Air Fares to MUC

Just happened to check air fares to Munich and they seem almost prohibitive if you are looking to do an ED with family, even as late as Sep/Oct. Thought?

I'm in a similiar boat, was considering European Delivery late this summer but decided to push it back 6-9 months due to travel costs.

It is an expensive time to travel, a lot of Europe is on vacation in August. In September you are contending with Octoberfest. You may do better in October - use kayak to search prices for entire months.

It's historically been a lot cheaper in the colder months. A lot of people have an aversion to doing ED (or Europe in general) during the winter time, I think it'd be a beautiful place to visit during the holiday period. I found airfare affordable in March-April, although still a little cold in Munich that time of the year. Not a problem if you pack a light jacket or are heading south.

You may also want to look into flying into some nearby airports, particularly Frankfurt. Frankfurt has a lot more direct connections into the United States, and the flights generally tend to be cheaper. Ensure to include the cost of a one-way car rental or train tickets into your calculations. In addition, you may have luck flying into another major European city and then using a low-cost airline such as RyanAir to get to Munich.

Good Luck!

Connecting through Zurich and Amsterdam are also possibilities. With AMS you can take a shuttle flight to Munich and then drive back to Amsterdam.

Zurich is close enough that you can take the train. Train is 4 hours if you take the fast one. There are also flights to MUC. Again you could fly into Zurich connect to Munich and then drive back to Zurich.

As others have said, it is very easy to fly into other airports in Europe and take the train or a low cost carrier into Munich. With a family, it does add some hassle, but the train from Frankfurt airport to Munich is fast and easy to connect to. Also, prices may be cheaper to fly into less travelled airports, like Stuttgart, where I know Delta flies to. Again, it is very easy to connect by train to Munich from Stuttgart.

My spouse is an airline employee, so we are able to fly free on standby travel. For my ED last month, flights on my spouse's airline were pretty full into Munich, so we had to find alternative options to get there. We ended up flying into CDG and then took an hour flight into Munich. We also dropped off our car in Munich and flew to Berlin for less than 100 euros for the both of us. The intra-European airfares can be considerably cheaper if you book in advance. While searching for alternative options, there were a lot of cheap flights from British airports like Gatwick and Heathrow, as well as Manchester to Munich. Of course, airfare to the UK will probably be expensive until after the Olympics are over. Just try to be flexible and pack as lightly as you can with a family.

Originally Posted by gator15

there were a lot of cheap flights from British airports like Gatwick and Heathrow, as well as Manchester to Munich. Of course, airfare to the UK will probably be expensive until after the Olympics are over.

When I checked a few weeks ago flights from Manchester to Munich or Zurich were very reasonable. Possibly people are avoiding traveling to the UK during the olympics.

based upon my research, flights from Detroit to just about any major destination in Europe are prohibitively high.

Mucho dinero.

It makes the exchange rate not even worth it, good article in USA Today travel section about this...



Higher trans-Atlantic airfares are a deterrent, as airlines cope with fuel costs and trim flights. Travel search site Kayak.com says U.S.-European fares are up 11% over last summer. Kayak users are looking less for summer flights to European cities and more for those to U.S. destinations than last year, says spokeswoman Maria Katime.

Marian Marbury, president of Adventures in Good Company, says interest in its Europe trips is down. "More than one person" backed away after seeing a $1,200-plus airfare, she says.

European summer airfares "are at a 10-year high," says Brian Ek, spokesman for the Priceline travel site. Summer hotel rates haven't fallen notably yet, he says, even in countries in dire straits such as Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Political and economic unrest in Greece, however, are causing a drop in prices and tourism. Booking.com says the best prices are in Southern and Eastern Europe.

Originally Posted by devla

Just happened to check air fares to Munich and they seem almost prohibitive if you are looking to do an ED with family, even as late as Sep/Oct. Thought?

"So... you're saying there's a chance?" lol (Jim Kerry)

At some point you will have just to bite the bullet or simply give up

Airfares are cheaper today than they were in the early 90's, inflation ajusted.
I dont foresee this recent upward trend reversing for a long, long time or ever as prices
try to catch up with inflation and airlines costs.

Just go for it and never look back.

Originally Posted by odiesback

"So... you're saying there's a chance?" lol (Jim Kerry)

At some point you will have just to bite the bullet or simply give up

Agreed. I wanted to get a sense of what's others are doing. From all that I've read here, it's a unique experience sweetened by the savings of ED pricing. But the high prices more than negate the savings, at least for now.

I may end up pushing it out to the winter months but the drawback is the mountain passes will be closed. So, I know I can't have it all. We shall see.

I found tickets to Berlin from Miami for $775 yesterday. I know its not Munich but I guess there is more demand for Munich.

Sent from a HTC EVO

Having flown out to Munich on Lufthansa and back from Zurich on Swissair last week I'd pick Lufthansa even if it cost more.

Fortunately I have gazillion miles and fly "free".

I also usually wait for a sale around Thanksgiving for a paid trip to somewhere in Europe. Last three years I took long weekends to Copenhagen, Berlin and Lisbon/Madrid for about 50% of the normal Business Class price. If you want a short trip, it is usually an exceptional deal since train or LCC intra Europe are cheap if you want to go somewhere other than where the original flight goes. I hope the same deals show up this year.

Cheers

Just got an email on a sale to LHR from various Gateways in the USA. LCC LHR-MUC are pretty cheap.

RT Fares are $2400-$3200 depending on departure city. Good Departing 16 Jul - 18 Aug and return by 18 Nov. Book by 15 Jun.

Pretty good deal if you want to go Biz Class.

