), for example!
For similar prices as this GCM deal, you could also get to Cancún (CUN) starting at just $324 roundtrip! There were close to 100 U.S. and Canadian cities on the latest CUN deal, all offering flights under $449 roundtrip.
Bottom Line
If you want a good deal on flights right now, the best value is abroad, not on domestic flights.
Northern Europe is an especially good option for U.S. travelers, given tough competition from airlines like SAS and Icelandair. But even if you want to fly to Ireland, the Cayman Islands, or Chile, there are great international flight deals to be found right now.
