7-Day American Airlines Fare Sale – Europe Roundtrip From Under $500

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American Airlines is currently running a second week of ‘Daily Deals’ which, based on the deals we saw last week, is good news for flyers. Today’s deal is a sale that runs for a week (that makes it a little different from the other deals we’ve seen so far) and it’s a sale in which you’ll find roundtrip Economy Class fares between the US and Europe starting at under $500.

American Airlines ‘Europe Deals’

Headline Terms & Conditions

• Offer valid for reservations made in the US for flights originating in the US48, Hawaii and Puerto Rico to Great Britain and European Union.
• Offer is valid for reservations made January 12, 2021 from 12:01 a.m. to January 19, 2021 11:59 p.m. Central Time for travel anytime.
• This offer cannot be applied retroactively or to existing reservations.
• 28-day advance purchase required.
• Sunday night stay required.
• Day of the week travel:
  • Prices for outbound flight valid on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.
• Prices for return flight valid Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
• Valid only on flights operated by American Airlines and American Eagle or marketed by American Airlines and operated by British Airways, Finnair and Iberia.
• Stopovers are not allowed.
• Valid for round-trip travel.

Full Terms & Conditions can be found on the promotion page

Example Fares

Fares are usually in a constant state of flux so what I’m seeing now may not be what you see when you decide to check fares yourself but at the time of writing, these are some of the fares that are being promoted:

Note: I have deliberately chosen example fares for travel later in the year as that’s when travel to/from Europe is likely to be easiest.

Fares for roundtrip Economy Class travel:

• Charlotte – Edinburgh from $631 (September 2021)
• Charlotte – Munich from $656 (July 2021)
• Chicago – London from $617 (October 2021)
• Chicago – Madrid from $681 (July 2021)
• Dallas – Edinburgh from $657 (September 2021)
• Dallas – Rome from $559 (November 201)
• Dallas – Amsterdam from $651 (August 2021)
• Los Angeles – London from $608 (November 2021)
• Los Angeles – Amterdam from $606 (August 2021)
• Miami – Madrid from $495 (June 2021)
• Miami – Milan from $593 (November 2021)
• New York – Madrid from $497 (June 2021)
• New York – Milan from $507 (October 2021)
• Philadelphia – Barcelona from $614 (September 2021)
• Philadelphia – Berlin from $672 (September 2021)

Note: These are just example fares so there are a multitude of fares between other city pairs as well…some better than others!

Quick Thoughts

Ok, yes, we don’t yet know when we’ll be able to travel freely between the US and Europe but with pre-departure testing being used by an increasing number of nations and with various vaccines being rolled out right now, it probably that the second half of 2021 should see travel start to open up. Frankly, I’m not sure that very many economies can withstand travel at its current levels for much longer and that will drive governments to work out how we can all start to move around again in relative safety.

All of that aside, there are a few good deals in here but just how good they turn out to be will depend on just how many of them are for Basic Economy travel and what the premium for a Main Cabin fare is like.

Still, it’s hard to argue with fares like $495 for roundtrip travel between Miami and Madrid or $608 for roundtrip travel between Los Angeles and Rome and with codeshare bookings on BA, Iberia, and Finnair permitted and with travel permitted on most days of the week, it shouldn’t be too difficult for everyone (who’s happy to travel) to find a deal that works for them.

Keep in mind that whatever dates you decide to book, you’ll almost certainly need to take a COVID test before departure (make sure you budget for that), you’ll almost certainly have to travel while wearing a mask, and you’ll have to be prepared to obey whatever local rules are in place at your chosen destination. If you’re not comfortable with any of that, don’t bother making a booking.

Bottom Line

For the next week (until 23:59 CT on 19 January), American Airlines is offering a sale of fares between the US and Europe with roundtrip fares starting at around $500. The sale appears to be for Economy Class bookings only and applies to all bookable travel dates.