Travel Hack
Looking for the cheapest possible way you can fly from Denver to Frankfurt or Cologne. Icelandair is fairly inexpensive but was hoping someone knew of a cheaper way. Thanks!
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If during the summer - no
if the rest of the year - setup an alert on Google Flights
It’s going to be hard this summer because the Olympics is in Paris and hordes of people will be booking cities all over Europe for this, not just cities in France. Plus, it’s summer, which is a high demand season.
Google Flight alerts or use miles if you have any.
I thought I knew some good hacks, but they’re not working. Flight prices are astronomical now to EU at least. And I’m going in October, shoulder season. 🙄
A LOT more people are traveling this year. I went to the UK last April and this April. Last year, both of my flights were half empty. This year, both were overbooked with people on standby.
Have you looked into using points and miles? With some strategic credit card sign-up bonuses, we've taken our family of four to Europe every summer for the past 6 years (except 2020) for less than $100 each/ RT (taxes and fees). Traveling with points and miles isn't free, but it makes it so much cheaper to travel. It does take a little work and organization and it's not for everyone, but it's really helped us to afford some memorable trips.
If you wanted to employ points and miles to book travel for summer 2024, the time to start strategizing was 2021, and the time to book was last September.
You definitely need to plan ahead, but not three years, maybe one year. Could even do it in six months, but you're right - it's not a last minute strategy. The OP doesn't give a timeframe for the trip though.
Google flights
Fly to Dublin and then connect on Ryanair?
I typically book the Denver to the UK direct flight and then find cheap flights from the UK to my destination. My airfare last month to Italy was under $2k and I flew premium economy for the long haul to LHR. Check United, BA and AA and there should be something not too terrible.
This is good advice.
I was going to suggest getting a Frontier flight to an airport that Condor flies out of, and getting a Condor direct. Two tickets though, so there’s some risk.
Ended up doing this and found a cheap mid week flight to London and an Easyjet flight to Cologne! Thank you so much
Glad it worked out! You’re welcome!
I think OP asked about cheap flights. 🙂
I guess I don’t understand what cheap is when it comes to flying to Europe? I’ve flown to England and Ireland for under $1k RT before, but that was economy. When a long haul flight here can cost $500+, I consider that to be cheap. If I wouldn’t have flown premium economy I would have been slightly over $1000 for my air travel round trip to Italy. I just chose to spend more to be comfortable on a 9 hour flight 🤷🏼♀️
He/she asked for "cheapest possible", and is considering Icelandair (almost certainly flights on a narrowbody) so comfort is probably a secondary matter, and he is ok with economy. I fly transatlantic twice a year and target fares under $1k in regular economy. The most I ever paid was $1300 for a MIA-FRA-POZ RT in July. OP did not specify a date which is a huge factor: in October or February I can find tix for under $700 easily. For me, and I guess for many people, $2k for a ticket is too much. But that naturally depends on how wealthy one is.
Completely agree! No one knows what one’s budget is and I have only traveled during shoulder season so without knowing season or budget it’s hard to give too much advice!
I should have specified a date range! Was looking at January 2025
Google flights or similar, choose departion airport, view map and find the cheapest cities. The only hack is to search all day every day, be vigilant and jump on a deal immediately if you find one. There really is no surefire way to find cheap flights, it's work and luck.
In my opinion, what it might make sense is flying to Amsterdam and the take a train to Cologne. You have flight to Amsterdam under 600€: https://www.trabber.us/DEN/AMS/
You can find train or a bus to Cologne for 60€, if that is your final destination. Check in Omio