How far in advance are International flights released? US to Copenhagen

First international trip - next July (2019). When can I expect ALL airlines will have their flights released so I can start looking to book?

 

And is there a website that lists ALL carriers, even the ones that can only be booked directly, like smaller or low-budget airlines? I want to make sure I know all my options when it comes time to book. Im going from Boston to Copenhagen if anyone has any inside tips for me. :D

Most international airlines release around 330 days prior to flight day. Occasionally 365 days.

 

The commonly recommended website here is matrix.ita. However, it doesn't show some of the cheaper airlines, like Southwest, for example. Also commonly mentioned are a few like Google Flight.

 

You can, and should, be looking at flights for this summer, so you can get an idea on schedules and fares, although next year's fares have nothing to do with this year's.

 

A lot of info can be found by reading down the board.

And is there a website that lists ALL carriers, even the ones that can only be booked directly, like smaller or low-budget airlines? I want to make sure I know all my options when it comes time to book.

 

In a word....No.

And is there a website that lists ALL carriers, even the ones that can only be booked directly, like smaller or low-budget airlines? I want to make sure I know all my options when it comes time to book. Im going from Boston to Copenhagen if anyone has any inside tips for me.

The best inside tip is that there is no alternative to rolling up your sleeves and doing the work yourself. There are plenty of good tools (ITA Software is probably your primary one for your trip) but none of them do everything, none of them doing it perfectly, and there are no easy lazy shortcuts.

CruiserBruce has it right.

 

I start with the website CruiserBruce mentioned for your research.

 

In fact, start now with flights that are for this July just to get a feel for airlines and the routes. Yes, some will change but that will start to give you an idea. From there you can do additional research so that when the flights do open you are more knowledgeable. That is what we do.

 

Keith

Thank you. I am no stranger to booking flights, just have never flown outside the US/caribbean/mexico, so not as familiar with some of these international airlines. And definitely no stranger to doing the research, which is why I am asking a year and a half in advance!

:cool:Just want to make sure I dont miss anything! :*

Nice to hear. Part of the fun of travel is the planning.

 

Keith

Yes, sometimes I think planning is ALL of the fun!

 

Ive been using ita software for years, long before google bought it, so im happy to know I can rely on it for this trip too.

Im going from Boston to Copenhagen if anyone has any inside tips for me.

Thinking a bit more about your route, there is one thing which I would suggest - if you have the time for it and if the schedules work for you.

 

The eastbound flight from Boston to western Europe is notoriously short. If you do it overnight, it ranks on a par with the worst red-eyes from the US west coast to the US east coast. For example, Boston to London Heathrow has a scheduled time of about 6½ hours, which equates to a flying time of somewhere in the region of 5¾ to 6 hours. You'll get next to no sleep on a flight like this.

 

One option is to take a day flight across the Atlantic. It'll mean a very early start that morning, but that will actually start to help with the time zone adjustment anyway. You don't need to sleep on the flight. Spend a night in whichever gateway you end up in (London is the most likely), and then find a lunchtime or afternoon flight to get over to Copenhagen (you won't want to take an early flight that day for time zone reasons). This will mean that you start your cruise less tired, and with an extra day under your belt already for adjusting to the new time zone.

Thinking a bit more about your route, there is one thing which I would suggest - if you have the time for it and if the schedules work for you.

 

The eastbound flight from Boston to western Europe is notoriously short. If you do it overnight, it ranks on a par with the worst red-eyes from the US west coast to the US east coast. For example, Boston to London Heathrow has a scheduled time of about 6½ hours, which equates to a flying time of somewhere in the region of 5¾ to 6 hours. You'll get next to no sleep on a flight like this.

 

One option is to take a day flight across the Atlantic. It'll mean a very early start that morning, but that will actually start to help with the time zone adjustment anyway. You don't need to sleep on the flight. Spend a night in whichever gateway you end up in (London is the most likely), and then find a lunchtime or afternoon flight to get over to Copenhagen (you won't want to take an early flight that day for time zone reasons). This will mean that you start your cruise less tired, and with an extra day under your belt already for adjusting to the new time zone.

 

I will consider that. I thought a red eye would be smart as we could sleep overnight, but sounds like maybe not. Ive never actually flown overnight (well, once, a long time ago, to Tahiti. I dont know if I slept much on the flight, but i do know we got there in the morning, went about our day tours, and then proceeded to sleep like 18 hours through the night and following day.) I will deal with whatever , but I dont want the kids to start off tired and cranky. I do plan to arrive in Copenhagen 3-4 days before the cruise starts, so maybe I just need to be prepared that the first day will be wasted on jet lag/adjusting.

Thanks

I will second Globaliser's recommendation for the day flight, even if it kills a day (i.e. the day you leave.) British Airways is the only airline that flies transatlantic during the day from BOS; this June it leaves at 7:45 AM and arrives at Heathrow at 7:20 PM. This year, there's actually a connection from Heathrow at 9:30 PM that arrives at CPH at 12:30 AM. Since that would only be 6:30 PM to you, you could make it to a hotel and wake up the next morning and - probably - have a full day with much less jetlag than you would have sitting on a plane all night.

 

Or, what I do is find a Priceline hotel near Heathrow (have never paid more than $100 for a 4-star) and take a morning flight onward. It really whacks jetlag for me, and sleeping in a bed is always preferable to sleeping in a chair.

Hotwire hotels also work well for LHR. Heathrow East "four star" has regularly returned the Renaissance right at the entrance to LHR.

I see Virgin Atlantic has a one way flight BOS-LHR on July 10 this year for $220?

RT on BA in July as low as $577 in July.

Seems really inexpensive for summer travel.

I see Virgin Atlantic has a one way flight BOS-LHR on July 10 this year for $220?

RT on BA in July as low as $577 in July.

Seems really inexpensive for summer travel.

 

Intense price pressure from WOW, Norwegian and other "discount" carriers. BA is busy racing towards the bottom, rather than maintaining service quality to justify a price premium. New coach seating arrangements for intra-Europe aircraft have seat pitch smaller than Ryanair.

BA is busy racing towards the bottom, rather than maintaining service quality to justify a price premium. New coach seating arrangements for intra-Europe aircraft have seat pitch smaller than Ryanair.

Learning from MRTC!