One-Way Fare DC-DUB - When To Buy? What To Pay?

[artnbarb]

I usually book our flights super early, and for the last few years we've used FF miles where earlier is always better. This year things are a bit different, and we'll use our dwindling supply of FF miles for our flight from Rome back to Florida, and buy one way tickets TO Europe, flying from DC to Dublin, then from Dublin to FCO. We'll be flying in early August, so I'm not sure what to expect as far as fares go, nor do I have any idea when is the 'best' time to book these flights. Is it still about 3 months out for the best fares, or does it even matter during peak season?

 

[Andrew]

One problem is that only a few airlines sell transatlantic one-ways that aren't at the high full fare. Some airfare sites say "Buy" or "Wait" on the results page, but one can wonder how good the programming is for that. One is the Hopper app: searching Washington Dulles-Dublin for Tuesday Aug. 4 and Wed. Aug. 5 shows both days with a lowest fare of $421 on TAP via Lisbon, but for the 4th it says "Buy" and for the 5th it says "Wait," so go figure. For a non-stop, United is cheaper than Aer Lingus, which surprised me: at $576 for the United flight, I'd be inclined to wait, but it's a difficult call.

 

[artnbarb]

I know I want a non-stop flight, so United and Aer LIngus are my two choices out of IAD. I definitely like the United times better than the Aer LIngus times - who wants to arrive in Dublin at the crack of dawn?

The pricing is crazy. I also looked at prices from Philly and Charlotte on American, and both were well over $2000 - but flying out of DCA - and going thru Philly or Charlotte - wasn't much more than the United/Aer LIngus fares.

I'll keep watching.