Europe Airfare Shopping Tips

It used to be that on-campus student travel agencies and charter flights offered the cheapest way to fly to Europe. These days, travel technology has both simplified and intensified the flight shopping experience.

There are more bargain and special deals out there than ever before and a myriad of ways to find them. In order to fast track the bargain hunt, try these tips.

1. Get a benchmark published airfare price for flights to your desired destination using Orbitz, Travelocity or Sidestep. From here, you can base whether specials you dig up, are indeed, really special.
    
2. Check Bakpak’s Airfare Deals for current specials that we have identified
    
3. As far as European gateway cities go, London, specifically Heathrow airport, is generally the cheapest touchdown point. And from one of London’s three airports, you can find cheap airfares on Europe’s budget airlines to your desired destination
    
4. Check student travel agencies such as STA Travel and Student Universe to see if they have specials to (or near) your desired destination
    
5. Check for rates and specials on the national airline of the country you are flying to. Often, their deals beat the student travel agencies. And you will save the extra fee charged by sites like Orbitz and Travelocity. For London, try British Airways, for Paris, Air France, for Frankfurt, try Lufthansa, for Amsterdam try KLM for Dublin try Aer Lingus, just to name a few.