Yes, but can find creative routings for less.

We did 2010 WC in South Africa. Econ from US was marked up from $1600 to $4400. Egypt was not in the WC and poor, so we flew to JFK to Cairo for $1200, saw pyramids, then Cairo to JNB for $800.

However - there was AA Saver awards available 5 days before the US R16 match from MIA to Recife. But the Brazilian visa process has been a mess 3 weeks to obtain.

Haha, yes I'd love to go to a World Cup, too. However, Qatar would not be one I'd choose to see.

I hope England gets it, then I might be able to worm some cheap/free tickets from friends who play in the leagues here, certainly as one of the stadiums is one that'd be used and close to home!

30k is pushing a bit far. You could do it for half as previously mentioned where you could do a few stopovers. Depends how fat your wallet is and how much you value getting to the destination in one hop!

Isn't this just pure speculation and futility? I mean, who knows what airfare in general will cost in 6 years, let alone the premium for the Olympics.

6 years ago, at the height of the recession, I flew JFK-LAX routinely for $199 all in. You can't dream of getting a fare like that now. That's just one example, there are thousands.

It's reasonable to ask the premium over normal fares but no one alive can answer how much a plane ticket (or hotel for that matter) will cost in 6 years. Maybe the economy will crash and prices will be cheaper? Maybe, god forbid, there's another earthquake in Japan and more radiation leaks? Maybe your work out hobby will turn you into a world class athlete and you'll go for free to compete?

FT is full of speculation about nothing but this is really one of the worst offenders I've seen.

London during the Olympics was slightly higher, but not obscenely more than a regular summer from Toronto. I'd guess 20% more?

Vancovuer was a little higher during the Olympics, but availability was noticably less.

It's not the airfares that are exorbitant, it's the accommodation. Most airlines put on extra flights or boost capacity so the airfares are kind of like a peak Christmas airfare. During the Sydney olympics it was great for those traveling out of Sydney because they were dead cheap if you happened to be traveling the reverse.

Exactly. This is what is happening to Brazil, where added capacity translated is lower airfares now compared to 1-2 years ago.

Having been to the Olympics in Athens, Beijing and London, let me offer some comments.

You have two big challenges and airfare is the least of your worries.

1. EVENT TICKETS

Don't assume these will be easily available or inexpensive. There could be a lottery process or preference may be given to those in the country hosting the events. If you intend to attend a specific high-interest event, such as finals in gymnastics or swimming, you may very well be shut out. In London, the athlete I follow was only in one event this last go-round, compared to 10 over the prior two Olympics, and I was able to secure tickets for that, but if I wanted to attend other events the finals in swimming were $350 a night through a contact our group had (and this was way up in the bleachers, not in any premium seating area). Ticket information probably won't be released until a year out. Will you go if you don't have tickets locked in? Do you have specific "must-see" events? You need to give this some thought. In my case, the answer would have been "yes" as I would have gone all three times even without tickets.

In Beijing, there were empty seats at swimming finals, something that is unheard of. Who knows what happened to the tickets there. Entire blocks of seats were vacant.

For package deals from the U.S., there is one provider and their packages, with air, hotel and event tickets included, are not cheap.

2. HOTEL

In London, I booked my hotel with points a full year out and had my choice of several Hyatt and IHG properties (ended up at Indigo Tower Hill). If I had paid for my room, it was initially $1,000 a night, but in the week ahead of the Olympics it had dropped to $450. Friends got a hotel for $350 across the river from Parliament a month out (they didn't have hotel points). Both were in central London with good transit access. Expect rates to easily double or triple from what they may normally be, though prices might drop as you get closer and rooms are unsold. Also (and this is a biggie) expect many to be prepaid and nonrefundable with a special event rate.

In Beijing, I booked an airline award ticket a year out, but didn't book my hotel until 3-4 weeks out as the prices were just too high for me. I recall one of the Hiltons being $750 (prepaid, nonrefunndable), but it dropped to $350 a week out (and no refund for those that paid $750). I booked a brand new Ibis that had just opened, a few stations from the Olympic grounds, for $130 a night. As Americans tend to not be very familiar with that brand, the hotel was mostly occupied with guests from Europe.

Hotel price will tend to vary based on the distance away from Olympic venues. When I started my research for London, hotels that were 45-60 minutes out with good transit access were the best values at around $200 a night, though it would mean a lot of time going back and forth via train so our group decided to wait hoping for a price drop. That eventually happened. I spent my very last night out at Heathrow Airport, 45 mins out by Tube, and many families were staying in hotels out there at more affordable prices, though that also meant taking a bus once they arrived to their off-airport hotel (most being in the free zone at Heathrow so the bus was free).

3. AIRFARE

If you can bank enough airline miles between now and 2020, an award ticket offers you a lot of options if you can't match up hotel and tickets and decide not to go a few weeks out. I've done award travel all three times. It's much cheaper to cancel an award ticket then a paid ticket.

Pool in London:



Pool in Beijing:



Pool in Athens:



And my athlete's first Olympic Gold medal in 2004 that none of us will ever forget (she has 11 medals-one for every event she was in):


Photos from these Olympics are all linked below.

Also, if you are looking for premium cabins, you may have to be a little flexible on flying in before the start and leaving after the end, as the national team (of your country and/or other countries) might be on those flights. I flew out of Beijing the night of the closing ceremony on UA and all that was available to for non-olympic athletes/coaches/support/VIP/etc was the middle section of one row of economy plus and the rest of economy (and NO premium space)

I'd expect holiday fares and flights filling up early.

Since you are planning a little ahead, OP, I suspect that you could book everything early and get hit with less of this.

Creative booking like flying into other parts of Japan, or flying to Korea, etc., and catching a LCC for the last leg might help as well.

I remember seeing flight + hotel packages a week or two before the London Olympics that seemed to be roughly at normal London summer prices if you could pull off the last minute travel and were willing to scavenge tickets to less popular sports. (Or watch the marathon/triathlon/open water swimming/road cycling for free.)

Thanks for the great information. I've been to Commonwealth Games events where the premiere events, like swimming finals were $350 plus a ticket so I'm prepared for "Olympic prices".

I don't do points or programs.

Get a grip Big Bopper!!!! I am not expecting to be advised of the price down to the last cent. I'd just like an idea from others who had gone to big events and found that there was an increase in airfares. Folks here were able to give a % increase to normal which I am happy on.

Are you saying I am the biggest speculator (is that a word) that you've seen or is someone who posted here the speculator!???

Don't forget to factor in the cost of inflation. I know the airline business is very competitive but it's far enough away that you'll likely a % rise in airfare that's related to inflation and not just the Olympic premium.

The FTer in me says instead of saving for flights - use the money to speculatively take advantage of mileage promotions - I bet you could get enough miles through flying and miles purchase promotions between now and then to buy J airfare on JL / QF / NZ / NH / SQ / etc. (via any number of programs) even at a standard award level for less than the cost of buying it (and you may even get lucky and get a saver award if you're on top of booking the moment seats are released 331 days ahead of time)