Most travelers set aside $1,000 apiece or more. Don’t let that be you this year: You can cross the pond for half that sum (or even less) this year … even over the summer.
For months, we’ve been telling travelers that flight prices to Europe were dropping to record lows … and that these prices are too good to last. Yet every time we think airfare to Europe can’t possibly get any cheaper, the airlines prove us wrong.
Sub-$500 transatlantic flight deals are so 2024: We’re seeing nonstop flights to Dublin (DUB) or Barcelona (BCN) for under $300 roundtrip later this year. Flights all the way to Italy or even Greece are routinely dipping below $400 total. Delta SkyMiles flash sales can get you to Europe and back for less than 30,000 miles. And if you want a lie-flat seat across the pond this summer, we’re finding more points deals to book business class than we have in years – maybe ever.
We search for flight deals to Europe every single day for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members, and we have been for years. So trust us when we say that what we’re seeing right now is special – the flight deals to Europe are cheaper and more frequent than we’ve seen in years.
Check out just how cheap it can get.
No Layovers: Nonstop to Europe from $281 RT!
It’s possible, ya’ll. Flights to Europe and back really can get this cheap.
Getting to Dublin and back for under $300 is a bargain for any airline. But flying nonstop? From notoriously pricey Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP)? That’s one of the best deals of the year.
But Dublin isn’t alone in benefitting from sub-$300 roundtrip fares.
This nonstop flight to Barcelona (BCN), on Iberia’s partner airline LEVEL, was bookable for just $287 roundtrip. That’s a seven-plus hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean for less than most domestic flights.
Cheap flights to Europe pop up year in and year out as airlines compete and try to poach one another’s passengers with a good deal. But something has shifted this year: It’s not just the one- or two-stop flights that are cheap, but nonstops from airline’s hubs, too.
Check out this list.
This is a roundup of airfare deals from across the country we sent to our Premium members a few weeks back. All of these flights were flying American, Delta, United, and their European partners – no low-cost carriers on this one! We thought for sure it couldn’t be beat.
We were wrong.
Some of these fares – especially the Amsterdam (AMS) ones – are at prices lower than we’ve seen in five years or more. And those Paris rates aren’t half bad, either!
In normal years, you’ll find the cheapest rates to Europe and back in the fall and winter. But this isn’t a normal year. You can’t beat this price for a peak summer fare later this month from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Dublin (DUB).
Nonstop routes to Europe in peak summer are typically expensive – especially from Delta hubs on prized routes like the carrier’s brand new flights from Minneapolis to both Rome (FCO) and Copenhagen (CPH).
So our jaws dropped a while back when we found this $497 fare flying nonstop to Denmark – in August, no less! And just one day later, we found a deal at the exact same price flying to Rome.
It doesn’t stop there. We’ve rounded up even more nonstop fares in the $300s and $400s roundtrip to Copenhagen (CPH), Helsinki (HEL), and Stockholm (ARN), too! No matter what floats your boat in Europe, you could sail on one of these fares to get there – no connections necessary.
Athens, Madrid, Dublin & More Under $398
No matter the time of year, a flight all the way to Athens will typically cost you $900 or more.
Safe to say, this fare is exceptional.
But it’s not just Athens where we’re currently seeing unthinkably low prices for travel this year or next. It’s all across Europe.
Airports from coast-to-coast all benefitted from these beautiful roundtrip fares to Europe, starting with Delta hubs … until other hubs across the U.S. got in on the action. Welcome to the world of airline fare wars: When carriers compete on price, you win with prices like these.
Many of these low prices worked during peak times, too, like these spring break fares from Detroit (DTW) to Madrid (MAD).
And Salt Lake City (SLC) – a place where cheap Europe flights can be hard to come by – also jumped into this deal with fares like these up to Helsinki (HEL) to see the Northern Lights this fall.
Iceland & Europe in the $300s RT
If there’s one destination where you can count on when looking for a cheaper fare to Europe, it’s Iceland.
Between the relatively short flights and Icelandair’s heavy presence, cheap flights to Reykjavik (KEF) are in steady supply. But those fares are even cheaper this year.
This latest Icelandair sale included several flights to Europe in the $300s roundtrip, including many nonstops to Reykjavik as well as one-stop itineraries to destinations like Dublin (DUB), Stockholm (ARN), and beyond.
The beauty of these fares? They’re eligible for free Iceland stopovers. Read our guide to booking a stopover to see two countries for the price of one.
Flex Those Points & Miles … for Under 40K!
If you were hoping to cut costs even more, using your points and miles are the best way to do it. And while the airlines started out by offering cheap cash rates, the mileage deals have rapidly followed.
Travelers from across the country with American Airlines AAdvantage miles got to see fares like this, for instance.
A flight from Santa Barbara (SBA) to London-Heathrow (LHR) can easily cost $1,200 or more. But if you throw some American Airlines miles at the problem, you’re just looking at the $217.61 in taxes and fees.
I singled out that tiny Californian airport because deals like this are so rare. But travelers from 200-plus cities could book at those same discounted rates for a trip to London this summer.
But if you think 30,000 miles roundtrip is great, a recent Delta SkyMiles flash sale lowered the bar even more: Roundtrips flights to destinations all across Europe for around 30,000 miles or less!
Throw in the automatic 15% discount for Delta SkyMiles cardholders, and it got as low as just 27,000 SkyMiles roundtrip. Not bad for a nonstop flight to Amsterdam (AMS) this summer, right?!
Let me repeat: Seeing SkyMiles rates that low for a trip to Europe in the summer is not normal.
But the real beauty of a SkyMiles flash sale like this one is that you can fly to almost anywhere Delta flies overseas. This deal had a murderer’s row of hot destinations you could fly to for these rates in the 30,000s (or less) roundtrip.
Use those points and miles for your trip to save even more in 2025.
Biz Class Points Deals, Too
If you’re set on flying lie-flat to Europe, you’re in luck.
In just the last few weeks, we’ve found a bevy of business class award space bookable with credit card points and airline miles. In fact, this recent stretch of deals is among the best we’ve ever seen.
How about flying Air France business class over to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) later this summer or through the fall for just 60,000 points each way? Points you can easily transfer from all the big banks like Chase, American Express, Capital One, and more?
That precious award space to book with points had largely disappeared for more than a year. Finding it for a peak summer trip was truly incredible.
If you think booking Air France is rare, getting a good deal flying Delta One business class with your SkyMiles is the ultimate unicorn. But that’s just what we found last week, with roundtrip rates for a trip later this summer dropping as low as 170,000 SkyMiles roundtrip.
But some Delta deals got even cheaper – much cheaper. We recently found a slew of Delta One routes over to Europe bookable with Air France/KLM Flying Blue for a fraction of what Delta is charging: As low as 48,000 points each way!
Bottom Line
Flights to Europe don’t have to be expensive. In fact, with prices continually dropping this year, it could cost you less than a trip to Florida.
The flight deals to Europe we’re seeing lately are unparalleled – cheaper and more frequent than we’ve seen in years, maybe ever. Something is changing in travel and it’s resulting in some sub-$400 – and even sub-$300 – roundtrip fares to Europe. And the points deals just keep coming, too.
