=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2003/08= /31/TR233001.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, August 31, 2003 (SF Chronicle) Transatlantic fares will continue downward spiral Arthur Frommer Although the recent spate of amazingly low airfares to London have expired, they bode well for things to come. Transatlantic airfares to London recently fell to $206, round trip, from the East Coast of the United States, and about $200 more from the West Coast. Virgin Atlantic Airways offered that rate for travelers booking over the Internet (www.virgin-atlantic.com) by mid-August for November departures. For departures in September and October, British Airways recently cut the price for a short time to $318 round-trip from New York, again provided that you booked on the airline's Web site (www.britishairways.com) and again by mid- August. Although those miracle fares are gone, count on seeing similar rates aga= in soon. For decades, the airlines have offered their best prices for the late fall and winter not in August, but during the autumn months, usually starting in October. How can you be assured of learning about such sales? First, through the newspaper; fall and winter transatlantic bargains are heavily advertised. Second, through my site, www.budgettravel.msnbc.com, which covers the airfare wars in our daily electronic newsletter ("Budget Travel Today"). And third, you can usually snare the cheapest transatlantic airfares to every European destination by simply phoning the major airfare consolidators (discounters), of which there are many. I've consistently heard good things about the following companies in terms of their offering the best airfare rates to the places in which they specialize: -- To London or Dublin. New York's Ireland U.K. Consolidated, (800) 577- 2900, which might require you contact it through a travel agent (to whom it pays a commission). -- To Paris or the Riviera. California's Air Travel Network, (888) 346-5795 or www.airtravel.net. -- To Germany or Russia. Mill-Run Travel (800) 645-5786 or www.millrun.com. -- To Athens, Greece or Istanbul, Turkey. Massachusetts-based Metro Tour= s, (800) 221-2810, (978) 535-4000 or www.metrotours.com. -- To Scandinavia. Virginia's Scantravel, (800) 283-5023. -- To Poland; Prague, Czech Republic; or Berlin. New York's Varsovia Agency, (212) 529-3256 or www.varsovia.com. -- To Italy. Portland, Maine's Destination Europe, (800) 359-3876, (207) 842-2000 or www.autoeurope.com. Finally, package rates (one total price for round-trip airfare and six nights' hotel accommodations) for October, November and later have been announced by three major Internet tour operators -- Go-Today.com, Offpeaktraveler.com and Virgin-Vacations.com. From all three, and using London as the yardstick example, the price for New York or Boston departures is $429 to $459 per person in October, $399 in November and the first half of December and then only $349 from Jan. 12 to Feb. 23 of 2004. The surcharge for departures from San Francisco, Los Angeles or Seattle is $180 to $200. These packages include midweek round-trip airfare, accommodations with continental breakfast daily at a modest hotel for six nights, and all hotel taxes and service charges. You must book over the Internet, using the company names above for the Web site addresses. Package rates in November and beyond to such destinations as Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the Baltic capitals, Athens and Italy also will be among the lowest in recent travel history. There has never been a better time to plan that long-delayed trip to Europe.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 SF Chronicle