Cheers

By Elissa Leibowitz Poma, IndependentTraveler.com

First, the bad news: We're looking at yet another summer of very pricey flights to Europe. The good news? Relatively reasonable rates are available for travelers willing to take the time to seek them out.
Airfare has increased about 10 percent since last summer, which was already one of the most expensive seasons in the past decade to fly to the Continent. Fewer departures and higher fuel costs are to blame, experts say.

"Since ample numbers of travelers are buying transatlantic airfares at these higher rates and seat inventory still is limited, the airlines feel no need to run any sales to attract more buyers," says Ann Lombardi, a travel consultant with The Trip Chicks in Atlanta.
Still, with just a little legwork and research, you could save several hundred dollars on the price of a ticket. In addition to the following tips, the best advice we can offer is this: If an airline does happen to cut prices or offer a discount this summer, don't sit on it and wait for an even better fare. Whip your credit card out of your wallet and grab that deal. Given the way prices are looking this summer, periodic discounts won't last long.

1. Travel in late summer
Right now, trends seem to indicate that flights from the United States to Europe are cheapest in August (the later the date, the better). For instance, trips from the East Coast to Amsterdam are around $1,200 in June and July, with a brief dip in mid-July, and then hover around $1,000 in August. This is according to Bing Travel, which has a cool set of monitoring tools and airfare predictors to look at rates.
Found a price below $1,000? Grab it fast! We doubt you'll see it go much lower.

2. Be super flexible
Unless there's a specific and unchangeable reason why you have to be in Europe on a certain day, be flexible on your travel dates. Use a flight search site such as Kayak or TripAdvisor Flights and select the "flexible travel dates" option. For example: When I searched for a flight from D.C.'s Dulles International Airport to Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris during the first two weeks of July, the difference between the lowest and highest prices was $232.
However, keep in mind the additional costs that may come along with an earlier departure or later return. Will you have to pay for additional hotel nights and meals, for example? Do the math to determine if leaving earlier or returning later would be worth it -- or if an earlier-than-planned return home would save you even more money.

3. Fly on a weekday
For the aforementioned Washington-to-Paris flight, the lowest-priced flight was on a Wednesday. Mid-week flights tend to be cheaper across the board. Aim for Tuesday or Wednesday departures and returns.

4. Fly to a gateway city
This rings especially true if you're planning to go to central or eastern Europe -- flying to western European cities tends to be much cheaper, and then you can connect with flights on one of dozens of European discount airlines. (Learn more about international discount airlines.)
London especially is one of the most affordable hubs in Europe, with a plethora of no-frills airlines -- easyJet and Ryanair among the longest-running, most popular and best priced. Frankfurt and Amsterdam are two others.
Let's say you're planning to spend a week in Germany. Flights from Boston to Berlin in mid-June are priced at $1,207 including taxes and fees, but flying from Boston to London is only $980. Using Skyscanner.net -- the best Web site to aggregate flights on Europe's discount airlines -- we turned up a rate of $78 roundtrip for Ryanair flights between London and Berlin (and that's expensive for Ryanair; we've seen rates as low as 20 bucks!).
Of course, there are a few caveats. Flights from the United States usually land at London's Heathrow International Airport, while Ryanair flies out of Stansted Airport 65 miles away -- so you'll have to connect via shuttle bus and plan on extra travel time. And the budget airlines tend to have much stricter luggage weight limits and smaller maximum sizes for carry-on bags than the big airlines.

5. Consider nearby departure airports
As in the tip above, maybe it's worthwhile to consider other airports besides the one closest to your house. Could you save a few hundred dollars by driving to Chicago for your departure instead of flying out of Milwaukee?

6. Book through a specialty provider
If a business focuses solely on booking flights to Europe, you can bet they're working hard to line up inexpensive flights and land your business. One we like a lot is California-based Europebyair.com, which has partnerships with about a dozen airlines serving Europe and thus can broker discounted deals.
Even if you don't book your international flight through an outlet such as Europebyair.com, its Web site is definitely worth checking out for discounted flights within Europe. When we last checked, the company was offering $120 one-way flights between London and Athens.

7. Sign up for special alerts
You probably already receive the weekly e-mail blasts and special offers that airlines send out, but don't expect miracles from them; so many people receive them that it can be hard to nab a deal when it's available. Better yet is to track your desired flight paths through sites like FareCompare.com or MyAirDeals.com.

8. Follow Twitter feeds
Things change at a moment's notice in the fast-paced, algorithmically driven business of determining airfare, and Twitter is a good place to keep up with it. A few feeds we've been following lately to monitor airfare include: @airfarewatchdog, @dealsonairfare, @traveldeals, @farecomparedeal and @myairdeals. (Don't forget to follow IndependentTraveler.com on Twitter too!)
The operators of some Twitter feeds, like @airfarewatchdog, will even answer your specific travel questions, including suggesting routes and confirming if you've really found a good deal.

9. Buy a package deal
During past summers, you could cobble together a do-it-yourself package deal by finding well-priced flights and matching them up with reasonable hotel and local transport options. This summer, because of the high price of airline tickets, tour operator-offered package deals are a better way to go. This is especially true if you plan to fly into and out of different cities.
For example, a six-night trip to Italy, including New York-to-Rome and Venice-to-New York flights, six nights' hotel, breakfast, train fare between cities and hotel taxes, starts at $1,369 per person through EuropeanDestinations.com. The flight alone costs $1,200 on Expedia; certainly six nights' worth of hotel accommodations alone will cost you more than $169.

A few weeks ago I was seeing LAX to MUC in the $1200-$1300 range. However, just yesterday we were able to snag $811 on Delta, leaving Santa Ana and returning from Nice to LAX. So, rather than RT to MUC try some of the other drop off cities and try nearby airports (as SNA is to LAX).