Ticket prices to London?
 

I had sticker shock a little while ago when I looked at the r/t fares from ATL-LHR for next summer (late July 2011). The fares are well over double the cost compared to what I've found for even next month with the holidays approaching. I thought they would be lower, or atleast comparable, since we're looking to book 8-9 months out. Could anyone shed some light on why this is, and any suggestions such as wait, or buy now, etc.? BTW, I am a newbie to European travel but have done extensive traveling in the U.S., to New Zealand, etc.. Thanks.

Summer = high season to Europe

and it's too early for any sales.

Thank you - that's sort of what I thought. Do you have any idea whether I'd be better off waiting for some sale or price reduction, or book now - this far out. Are they likely to come down somewhat, or just go higher? Or... is it purely a guessing game????

The British government have raised tax on air travel allot so that will probably have something to do with it.

Don't book now for next summer. Fares won't go much higher and will probably go a lot lower. If you're thinking about July / August of next year, look back in around the end of March.

July is high season, when the days are long and the kids are out of school. Ticket prices are always higher then, you can bet on it.

Start looking at prices around Feb or Mar, or so.

Agreed. Start to get serious 3-4 months out. Keep an eye on things in the interim, just in case someone does offer a good price.

If you can fly to Gatwick or any of the other airports that serve London, expand your search.

The cheapest flights usually seem to be overnight flights from JFK, Newark, Dulles or Logan. You may find a better price on an ATL-JFK-LHR route, say, than direct from Atanta. I flew last month on American from RDU to Logan to LHR and back to RDU cheaper than a round-trip RDU-LHR trip on American.