Toronto/Chicago/Detroit to Europe - Sampling of sub-$500 round trip fares

This post is a compilation of good airfare prices from airports within a 5 hour drive of Grand Rapids MI:  Chicago O'Hare (ORD), Detroit (DTW), Toronto (YYZ), Pittsburgh (PIT), Cleveland (CLE).

This post shows how plentiful that sub-$500 roundtrip airfares to Europe are, at various times of the year.

European cities with sub-$500 fares include:

• Munich (MUC)
• Dublin (DUB)
• Frankfurt (FRA)
• London Heathrow (LHR)
• Amsterdam (AMS)
• Lisbon (LIS)
• Porto (OPO)
• Faro (FAO)
• Barcelona (BCN)
• Madrid (MAD)
• Rome (FCO)
• Milan (MXP)
• Reykjavik (KEF)
• Oslo (OSL)
• Paris (CDG)
• Cork, Ireland (ORK)

None of these current airfares are part of any advertised 'sale.'  Prices are just very competitive to Europe and these are just examples.

Portugal:  TAP Portugal is a Portuguese airline that flies nonstop from Toronto (YYZ) to Lisbon (LIS) and 1-stop to Porto (OPO) and Faro (FAO).  TAP has very good prices to Portugal for many different times of year.

Iceland:  Air Canada and Delta are offering very cheap fares to Reykjavik (KEF), in apparent response to WOW Air and Icelandair offering consistently cheap fares to KEF from DTW/ORD/PIT.

Fall 2018:  Sun Oct 7 - Mon Oct 15.  Detroit to Barcelona $445+  1-stop
Star Alliance airlines (United, Lufthansa, Air Canada, etc) (also $328 roundtrip Chicago to BCN on WOW Air)

Late Fall 2018:  Sun Nov 11 - Tues Nov 20.  Various cities < $450
Many of the cheapest flights here are on Icelandair or WOW Air, with 1-stop connections in KEF.

• ORD-DUB $309 (WOW Air) $373 (Icelandair)
• ORD-AMS $380 (WOW Air)
• YYZ-AMS $406 (WOWAir)
• ORD-MUC $407 (Icelandair) 
• ORD-LHR $424 (Icelandair)
• DTW-BCN $448 (Air Canada) $472 (Lufthansa)
• DTW-DUB $450 (United) $480 (Lufthansa)
• YYZ-CDG $406 (WOW Air) $411 (Icelandair)

Late Fall 2018:  Tues Nov 13 - Weds Nov 21.  Various cities < $450

• ORD-CPH $332 (Icelandair) $439 (Swiss) $444 (United/Lufthansa) $453 (Austrian)
• ORD-OSL $349 (Icelandair)
• YYZ-AMS $383 (WOW Air)
• ORD-HEL $357 (Icelandair)
• ORD-AMS $361 (Icelandair)

Year-end Fri Dec 7 - Sun Dec 16.  $356-$400 various cities
YYZ-KEF $356 (Icelandair) nonstop $472 (Delta) 1-stop
DTW-KEF $360 (WOW Air) nonstop

PIT-KEF $399 (Delta) 1-stop

ORD-CPH $412 (Icelandair) $466 (Swiss) $471 (Lufthansa)

ORD-LHR $420 (Icelandair)

Spring Break 2019:  Sat Mar 30 - Sun Apr 7. Nonstop Toronto to Lisbon $502. 1-stop Porto $501
A couple of flights from Detroit in the $550 range sprinkled in here also

School's out 2019:  Fri May 31 - Mon Jun 10.  Toronto to Faro or Porto $448 1-stop
Also $490 nonstop to Porto

Summer 2019 Portugal:  Mon Jun 3 - Tues Jun 11.  Toronto to Porto $418 nonstop, Faro/Porto $443 1-stop

Summer 2019 Iceland  Sun Jun 9 - Sat Jun 22.  $311+ round trip to KEF.

