I started by looking for cheap intra-Europe flights to Sarajevo. I used Skyscanner to see the cheapest offers for June and July in and out of there. Looks like Stockholm (Norwegian.no) and Cologne (TUI or Germanwings, I forget which) about $100 each way, so I added STO and CGN to the search. Best… about $1200 on PDX-STO.

Other ideas: NYC>DUB $756 Delta, then DUB>Zadar Ryanair.com, then Zadar>Sarajevo … bus, car, train? And, have you tried the links and tips in our new user thread? There might be a consolidator with your ideal itinerary, or close to it, for better than the rest. Consider what I call the price/hassle quotient. Is it worth it to piece together PDX>NYC for say $250, then NYC>LON for say $750, then LON>Sarajevo for say $400, when a consolidator might have it all on the same ticket for the same price or less? Consider that if you mis-connect on separate tickets, you are SOL.

Thank you for the ideas! That certainly gives me a lot to think about. I’m going to look through them tonight. I know I’m going to feel silly but can someone tell me how to find the new user thread? I looked but can’t seem to figure out where it is!

It’s pinned here to the top of our cheap flights forum.

Got it (for some reason I was thinking it was a separate tab or something like that). Okay, so I have checked out the ITA site. I had never heard of it before so from what I can tell it’s a search engine for airlines? Does it matter if I search as a guest or is it better to download the software? Thanks again for the tips. I love to travel so the more I learn about money/time saving the more I get to travel!

Also, I noticed on another thread that Ryanair charges a lot for baggage. We were planning to use them for getting around Europe but now I’m wondering if all of fees and restrictions (plus transportation when you have to use an outlying airport) make it worthwhile. Clearly I have a lot more research to do.

ITA takes airfare data that airlines update several times daily, and constructs flight itineraries with no preference for one airline over another, only by lowest price based on the fare rules that airlines submit with the fares. ITA does not do bookings. Take their results straight to the airline’s own booking site. Sometimes Orbitz can replicate ITA’s fares, too.

Occasionally ITA will find a fare construction that can not be booked. Since they rely in fare data from airlines, the reasons for not being bookable could be 1. sold out on one or more flight legs, or 2. no seats allocated at that fare; occasionally an airline will float a low fare and then (by design?) never allocate seats. However, 9 times out of 10, or more, ITA sniffs out the best published* fares for me— that are actually bookable. You do not have to sign up or download anything to use ITA.

Beware Ryanair’s fees! They will nickle and dime you to death—if you’re not careful. All of their fees are disclosed at Ryanair.com before you submit the final “book” command on a flight. One of the more egregious fees, IMHO, is charging 15 EUR for first bag, 35 EUR for second bag, and 20 EUR per KILO (yes, PER kilo) for each kilo (2.2 lb) over 15. So if you’re not a light packer, beware! From Dublin, Aer Lingus compete with them on many routes, and have a more reasonable 20 kg bag allowance, without all the nickle and diming that Ryanair get up to. Here’s a table of Ryanair’s fees: http://www.ryanair.c…

*Published fares are like “retail” prices, including any sales, set directly by airlines. In contrast, “unpublished” fares are offered from consolidators. Some consolidators are included in searches on BookingBuddy.com. I listed some more in our new user thread.