Originally Posted by
WHACKMASTER
Zap, when you go to Europe makes a BIG difference. Not in airfares but also in how crowded the tourist places will be. I’ve traveled to Europe countless times (from there originally) and can’t recommend the shoulder seasons enough.
Especially if you’re nonrevving, I’d stay the hell away in the summer. Don’t be afraid to try it in April-May and Sept-Dec. I NEVER paid for a ticket expect for the ridiculously cheap inter-European airlines (Wizz, Ryanair, etc).
I do know that my European friends get cheaper prices when booking their vacations and will be trying the VPN trick soon.
Thanks, we were thinking May or October of 2025 - kid graduates from high school next year and I promised to take the wife to Italy once he was in college to celebrate having successfully raised a human. So plenty of time to make plans. Unfortunately neither Barcelona or Venice have nonstops to DFW, so I was just doing a little research to decide between flying to Madrid and taking the train, or flying to New York or Toronto and then directly to Barcelona.
Like I said, it’s all new to me so it’s one of those situations where I don’t know what I don’t know. Looking forward to it though. (except for paying for it all!) Really appreciate all the advice on this thread. I know it’s not Southwest specific, but since I’ve heard we can’t get ID90s on business class because SWA 🙄 I figured who better to ask? After reading here though I think we’ll just save some of the (hopefully) retro check and buy the tickets rather than try to nonrev.