Crazy prices for flights to the USA in July!?!

Just wondering if anyone is sharing the pain of booking flights for the summer?!  The best price we have found so far for the dates we need is £728 each.  Which is painful.  We're used to paying that for both of our tickets! Then I started the booking process and found out that if you want to use a credit card (of course I do since it is going to cost nearly £1500) it costs an extra £21.71!!!  Ouch!!!

Maybe this is just the going rate- I must admit the last time we went home it was for Thanksgiving and my husband got his ticket using airmiles so it didn't seem so bad!

Any tips (or just some sympathy) would be appreciated! I have alerts set up on kayak.

It's pretty rare for me to go back to the US, but I am going this summer. When I started looking at fares, it seemed there was a HUGE jump at the end of June. So I booked my trip for just before that. I suppose it's because of school holidays? Not really sure, but I definitely noticed that things changed drastically around the 25th of June.

We just booked ours to Cali, at the end of May- it was about 450 per person.. Not horrible, but still a sticker shock.

Thanks, guys! I wish our dates were a bit more flexible but we have to be in the UK for a Christening the first weekend in July, and have to be at a wedding in NYC on July 22nd.  My mom works in a school so she's off in the summer, and my little nephew will be out of school, etc.  It just makes sense to go then. I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and pay. 

I noticed that ebookers has a price guarantee, so if the price drops for some reason, you can put in a claim.  I'll keep an eye on it. . . of course, I have to get over the £21 before I'm actually ready to book! Plus we want it to go on next month's credit card bills- I just hope the prices don't go UP anymore!

Just a quick update to say that I found tickets which seemed much more reasonable (about £1200 instead of almost £1500) on www.vayama.co.uk (one of the sites that popped up through www.kayak.co.uk).  We're flying in and out of Edinburgh instead of Newcastle, but it will save us £300!  Thanks for the replies! 

Fantastic kowalsks! I'm trying to book a return flight from LON to DFW and can't find anything before 500GBP  I can't help but remember last year when I could find a return flight DIRECT BOTH WAYS, IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER for about $600 

Fantastic kowalsks! I'm trying to book a return flight from LON to DFW and can't find anything before 500GBP   I can't help but remember last year when I could find a return flight DIRECT BOTH WAYS, IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER for about $600  

Mine's a direct flight for under £500 but, as I said, it's just before school holiday time. That one little week seems to make all the difference.

Just a quick update to say that I found tickets which seemed much more reasonable (about £1200 instead of almost £1500) on www.vayama.co.uk (one of the sites that popped up through www.kayak.co.uk).  We're flying in and out of Edinburgh instead of Newcastle, but it will save us £300!  Thanks for the replies! 

I have thought about this but then the cost of train tickets for 2 or 4 of us out weighs the savings and pain the butt work to do it especially if an early AM flight

I hear you, chillywilly.  We're looking into our options of getting to Edinburgh- most likely we're going to drive.  Leaving the car looks like it will cost about £80, which isn't too bad (still better than paying to fly from Newcastle and probably cheaper than the train).  We're also looking into hotels that might include the parking costs with a one night stay so we can drive up the night before the flight.  I do dread the drive back after the overnight flight!

Good luck finding good prices rynn_aka_rae! Hope you find something!

This seems to be the norm during the summer!

I just got an e-mail from Continental advertising "Low Fares for Europe".  The lowest is $890 return (before taxes/fees/etc.), from Newark NJ to Edinburgh, Manchester, or Heathrow and it's actually MORE expensive to go to Dublin from EWR at $966.  Is this a joke?!  Dublin is almost always cheaper, and significantly so. 

I understand that it's for the summer and the rates are higher, but who on Earth would advertise that as "Low Fares" when leaving from Newark?  If this were Texas or LA I would think differently, but it's Newark!  I've never spent more than $600 before taxes to leave from Newark, ever.  My average is probably around $500-$550.  I know it's not unreasonable to expect it to be high, but it's unreasonable to sell it as "low".  That's probably the highest price all year!

Okay, just had to have a bit of a rant about that.   

Just a quick update to say that I found tickets which seemed much more reasonable (about £1200 instead of almost £1500) on www.vayama.co.uk (one of the sites that popped up through www.kayak.co.uk).  We're flying in and out of Edinburgh instead of Newcastle, but it will save us £300!  Thanks for the replies! 

I just booked flights to the US on vayama (literally about 2 minutes ago) - leaving on June 24th, the cheapest I could find was £611 (well, actually I did find £599 on a different site, but then it would have been a £12 credit card fee too, and the £611 flight got in at a better time). I'd wanted to fly on June 25th, but it was going to be about £720 instead  !

I'd wanted to fly on June 25th, but it was going to be about £720 instead  !

I'd wanted to go a bit later too, but wound up booking on 24 June for the same reason. Mine's £475.

I'd wanted to go a bit later too, but wound up booking on 24 June for the same reason. Mine's £475.

Yeah, mine would have been cheaper if I'd booked last month, but I didn't find out for sure that it was okay to go on the dates I wanted until today (I'm visiting relatives, so I needed to check they could have me to stay!). Also, as I'm going to Arkansas, it's generally more expensive to fly there from the UK than to other US cities, due to the fact that it's not a very popular route .

If this were Texas or LA I would think differently, but it's Newark!  I've never spent more than $600 before taxes to leave from Newark, ever.  My average is probably around $500-$550.  I know it's not unreasonable to expect it to be high, but it's unreasonable to sell it as "low".  That's probably the highest price all year!

Okay, just had to have a bit of a rant about that.   

After IcelandAir cancelled my flight 2 weeks prior to departure, I managed to get a last minute flight out of Newark still under $600 which returned over Christmas.

I've just stumbled on this thread, and am now trying to go back to the NJ/PHL area for July....and prices are extortionate! I just found out that my baby brother is leaving for the military in the beginning of August.  He's planned a 2 week tour of the east coast to visit various family and friends beforehand..I'm now trying to get in on the action from 22-25 July. But the chance to see him before he goes off to *war* means more than the super-duper-high-pricetag, right??

I've never tried, but is it possible to book flights through US websites for travel originating in the UK? I suspect it might be cheaper that way? I'm intending to pay through my US bank account anyway..

Off to check my frequent flyer miles..