Vienna - Best time to buy airline tickets

[cyyz]

Okay, I want to go to Vienna for Summer in July.

Should I buy the tickets today, of expedia? Alitalia for 1k ranging upto 3k for lufthansa....

Or should I wait til june(a month) or even july and buy them a week/day before the flight???

Thanks

PS. Anyone ridden Alitalia? They've got the lowest rates according to expedia and travelocity for about $1000.

[clearmyside]

worst airline i have ever flown with. that was a long time ago, but if you follow them in the media they are just as shitty as they were back then.

crappy old airplanes, poor service (by that i mean a lot worse than any american or canadian airline)and very dirty aircraft. they are government funded and can't get it together.

by the way they damaged my back then brand new luggage and of course took no responsibility.

[Big Pratt]

Alitalia eh? Isn't that the one with hair under the wing roots?

[fingersmac]

How about Air Canada? I don't know what dates you're looking for but a quick search showed about $1250+ return. Some of the Transatlantic legs are code-share with Lufthansa and even a few of the AC Transatlantic flights are on their new B777s!

[Expat]

When my wife flies to Europe to meet me, she normally gets the best prices with Zoom Airlines.
Alitalia is on the verge of bankrupty...

[Speedbird Junior]

You have nothing to gain by delaying your ticket purchase. Buying earlier will get you a better price.

FYI, BA will do it for $1671 return from YYZ to VIE in July for a 21 day stay all inclusive (just having done a quick search on their site) Alitalia would no doubt connect through FCU (Roma Fumicino) so the down time between there and LHR is negligible.

And besides, do you want a pint of beer at LHR on your stopover or a slighlty effeminate looking glass of piss at Roma Fumicino while awaiting your Vienna flight?

[bmc]

If you're going over LHR, shoot for a minimum 3 hour connection. Delays, weather, security have challenged connecting baggage since August.

Expedia, ebookers, travelocity are good websites for booking. I'd also look at combining journeys. Look at Zoom into London, then taking Ryanair, Easyjet or any of the other 60 odd low cost carriers in Europe.

http://www.gooflight.com is a great low cost search engine that scans multiple low cost websites to find you the cheapest flights.

Booking sooner rather than later often gets you cheaper flights. That said, I have seen unsold seats dumped on the market two weeks out on the web sellers, so you can sometimes pull it off. We had a funeral in YVR and had to buy tickets from Geneva on very short notice and got their for CAD1,500 each which is very reasonable for a last minute purchase.

[Mig29]

why not try Austrian Airlines direct to VIE??? I mean you are going to Austria, and they have a very good service, good punctuality and they have sometimes promotions for $699+tax including 2 night stay in VIE!! I know you are going to be dreaming about something like this in July, but its worth checking their site. (I just did a small seach on there and you get around $1200 for a return ticket in June...)

http://www.aua.com

Good luck!

[cyyz]

sometimes promotions for $699+tax including 2 night stay in VIE!!

get around $1200 for a return ticket in June...)

Thanks everyone, so basically, buy them now, don't chance and wait for the seat dumping sales where I could get a sale for $700, or possibly not get a sale, pay more or even worse miss all the flights... Okay..

Alitalia, so just stay away and stop being cheap and spend the extra $$$ and just fly with anyone and anything but Alitalia.

Will do..

And thanks for the thoughts of hitting England and taking LCC from there.

[bmc]

Alitalia is fine. They're safe. Economy class is so so. I haven't flown Austrian's economy class but I did fly their business class from Bangkok to Vienna in September on an old A340 and it was very average.

Go with the best price where ever you can get it.

[Redwine]

Have you been on a clapped out AC 767 lately? IMO there is not much is difference between Alitalia and AC...

[bmc]

I haven't fly on AC in about three years. It was back of the bus on the way to YVR for that funeral. Return was on Lufthansa. To be fair, AC was more comfortable than LH. Service was fine. LH has prettier biscuit shooters though.