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    Mike Kotas -  In my travels recently I've been asked numerous times on how to approach the process of finding the best air fare for geting myself and/or my family over to Germany for ths World Cup. There is no easy answer but I can tell you that absolute most important piece of advice I can give (especially if you're the sole breadwinner trying to pay for more then 1 person) is to:
    PLAN and SAVE immediately


    Let's start off by setting your expectations:
    - First off, you should expect to pay $1200 per person for round trip (RT) airfare from the US to Germany
    - Don't expect to fly in and out of Germany on a Sunday (aka the typical American Travel dates)
    - Expect the airfare to increase the longer you wait to purchase the tickets

    Now let's examine these facts/expectations in more detail:

    - First off, you should expect to pay $1200 per person for round trip (RT) airfare from the US to Germany Yes, I've heard it all, I know that there are airfares cheaper the $1200 and I know there are airfares cheaper then $1200 during the middle of the peak flying season (aka during the World Cup), but if you don't have the money now, you won't be able to pull the trigger and purchase those cheap airfares when they're available
    - Don't expect to fly in and out of Germany on a Sunday (aka the typical American Travel dates) Like you, every other American is trying to fit this holiday into their tight little schedule thus in order to accomodate work, you only want to take days off between Sundays. If you start off with the expectation that you'll take a Wednesday to a Thursday off, you're one step ahead of the game. This expectation naturally allows you to look at other travel dates outside of the tradiaitonal American holiday. Remember that everyone wants those desireable Friday to Sunday plans because it allows them 9 days of holiday by only taking 5 days of from work in a continuous week. Subsequently the inventory of seats available will diminish earlier, eating away at the cheap seats. At the end of the day, you may not save more money (although you stil might), but this will allow you to defer your decision a bit later in the process.
    - Expect the airfare to increase the longer you wait to purchase the tickets The major carriers inventory opens up 331 days in advance however if you want to book your RT airfare you'll need to wai 331 days ahead of when your planned return is. That said, if you know the approximate days you want to travel ahead of time, you'll have a lot more flexibility in purchasing your tickets. Also, for people using their frequent flier points, the very small number of seats will be available at this time as well. At the end of the day, the lower priced buckets of airfares will close out first since their inventories at those prices will be smaller thus longer you wait the more likelihood you will be paying more due to inventory being closed out.

    Ok so you're now sick of reading all my expectation setting and you want to know the real meat of saving airfare, well hear goes.

    - Look at flying on Martinair (Dutch) and/or LTU (German) low fare trans-atlantic carriers. Both of these companies are Charter Carriers. Their business model is to partner with travel/tour agencies and allow those companies to sell their inventories rather then the airline itself selling the inventory. They typically concentrate on the leisure markets to sunny destinations like Florida. The benefit to the airline is that they can better utilize their fleet. That said, these airlines offer some scheduled service. RT airfare ranges between $700 and $800 and typically never change. If you live in Florida, Los Angeles, New York City, or live near Vancouver or Toronto, you should truly look into these carriers to save you money. For a list of Markets, click here.

    - Investigate alternate airports. Check out flights into Amsterdam (AMS), Brussels (BRU), Zurich (ZRH), Prague (PRG), Copenhagen (CPH). There's no guaranteeing that the flights will be cheaper but many times there are sales in those markets to stimulate some demand. If you're already purchasing a rail ticket, the incremental price of an additional day of train travel may be significantly less (when added to your current airfare) then a direct flight into Germany. It may take a bit longer to get to your destination but it may be worth it to view additional European sites.

    - Do your price comparison shopping over travel sites like Expedia, Travelocity, etc but purchase your tickets on the carriers web site. Remember that Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire, Orbitz and the rest of these sites are just online travel agents. In order for them to make their money, they need charge you a fee for their service. Many times, the air fare you find on one of these sites will be $5 to $15 cheaper on the respective carriers web site.