A good Summer fare to our favorite country in Europe. Good for August travel.

What is our Summer Europe Fare feature? Fares to Europe for Summer travel have been very expensive the past 2 – 3 years. This is our irregular feature of deals to Europe under $1,000 for Summer travel. We usually try to keep it around $800. These fares do not meet our 6 cents per mile criterion.

Gran Via, Madrid, Spain – Photo: Dimitry B, used under Creative Commons License (By 2.0)

Sample Travel Date:

• August 14th – 21st

Fare Availability:

• Valid for travel on the outbound from August 1st – 30th. Must purchase at least 3 days in advance of departure

How to Search for Availability:

• Use ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search and use the following search criteria:
  • Departing from: PHL
  • Outbound Advanced Routing Code: ua ua
  • Destination:  MAD
  • Return Advanced Routing Code: ua ua
  • (Click on Advanced Routing Codes link to enable advanced routing code input)
  • Select “See calendar of lowest fares”
  • Length of stay “0-7” (the max date range is 7 days. So 0-7, 5-12, 7-14 etc)
• Beginner’s Guide on How to Use Matrix by ITA Software
• How to Read Airfare Rules and Use It to Your Advantage

Fare Class:

• K

Elite Qualifying Dollars:

• $718

Routing:

• PHL – IAD (Washington D.C.) – MAD (Madrid) – IAD- PHL . Some flights might be operated by United partners like Air Canada, Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss. Avoid those to if you want to earn full mileage with United, but if you do have to take one, the best option would be Air Canada as the segments between Canada and Europe would earn 100% mileage with United.

Stopover:

• Two permitted in Europe for $100 each. One per direction.
• How to Take Advantage of a Stopover

Global Premier Upgrade Fare (for United 1K and GS members):

• W Class
• $1,429

Mileage:

United will be revenue based mileage earning starting March 1st, 2015. Miles will be earn base on elite qualifying dollars multiple by 5 as base level earning and up to 11 for 1K level members. We will be showing the 2015 base mileage earning for all United fares going forward to show how negative the changes are for a majority of United flyers.

• 2014: 7,852 miles
• March 1st, 2015:  3,590 miles or a difference of 4,262 miles.

How to Book:

• Support us by using our Orbitz link to book with dates found on ITA Software Matrix Airfare Search. Make sure you select “Additional Search Options” and then “Narrow the search to my preferred airlines” and select United

• Save $400 off your next travel purchase after signing up for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®.* Earn 40,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days – that’s enough to redeem for a $400 travel statement credit

Accommodations:

For hotel bookings, we recommend that you only book using online travel agencies (Hotels.com, HotelsCombined.com or Hotwire.com) if it is a non-chain hotel. We don’t want you to miss out on earning rewards with chain hotels.

• Accor Hotels
  • Sofitel, Pullman, M Gallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis
• Aloft Hotels
• CheapTickets
• Country Inns and Suites
• Four Points
• Hilton Hotels
  • Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Home2
• HomeAway.com
• Hotels.com
• HotelsCombined.com
• Hotwire
• Intercontinental Group
  • Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites
• Le Meridien
• Orbitz
• Preferred Hotels & Resorts
  • Preferred, Sterling, Summit
• Radisson Hotels
  • Radisson Blu, Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Hotel Missioni
• Sheraton
• Venere
• Westin
• W Hotels
• Wyndham Hotels
  • Wyndham, Tryp, Wingate, Hawthorn, Microtel, Dream, Planet Hollywood, Ramada, Night, Baymont, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Knights Inn

Car Rentals

• Avis – US and Canadian Rentals
• CarRentals.com
• Fox Rent A Car
• Hotwire
• Orbitz
• Payless Car Rental
• Sixt Car Rental – Good Agency for Rentals in Europe

Background Information:

• Visa: US Citizens – Not required. Other nationals, check the TIMATIC Visa Database
• Currency: Euro (EUR). $1US = 0.73 EUR

Tips for saving when using credit cards at international destinations:

• No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards to save on international purchases
• Don’t get hit with Dynamic Currency Conversion
• Get your taxes refunded when shopping
• How to Avoid International Data Roaming Charges

For more of the latest cheap Philadelphia Flight Deals:

• Go to the The Philadelphia Flight Deals page

* The Flight Deal will receive a commission if you use the Orbitz, accommodation or car rental affiliate links to make a booking or apply and is approved for a credit card using our link above. Thank you for your continuing support.

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The Flight Deal does not sell travel products or services. We provide you with information about third-party travel suppliers’ offers, and link you to their sites. The information posted by The Flight Deal is valid at the time of publication. However, we have no control over the suppliers, and we therefore do not warrant or guarantee that their offers will not change or become unavailable. Nor are we responsible for their products, services or site content. Please see their sites for their most up-to-date offer information and all applicable terms and conditions.