About to buy plane tickets..

[Clark]

Ok, I'm about to buy my plane tickets for the Camino Portuguese in May. Freaking out a little bit. The price has been steadily climbing over the last few weeks and I read that international flights only get higher the closer you get to the time of the flight. Anyone have any experience with this while buying tickets from America?

 

[Precentrix]

It's certainly true with European flights, particularly budget airlines. I have to do my Camino in stages and am doing Burgos to Leon in April. I watched as in the space of a day the return flights from where I am rose from £150 to £300. Yes, okay, it's still not that much, but it doubled before my eyes and the prices were still going up.

 

[mvanert]

Ok, I'm about to buy my plane tickets for the Camino Portuguese in May. Freaking out a little bit. The price has been steadily climbing over the last few weeks and I read that international flights only get higher the closer you get to the time of the flight. Anyone have any experience with this while buying tickets from America?

Be creative! I'm Canadian and generally fly out of Vancouver but on my first camino I flew out of Portland and then to London before going on into Madrid where I began in Pamplona. (I took an Alsa bus from Madrid to Pamplona). My second camino I flew into Paris via London, changed airlines and flew into Bilbao for a St Jean start. Last week I booked my flights for my April camino where I'll resume where I left my 2016 camino by going to Estella. I chose a combination of flights and bus tickets to get me where I'm going to. I got the best airline prices by flying into Dublin, changing airlines and then on to Madrid where I'll catch the Alsa bus to Logrono and a local bus back to Estella. My point being the most direct flight is not always (hardly ever IMHO) the best way to go when trying to save money. I saved a lot of money on this route using different airlines and buses. Granted, I do have a bit of a layover in Dublin but it is such a beautiful city I don't mind at all. My advise, be creative and I recommend using Google Flights for finding the best pricing and trending prices. If you're not in a hurry to get where you're going to you can save $.

 

[Clark]

Be creative! I'm Canadian and generally fly out of Vancouver but on my first camino I flew out of Portland and then to London before going on into Madrid where I began in Pamplona. (I took an Alsa bus from Madrid to Pamplona). My second camino I flew into Paris via London, changed airlines and flew into Bilbao for a St Jean start. Last week I booked my flights for my April camino where I'll resume where I left my 2016 camino by going to Estella. I chose a combination of flights and bus tickets to get me where I'm going to. I got the best airline prices by flying into Dublin, changing airlines and then on to Madrid where I'll catch the Alsa bus to Logrono and a local bus back to Estella. My point being the most direct flight is not always (hardly ever IMHO) the best way to go when trying to save money. I saved a lot of money on this route using different airlines and buses. Granted, I do have a bit of a layover in Dublin but it is such a beautiful city I don't mind at all. My advise, be creative and I recommend using Google Flights for finding the best pricing and trending prices. If you're not in a hurry to get where you're going to you can save $.

Thanks for the advice! Found a great website to look at one way tickets and got the flights booked AND saved almost $200!

Now I can panic about the reality that I'm actually doing this lol

 

[Consigliere]

As a base line, if you finish/leave in early June, and start say prior to this (say April/May) then tickets are the lowest prices they'll get. (Here in Australia at least) I guess they want to fill planes from all the tourists arriving for Summer break in Europe.

Prices generally go up the closer you get to a departure date, but sometimes on the odd occasion a flight will be discounted, I guess to fill flights.

Hope this leads you get a good deal...

 

[Consigliere]

Thanks for the advice! Found a great website to look at one way tickets and got the flights booked AND saved almost $200!

Now I can panic about the reality that I'm actually doing this lol

Panic? Sounds like you've begun your Camino already Buen Camino!

 

[J Willhaus]

Clark,
There are a couple of things you can do in the future. One is to set an "alert" on one of the travel sites. Often sites like Kayak will let you set an alert which tells you when a price goes up or down.
Janet