Summer Milan/Rome/Paris/Barcelona Fri Jun 7 - Sun Jun 16 $510-539

[FARE GONE] Toronto to Dublin Nonstop Sept-Dec 2018 from $219 on Aer Lingus

This fare sale has expired.

Aer Lingus flights between Toronto (YYZ) and Dublin (DUB) for Sept-Dec 2018 travel are showing up super-cheap - from CAD$288 - on certain online travel agency websites.

See post below on Secret Flying, which links to a search on Sky Scanner's Canadian site.  These cheap prices are not showing up on Google Flights.

Aer Lingus flies Airbus A330 between YYZ and DUB.  The 330 has a pleasant 2-4-2 layout, which is great for people traveling in group of 2 or 4.  Much better than 3-3-3 or 3-4-3 on the larger Boeing planes.

ERROR FARE: Non-stop from Toronto, Canada to Dublin, Ireland for only $287 CAD roundtrip

Sample fare - Nov 17 - Nov 30.  From CAD$288  From here, you will need to select a certain online travel agency (OTA) through which to book the flight.  Flight Hub is the only OTA showing the cheap fare in this particular search.  This is a buyer beware situation, as I have no personal experience booking flights through these OTAs and it can be somewhat of a pain in the behind vs. booking direct with the airlines.

Because this fare may be too good to be true, do NOT book lodging, car, or other arrangements for a few days until you are sure that Aer Lingus has issued your tickets!

[FARE GONE]Detroit/Atlanta/Houston to Honolulu $364+ Roundtrip Ends Today

This fare sale has expired.

Sale ends today 7/26.

Details

• American Airlines has very low fares from Detroit/Atlanta/Houston (hub cities for Delta or United)
• Travel mostly Mondays thru Thursdays
• Found some cheap fares with weekend travel
• Convenient 1-stop flights available with short layovers which is very nice
• As low as $364 from Detroit
• Late August thru early November 2018
• Grand Rapids flights on United available on some of these same dates for $604

Background

• Fare Deal Alert - Detroit/Atlanta article.  Houston article.
• They say Mon thru Thurs only, but I found cheap fares on the weekends

Sample Flights

DTW>HNL Labor Day trip Mon Aug 27 - Mon Sep 3 $364

DTW>HNL Sun Oct 28 - Sun Nov 11 $404 (long layover on return flight)

DTW>HNL Thurs Oct 25 - Sun Nov 4 $394

DTW>HNL Sun Oct 21 - Weds Oct 31 $388

[FARE GONE] Detroit/Chicago to LA $120+ round trip on United/Alaska Sept 2018 - Feb 2019

This deal has expired.

Two separate fare sales posted today:

United Airlines Detroit (DTW) to LA $120 round trip (basic econ) or $170 (reg econ)
Late August to Feb 2019.  Cheap price NOT available around Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Years.  These are 1-stop flights from Detroit to a United hub such as Denver (DEN) Washington Dulles (IAD), Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR).

Sample Google Flights - Thurs Nov 29 - Mon Dec 3.  LINK

Background article HERE lists fares as $134/184 (basic/regular economy), but these flights are pricing out cheaper than that on Google flights and United.com as of 12:50pm on 6/26/2018.


Alaska Airlines Chicago (ORD) to LAX. Nonstop. $176+ RT. Sept - early Dec 2018
Tues/Weds/Sat flights only.  Nonstop flights available from $217 for travel on other days of the week.  Sale ends today 6/26.  United has matched Alaska's pricing on this as well.  American has prices from $197.

Background article HERE.

Sample Google Flights - Tues Dec 4 - Sat Dec 8.  LINK.
These are good, but not great, flight prices from the Midwest to LA.

[FARE GONE] Detroit/Seattle/Minneapolis/Atlanta to Madrid $395 Roundtrip Sept - Dec 2018

6/9/2018 this fare sale has expired

Quick deal post.  It is possible to book tickets around Thanksgiving or Christmas via this fare sale.

Star Alliance airlines - Air Canada, Lufthansa, United, etc.

