Airline Tickets

I sent an email out today and wanted to make sure I posted the same on the blog.

I wanted to give everyone an update.  Starting now until early February will be the best time to purchase tickets.  I suggest to start checking daily for deals.  We had 11 people in the group purchase tickets this past weekend.  All of these 11 decided to fly round trip from Chicago to Dublin and spend a night in Dublin on the way back.  They did this because they were able to purchase round trip airfare to Dublin for $720 or under.  The round trip ticket on Aer Lingus from Dublin to Venice is currently about $300 US per person.  So if you add the $700 plus the $300 the total is $1,000. Right now the cheapest I have heard of for travel from Chicago to Dublin, then Dublin to Venice, then Venice to Chicago has been $1,100 by calling Aer Lingus.  Online it has been around $1,200.00.

If you have two people traveling that is $100 to $200 more per person.  That is enough to cover the extra night in Dublin on the way back.  However you would fly home Tuesday June 7th instead of Monday June 6th.

Please remember I am just giving options.  If you want to fly home direct from Venice that is fine too.  Out of the 11 people who booked this weekend 7 or not returning to the US until June 12th.

I have found the best sites right now are the following.  I booked off of Vayama.com because I could not get the same price direct through the airline.

Sites:
vayama.com
cheaptickets.com
skyscanner.com
momondo.com
bookairfare.com

I did book my airfare.  I booked United Flight 152 direct from O'Hare to Dublin on Friday May 27th leaving at 6:10pm and arriving Dublin at 7:50am Saturday May 28th.  We are flying back to Dublin on Saturday June 11th and then flying home on Sunday June 12th.  Our flight back on Sunday June 12th is on Air Canada with a connection in Toronto.  We depart at 10:30am and arrive Chicago O'Hare at 3:00pm. 

NOTE:  I checked the flight route Chicago 5/27 to Dublin, Dublin 6/3 to Venice, and Venice 6/6 to Chicago on momondo.com and found it for $1,151.00.  My sister-in-law called them again this weekend and they told her the flights were starting to fill up.  You cannot do a multi-search on the Aer Lingus site.  If you are interested in this ticket I would call Aer Lingus direct. 

When you go www.momondo.com remember to switch your currency to USD.  It automatically defaulted mine to Danish.  You can do it in the upper right corner. 

I honestly believe the price for the ticket ---- Chicago to Dublin, Dublin to Venice, and Venice to Chicago will NOT go down in price.  I think the best you will ever get that ticket for is $1,100 to $1,200. 

And you won't see much cheaper prices on the ticket --- Chicago to Dublin round trip than $650 to $730.  Right now the flight times on the $650 tickets on Air Canada are not very good.  For $729 you can get direct flights on United.  If you do fly round trip from Chicago to Dublin then you will need to purchase the round trip Dublin to Venice on Aer Lingus for around $300.  That includes a checked bag of 33 pounds. 

Either option is similar in price - it just depends if you want another night in Dublin or you want to fly home from Venice. 

If you want to extra night in Dublin the Aer Lingus flight arrives at 1:30pm so you could get an airport hotel - check in and then take a bus to the city for the evening. 

One thing I do ask - when you purchase your ticket please let me know the flight times.  I need to know when everyone is arriving Dublin.  On Monday June 6th we have to vacate the apartments by 10:00am. 

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST - WE WILL BE IN IRELAND 5 MONTHS FROM TODAY!!