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I know that it's a strange comment/question, but I've been poking around looking for travel options this Summer, and it seems like the flights are all considerably more than usual.

Can't seem to find International flights anywhere this summer for under $1,100-$1,200... ?

I've always travel from SFO, since it's the only International Airport within driving distance, and we always travel in the Summer because of my spouse's work schedule.

The tickets seem up this year, way up. So far, we've looked into trying to go to all sorts of places without any luck at all finding flights in the summer for under this price (other than a few to the Caribbean and Mexico).

We've looked at going to: Iceland, Oman, Jordan, Israel, Japan, Thailand, Scotland, Germany, Morocco, Hungary, and Romania so far (at least). What on earth is going on with this, or is it just me?

Sorry to sound so eclectic in our choices. We wanted first and foremost to check out Iceland this summer. I also have a passion for exploring more of the Middle East. As you can tell, our tastes are slightly eclectic. I guess I just have the travel bug in general, though I tend to like going to places that are culturally exciting or hold a lot of historical interest (more than for the nightlife or adventure, per se).

I'm a little worried that this year, we won't be able to afford anything though! And we're really pretty flexible since essentially we can travel through most of the Summer. I've been checking the bulk-type sites, can't think of what to call them, the ones that aggregate flights like kayak, orbitz, and so on. Same as every year.

Did flight prices go up considerably, is it specific to San Francisco, or am I just missing something completely?

Usually we can find something International for like $800 or less each if we scour enough and keep open-minded. Flight costs wind up dictating a lot of where or when we travel. Some of the tickets we looked at were at minimum $1,500 (U.S.)...

Has anyone had recent experience with this issue? I don't know if I'm picking the wrong Countries to try to head out to, or if it's SFO that's an issue, or what the problem is here. Thanks for your thoughts. My wanderlust is strong, as usual... and after a few weeks of looking, I thought I'd appeal to the greater collective wisdom of Lonely Planet.

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Fuel prices?

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Can't seem to find International flights anywhere this summer for under $1,100-$1,200... ?

I'm seeing on Skyscanner flights from San Francisco to Dusseldorf (Germany, one of the countries in your list) for roughly $1,000 on some random dates. However, I know is still far away of $800...

And we're really pretty flexible since essentially we can travel through most of the Summer.

May I ask when in the summer can you travel? or if you prefer it, When in the summer can't you travel?, What's the start date and the end date of the summer for you? How many days can you travel?
The answer to these questions can be important if someone here try to help you looking for flights that could meet your requirements.

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$1,000 is a lot closer though. I haven't looked on that site and will try. Thanks! Still more than usual. Dunno if it's the fuel prices or if rates have gone up. Seems to be me. But generally we've always found something less than that. Our tickets to Istanbul last year were about $800 in late June-early July. The year before, about the same to Paris in the last week of July-early August. Please tell me it's Iceland! That's where I most want to go :) Gotten a bit fixated on it.

My husband is off of work from about June 1st to August 15th. This year, he has a week-long work engagement in early July though in the U.S. We usually travel for about 2 weeks at a time.

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I sent you a PM.

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I think summer travel is always more expensive than say traveling in the fall. I did read that airfare prices were due to increase, I guess due to the cost of fuel.

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When you say 'International' you really mean 'international flights to/from the US', right?

Yes, AFAIK these have gone up. I have booked tickets for Feb and the rates were ridiculous. Well above US$1000. Fuel surcharges seem one reason. Airport taxes seem to have gone up as well.


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I have noticed they have gone up also. But I try to fly out of SFO before June first. June seems to be the start of airline high season. So even if you can leave the last day of May you might save a couple hundred bucks each.

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win2 -- that's also what I finally came up with! There's a little, little window of time. I found tickets to several places for about $800 in May and still trying to figure it out, but at least there are some possibilities here.

MTL -- that would explain it. Fuel's way up in area all around. And yep, that's what I meant. I started to feel like I was losing my mind, but we (almost) always travel in the summer, and while not cheap, it's never been near this much.

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Yeah, ticket prices have gone up significantly this year. In 2011 the average flight to Europe was between $700-$900 (from Detroit at least) and this year I can't seem to find anything for less than $1100. :/

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