You could brag and tell your friends and colleagues that you're going to London this spring for $145 round-trip, but that would be a half-truth (actually a quarter-truth).
There's a strange sale running at the moment that slashes to bits the enormously high airfares that were offered throughout 2010 to Europe and the Middle East.
Check out these round-trip sale rates. Some of the included sale destinations have never been priced so affordably. As well, some of the destinations are rarely included in any type of sale.
Round-trip from Atlanta:
$145 London, England
$170 Amsterdam, Netherlands; Athens, Greece; Barcelona or Madrid, Spain; Belfast, N. Ireland; Brussels, Belgium; Bucharest, Romania; Copenhagen, Denmark; Dublin, Ireland; Frankfurt, Germany; Krakow or Warsaw, Poland; Larnaca, Cyprus; Malta; Manchester, England; Moscow or St. Petersburg, Russia; Naples, Rome or Venice, Italy; Nice or Paris, France; Oslo, Norway; Prague, Czech Republic; Stockholm, Sweden; Vienna, Austria or Zurich, Switzerland
$210 Palma, Majorca
$437 Beiruit, Lebanon
$495 Riyadh or Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
$500 Tel Aviv
As to the qualifying rules, give at least a one-week advance notice of travel. Plan to depart on or before April 12.
Rates are $25 higher each way for weekend travel. Some participating carriers permit stays beyond one month.
You will find that code-sharing United Airlines/Lufthansa serve most of the sale destinations. However, Air Canada, Continental and USAirways are participants to select destinations.
The bad news? Taxes, fees and surcharges are not included in the above rates. That's where the quarter-truth comes in. The actual airfare part of your ticket is just about 25 percent of the final tally.
For example, the total ticket rates to London are $590.40; $655 to Moscow; $660 Prague; $671.20 Malta; $807 Athens and $884.20 to Beirut.
As dismal as this story turned out, consider the bright side. This sale is actually one of the best that has come around in several months. The deal will prove particularly good if you can travel overseas during the lovely spring season. Normally winter rates are valid only through March.
Buy tickets through January 10.
Sale airfares are always subject to change. Every seat on every flight is not offered at the lowest rate. Since only a limited supply of seats is available, act quickly to make your purchase. I recommend starting the search for available seats at Kayak.com vs. calling an airline directly. You can also search for the sale at travel Web sites such as Expedia or Travelocity, etc.
One Web search site that is comprehensive for international travel is ItaSoftware.com. It takes a few minutes to work through the first page, but hang with it -- the results are vast.
Clara Bosonetto is a retired travel consultant.
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