When (and how much) do trans-atlantic fares jump in Spring?

I come to the UK for Christmas every year. I know that the roundtrip fare booked on, say, the Wednesday before Christmas might be $500 and the Thursday before $1500. There's a similar (but much smaller) jump up before Summer hols and again after. I don't usually get to make a trip in Spring, but as we are currently plotting world domination planning my move, I'm hoping to spend a couple weeks in May/June.

Can anybody tell me roughly when the fares jump? Is it a sudden, acute jump like at Christmas, or something more gradual? Is it a huge difference?

MeShell is our travel agent, she'd prolly know!

I think it's a much smaller jump during May/June, though June is more that is for sure.  However, it's really July where the prices go up significantly. (Though nowhere near as much as at Christmas)

I don't usually get to make a trip in Spring, but as we are currently plotting world domination planning my move, I'm hoping to spend a couple weeks in May/June.

Awesome...

lol!! plotting world domina..er I mean traveling on a budget...I love it!!

just think how far Mr. Goldfinger could have gone if Ebay was around .....eh?


I agree with what was stated earlier ...Meshel is our travel guru..give her a shout out

USUALLY a week before any major holiday the prices will go up..how much is up to the airline..comin from the US I would say in the summer time the fares would jump up around the 1st of May and then go back down around the middles of September cause that is when all the kids are out of school and most ppl book holidays....


AND it is all down to availability.......there are several classes of economy and when the cheapest of the cheap sells..then the prices start to rise...the also parcel out seats to consolidators so that is why you might find a cheap seat with one consolidator and not with another..they haven't sold their supply off yet...

hope this helps!

hope this helps!

Yes it does, thank you. I assume a consolidator is, like, Orbitz or OneTravel or other travel agency.

yes they are consolidators..operators..

yes they are consolidators..operators..

MeShell are the online consolidators just as good as the ones you find in the back of the sunday travel section in the papers?  For some reason I thought that if you wanted to get really cheap fares (like Chicago to Bombay) you would never find them online and needed to call a consolidator...but maybe that's changed now?

we use consolidators online all the time.........but if I am doing something complicated I call them as well.

We never book direct with the airlines if we can't help it.

I bet the the ones in the back of the paper would be the same as some online...


1 company may have several divisions...we use octopus travel to book hotel rooms..but they have another site called needahotel and they have the same hotels but cheaper... so why use octopus..i guess if you don't know about the other sites you will book with the first one you see poss.

I hope some of you actually use MeShell as your travel agent, I have she is great.

I hope some of you actually use MeShell as your travel agent, I have she is great.

Aww thanks Stacey!

I love Travel!

Aww thanks Stacey!

I love Travel!

Anytime, it's the truth!  I love it too!  Which is why I do it so often.

we use consolidators online all the time.........but if I am doing something complicated I call them as well.

We never book direct with the airlines if we can't help it.

That's interesting. I usually use a service like Orbitz to find out who has a cheap flight in a good time slot, then go directly to the airline to book it. I've found it consistently cheaper that way.

What am I missing? Is there some super-secret travel agent button you hit for the deep discount?

the only thing I can tell you is book as far in advance as possible...and be as flexible as possible........