I having been looking at flights from Seattle to AMS for February, thinking this would be a semi cheap time to go for a quick ten days.

I am getting on average $800 RT with taxes!

I will keep looking but I have checked, Kayak, Sidestep, Travelocity, Expedia even a few of the airlines directly....I wanted to do a spontaneous thing but I guess you need more cash than I have to do that...

How much were you thinking about? I'm looking into August travel to Amsterdam. I expect to pay around $1400, so $800 sounds darn good.

quote:

Originally posted by flennie:
How much were you thinking about? I'm looking into August travel to Amsterdam. I expect to pay around $1400, so $800 sounds darn good.

Well if it was $800 for August I'd be on it in a second. Not for February though...I will keep checking. I want a DEAL! If I don't find one I dont' go. Simple as that.

British Airways should start having some deals soon, normally do for Feb/March will jump on that hopefully and then get acheap flight to AMS.

Last year got a flight from Seattle to Heathrow for $450RT with taxes...thos days are probably gone though.

Looks like about $675 on USAirways via Philadelphia. Still high, but better than $800.

Ooooooh that's better...thanks!

I did see that fare on US air and told my husband and he wants a non-stop. He doesn't want much does he? Non-Stop AND Cheap! I have to say we flew that US Air flight to Rome and stopped in Philly, gawd it seemed like it took FOREVER!

ANyway I think I have found it! Northwest Airlines is the only carrier that flies direct to AMS from Seattle and I found a PROMO Fare on their website leaving 2/18 for $696.30 including taxes a fees!!

I went to the NW site and there was the fare - $693.39!! But, in the fine print on a separate screen is a fuel surcharge of $85 each way, so add $170 to each ticket bringing the price up to $863.39/ticket. Since the taxes and fees are less than $100 I am assuming the fuel surchage is not included.

If I am wrong - please post!!!

Here is the verbage:

Surcharges
ORIGINATING THE UNITED STATES - A FUEL SURCHARGE OF USD 85.00 PER DIRECTION WILL BE ADDED TO THE APPLICABLE FARE FOR DEPARTURE OF EACH TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR

I will delve deeper if that's the case forget it. I printed out the itinerary and it said with taxes that amount, damn! That is so sneaky!

YOu know I can't find that verbage you spoke of. You said in a different screen, which screen?

I went as far as I could before entering my credit card number and I never saw the surcharge come up, so maybe I'm all wet. Maybe it is already built into the price. It is best to call them.


But, this is where I found the surcharge: when you get to the screen that has your itinerary and Promo Fare, go down to "Review the Rules and Restrictions", click on "Fare Rules", click on "Surcharges" and there that bugger is. It is not a fee or tax so I assume it is added to the total cost of the ticket. There is even a checkbox that you must check to go any futher that says "You must indicate your agreement with all Fare Rules for this itinerary." Meaning you agree to pay the surchage but maybe not.

Here I am on a part of the board where I don't usually look. Calling them should tell you, but on the screen where you enter your payment information they should have the bottom-line charge. I would think that this fee must be built into the fare. For a time U.S. airlines tried to make fuel surcharges separate from the fare, but they still listed them more prominently; then authorities said that non-government-imposed charges could not be broken out; these were operating costs that needed to be included in the fare.

THanks Andrew, I thought that would be pretty devious and would get people up in arms burying a surcharge like that in the fine print. I will confirm this though.

If the final confirmation page says that price, that's what it costs. The surcharge will be included in the final price.

If you phone the call center, they may or may not be able to help. In my experience, the call centers have told me they do not have access to the same fares I can see on the web.

I found the same Promo fare on the web site. It shows the final tally like this:

1 Adult: $595.00

Taxes/Fees: $98.39
Total Cost: $693.39

The exact same fare is on Orbitz, but with an extra $10 fee.

We too are looking for flights to AMS for March or April 2008 but the cheapest fare we can get is 900+. I remember last year we left end of april for 2 weeks from ORD to Berlin and Munich to Chicago and we spent less than 650 with American Airlines. I cant just seem to find cheaper fares for our next trip. Im running out of ideas. Seems like Feb might be cheaper but im just afraid the weather might be cooler than what I would like it to be. I remember late March and Early april was mid 60s and I loved it

Have fun.

RobinD, you can get a fare for under $600. Use FareCompare.com . Many of the fares will be false alarms, but there are real hits too.

For example, quickly perusing FareCompare showed me a $583 (total) fare for March 12-19, with a United/Lufthansa combo on Airfare.com for ORD-AMS.

Have you noticed the price of crude oil/barrel lately? Higher fares will be just part of the fall out.

Scandinavian Airlines have winter specials, good until March 13, that can get you from Seattle to a number of European cities (via Copenhagen) for $580+tax.

We are flying SEA-CGN (Cologne), CGN-YVR March 15-25. We got the tickets for $422 CAD all-in. If we decide to go to Amsterdam, each ticket is 19 Euros one-way by train, if we buy far enough in advance.

Hey Lesfaye,

Don't know if you booked your flight to Amsterdam yet but, I just came upon your plight. I just noticed on Travelzoo.com that there is a flight to Amsterdam from Seattle $261.00 each way - on Northwest. Hope that helps!!! At least you should get a coupon for the difference if you have already booked!!!