Central and Eastern Europe Flights

RyanAir and EasyJet can be insanely cheap if you book ahead. Watch out for hidden costs though.

~Yes. Cheapo airlines make their big money, from overweight charges.

Rule of threes; Stay in each lodging at least three nights. Give two compleat days to look around. You'll need 'em. We learn more about a town after the first day.

Pack only three compleat changes of clothes. We don't change everything every day.
Hostels have washing machines.

If your laundry doesn't dry in the time we want to move on, that's a bonus.

Like getting lost is a bonus, because we learn more about lifestyles than we would have.
Don't freak out, if errr when you get lost. Just "have a coffee"(preferably in a sidewalk café) and chill. Talk with locals.

Move on slowly. You'll get more out of it.
ç(8oD>

They are cheap,but they don't go to Pittsburgh ;-)

Long haul flights in general are more expensive at the beginning,then the price falls,and then near to the departure it rises again.Obviously it depends how many seats they have sold........

If you look on a site like Opodo you can try various dates....put in 'multi stop flights'...then Pitts-Vienna and Kiev-Pitts....and see what comes up.

That period is not cheap...and its quite late.I doubt you'll get less than about $1500 return.....but that's more or less what you'll pay with a straight return to/from Vienna anyway.

When buying my ticket (flying out of Seattle) I found that the flights going to Frankfurt AM Main in Germany were almost always cheapest. It's a big travel hub in a somewhat boring city (so I hear), and the flights into/out of the hubs are usually cheaper. Also, it may be cheaper to fly out of NYC rather than Pittsburgh, but whatever you'll save in airfare you'll spend getting to NYC.

I think it's about an 6-7 hour train ride from Frankfurt to Vienna, so that might be an option if it ends up being cheaper.

I got a flight from Seattle to Prague, (stopping in Vancouver BC and Frankfurt) and then from Zagreb, Croatia back to Seattle (stop in Frankfurt again) for about $800 USD. May just need to shop around. I also booked my flight about 6 months in advance...

Check out Wizzair

I commute to Kiev from London via Luton, England.

Direct flight is 3 hours, cost - buying 3 weeks ahead - is about $150 return.
They fly a lot of Eastern Europe with new aircraft. They are very tight on luggage though.

Also, take a look at Aerosvit in Ukraine - they fly direct to US but the aircraft are a bit old and not brilliantly maintained.

Cordially

next_horizon

Is there a time in August that's generally cheaper than others, like middle vs. end? Or does it not really matter?

I think a lot of those sites you all recommended aren't for trans-Atlantic flights but only for Europe; I've been using Kayak, are there any others (besides the obvious like Expedia, Orbitz, etc.)?

All of August is peak period for Europe...no real difference in prices.

Opodo does transatlantic for sure...its similar to Kayak,with similar prices..and the other ones you mentioned.

As others have said-you might get cheaper flights to a hub like London or Frankfurt...or leaving from a bigger airport than Pittsburgh...but you seem to be very limited for time.

I'm seeing about $800 dollars for each one way flight for August. Should I wait a while or just get the tickets now?

My flight Seattle > Prague then Zagreb > Seattle was just over $800 USD for both. $800 for one way ($1600 total) seems incredibly expensive. Just keep checking airfare flights every day and when you see a price that you like, buy it. Don't wait and think it over because the fares might change the next day.