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Consider AirHitch for the Cheapest Tickets to Europe

You figured out the total budget for your trip to Europe, decided that you are very flexible in when you can begin and end your trip and decided to find an excellent airfare bargain. After a bit of research you will find that your options are not as limited as you imagined.

First look into air courier services. Air couriers allow you to travel inexpensively to many destinations throughout the world in exchange for a service. You are simply required to give up a portion of the baggage space you are normally allowed to transport items the courier services ship in their place (Don't worry - these services are on the up and up and will not require you to ship illegal goods). You must also deliver an envelope containing shipment information to an office at your city of destination. There are no restrictions or services required on your return trip.

Ticket consolidators can also provide tickets abroad at reduced rates. Consolidators essentially buy huge blocks of tickets on selected flights and sell them to travelers at discounted rates. While these are certainly cheaper than full price airfare and often even cheaper than discounted airfares, you still may want to search for an even cheaper option.

The cheapest option you will probably find for a trip to Europe is through AirHitch.

How does it work? AirHitch works a bit differently than courier services. Basically, there are thousands of unused seats on planes between the U.S. and Europe every year. This is mainly due to lack of demand for seats during certain times of year, but even during busy times seats can be empty for a variety of reasons. AirHitch has an agreement with a number of airlines such that if a particular flight is not full, an AirHitch ticket, or voucher, can be used to "purchase" a ticket on that flight. In other words, your voucher is not a ticket, but acts as a ticket when an empty seat on a flight is available.

Is there a catch? Not per se. You enter into the agreement to purchase the voucher knowing that you can only use it in exchange for an empty seat. You are essentially flying standby, which can make things a bit stressful. You are not likely to know whether or not you'll make it onto a particular flight until 30 minutes prior to its departure. On the other hand, because others are likely to have AirHitch vouchers as well, you have to arrive very early to place your name on the standby list.

How flexible does one need to be? You have to be extremely flexible, not just about the time and day of your flight, but also about your destination, as you don't necessarily know which city you'll be flying into. You also have to be prepared to miss flights after long waits in airports.

The voucher is good for any European destination for which AirHitch happens to have an agreement with for any given week. You can choose to fly to a certain destination, but there may only be 3 flights that fly there during a particular week on which you can use your voucher. It still doesn't mean you'll get onto one of those 3 flights. And you can only get flight information 1 week in advance. That applies to both ends of your trip. The bottom line - be prepared to fly into and out of a number of large European cities to maximize your opportunities. Note: We recommend you have a Eurail pass, or some other means of transportation between European cities, in case you don't get your targeted flight.

The vouchers are good from any domestic airport in your designated region (West Coast, East Coast, Southwest, etc.). So you could use your voucher to on a flight from L.A. to Amsterdam or from San Francisco to Paris, because L.A. and San Francisco are within the same region of the U.S. This can also increase your chances of getting a flight, but getting from one city to another can be an inconvenience.

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