Detroit to Madrid.  Late September to December 2018 flights.

As low as $395 round trip.

Connections thru Toronto (Air Canada), Newark (United), Frankfurt (Lufthansa), etc.

Watch out for some United Airlines fares being a near-basic economy that does NOT include a free checked bag.

Sample Google Searches for Detroit (DTW) to Madrid (MAD):

Fri Oct 5 - Sat Oct 20 from $401 1-stop

Fri Nov 16 - Mon Dec 3 from $395 1-stop

Tues Dec 11 - Sun Dec 30 from $465 1-stop

Background information here:  https://www.theflightdeal.com/2018/06/08/united-402-seattle-atlanta-detroit-minneapolis-madrid-spain-roundtrip-including-all-taxes/

Last Call - 70,000 Delta SkyMiles for $195

This offer expires on May 16, 2018.

The offer is still available via referral, but only thru 5/16/2018.  (The public offer has expired.)

Here is my referral link for the personal version of the Delta Amex Platinum card:  http://refer.amex.us/JASONWoAVH?XLINK=MYCP

Delta Amex Platinum personal & business - 70,000 SkyMiles + $100 statement credit

• 70,000 Delta SkyMiles + 10,000 MQMs (elite status miles) after $3K spend in first 3 months
• $100 statement credit after Delta purchase in first 3 months
• $195 annual fee NOT waived in first year
• 10k bonus miles and 10k bonus MQMs (towards elite status) after $25k spend and + second 10k bonus miles and 10k MQMs after $50k spend per calendar year
• Free domestic economy companion certificate after first year.  (Yes, this certificate really works.  Once it is in your SkyMiles account, you can use it regardless of whether your Delta Amex Platinum credit card account is open.)
• Priority boarding and free checked bags.
• Offer expires 5/16/2018
• TIP:  *Any* spend with Delta, such as a $2 headphone or $8 snack box during a flight, should trigger the entire statement credit; you do not need to spend $100 to get the $100 credit
• The personal and business version are two cards with the same signup bonus and benefits.  A person can hold both cards at the same time
• More info here:  http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2018/03/01/four-new-offers-70k-60k-skymiles  (note that these offers expired in April, unless you apply via a referral link from someone.)

[DEAL GONE] Earn 60 Miles per Dollar Spent on Flowers

This deal has expired

If you don't mind ordering flowers from a big national website - FTD, in this case - this is a great deal.

How to Get the Deal

1. If you don't already have a Delta SkyMiles account, sign up and create one at www.delta.com
2. Register for Delta's promotion to earn 100% bonus with any new provider (from whom you did NOT earn miles in 2017) for any transactions between March 20 and May 31, 2018.  LINK HERE
3. Go to Delta's SkyMiles Shopping site and log in (provide your SkyMiles number or email address; no password needed).  LINK HERE
4. Search for "FTD" to find the link to the FTD website.  LINK HERE
5. Click the SHOP NOW button to be redirected to the FTD.com website.  The banner at the top will confirm you are earning 30 SkyMiles per dollar.  (The extra 30 SkyMiles per dollar is a bonus payout from the promotion you registered for, so it will not say 60 SkyMiles per dollar on the FTD site.)

How Good is the Deal?

Very good.  This is the highest miles earning rate for flowers I've seen in several years. 

15-30 miles per dollar is common on flowers when ordered online thru the appropriate airline shopping portal website.  All of the major domestic airlines offer these deals with FTD or 1-800-FLOWERS or other large flower companies.

This particular deal is 30 Delta SkyMiles per dollar spent from FTD.com.  The deal gets doubly good if you did not earn Delta SkyMiles from FTD.com at all during 2017.

Background Information

Frequent Miler, one of my favorite miles and points blogs, has a good article on this deal - LINK HERE


Miles are NOT earned on shipping, handling, and fees - so you earn 60 miles per dollar on the product(s) you order, but not 60 miles per dollar on every dollar you spend on the order