Round Trip International Flights From Boston For $200 or Less? (home, to buy)

[Japanfan1986]

Has anyone snagged any of these? If so where to?

I’d really like a chance to get out of the country one more time this year, most likely in December. I’ve gotten cheap flights to Paris and Cancun before. I know Ireland and Iceland may also be possible, but I’m holding off on trips to those two places for more extensive travels.

Are there any other possibilities?

I think I’d be limited to South America, the Caribbean, and Europe and even then options are scarce. But I’d love to be surprised

[brainbree]

https://www.google.com/flights#flt=/...1569746126;t:e

[htfdcolt]

I don't know for a fact, but one of my colleagues at work today was talking about Norwegian Air <$200 to Dublin out of TF Green.

[lrfox]

Not only have I snagged one, most of my leisure travel depends on these stupid low fares or (or using miles).

It's pretty easy to find them, and I use google flights almost exclusively. https://www.google.com/flights#flt=/...ls:1w;sd:0;t:h

If you're open to destinations, just scroll around the map (only available on desktop/laptop) and see where the lowest fares are. I've done a long weekend in Grand Cayman (a place that wasn't on my radar) for $130 round trip (JetBlue) this way. If you have a specific destination in mind, put it in the search field and browse the flexible date calendar. You'll find the lowest fares available between the two destinations that way. Also be creative with your routing. For example, if you want to go to Amsterdam, you can often find flights more than $100 less into Brussels. A cheap bus or train can get you from Brussels to Amsterdam and save you a chunk of change. Domestically, if I'm going to Nashville for fun, I'll often fly to Atlanta and drive. I need a car anyway and often times the difference in fares can be $250+ per person. If there's time, I'll drive the 3.5 hours.

If you want to get really creative, try Skiplagged. This hidden city method of travel has flaws, but it can save you a fortune if your smart. Basically, it exposes pricing loopholes with connecting cities that enable you to get flights cheaper. For example, airlines will often times price a connecting flight through a hub city cheaper than a direct flight to that hub city. Actual example: Boston to Lisbon can often be found for $400 or so one way on TAP. However, you can fly Boston to Madrid for $180ish on TAP with a connection in Lisbon. So if you book one way from Boston to Madrid and just don't board the Lisbon-Madrid leg, you've shaved more than half the cost off of your flight. You can do something similar for the return. I've done this. There are a few risks and caveats. For starters, you have to book one way segments. If you try this with a round trip, the remainder your entire itinerary (so the entire return) will be canceled leaving you stranded. Second, you cannot check bags, as they'll continue on to your final ticketed destination. You can get screwed if you have to gate check due to full overhead bins (though this generally isn't an issue on international flights). Trying this in regions where visas are required is extremely risky. Finally, airlines are also trying to fight back on this one. A few have tried to sue customers (they've all lost - it's not illegal). So there are risks involved.

A few other notes about low cost carriers like Norwegian:

• These flights are the best value if you're traveling light with low expectations.
• Make sure you have a full grasp of what your ticket includes. Most of the time the ultra low fare only includes a ticket. Choosing seats, carry on bags, checked bags, food, water, etc. are all extra and those things add up. Often times it's cheaper to fly a legacy carrier like British Airways, Delta, Virgin, etc. by the time all of those things are tallied up.
• If you don't pay in advance for things like checked bags and you show up at the airport with a bag to check, it'll cost a LOT more than the price you'd pay if you purchased at the time of booking. If it's $35 for a checked back one way online at the time of booking, it can be $100+ at the airport on the day of departure. Plan ahead and buy in advance.
• Check how often they fly between your destination and home city. Some low cost carriers like Level only fly 2-3 days per week and operate with a small fleet. If there's a cancellation, you may be stuck for days before the next flight out whereas a major carrier generally flies more frequently and can get you home sooner between flights on partner airlines and various connecting points.
• Keep tabs on news about the airline's financial status. Not a joke. In February, I booked a ticket on WOW for $150 round trip between Boston and Reykjavik for a late March trip. A friend booked the same fare for a trip in May. I knew the airline was in financial trouble, so I didn't want to wait for the airline to collapse. Sure enough, 2 days after we arrived home from our trip, WOW air ceased operations. We were on the second to last flight in to Boston. My friend is still waiting for his refund (and probably won't get it). Many of the low cost carriers will release almost impossibly low fares in order to get people to buy up tickets for future travel. The strategy is to get a quick cash infusion to keep operations going. Both Primera and Wow did this. There's rumblings that Norwegian is doing this too, and they're cutting their route network back. So be careful.

[in_newengland]

^^^^Good advice. We flew Norwegian last time and it was fine, Boston to Manchester UK. But they've stopped their flights from Bradley in CT now. Cutting back. What will they cut next? Hubby is now thinking British Airways. They're all getting nasty about charging for checked bags so be careful.