Halifax to Europe Airfare Under $800 (Summer 2020)

If you’re watching for airfare deals to Europe from Halifax, you’ve likely noticed that the best fares tend to be in May/June and September/October. If you can only travel in July or August, finding a bargain is more of a challenge. I looked to see what’s currently available in the summer of 2020 under $800 per person, return.

Flexible Date Searching

Obviously, these fares are not available on all dates in July and August. Displayed below are some sample dates I was able to find. If you have fixed travel dates, you’ll likely have to pay more, but if you have some leeway, these fares might be within your reach.

Remember, if you’re looking for Condor flights, be sure to check the Condor website and not just rely on Google Flights for fare info.

Halifax – Reykjavik
July 12-22
Air Canada
$788

Halifax – Frankfurt
July 2-14
August 4-25
Condor
$779

Halifax – Munich 
August 7-21
Condor
$719

Halifax – Dubrovnik
Zagreb – Halifax
July 20 – August 7
Condor
$799

Halifax – Florence
Venice – Halifax
July 20 – August 7
Condor
$779

Halifax – Prague
Warsaw – Halifax
August 7-28
Condor
$789

Halifax – Munich
Krakow – Halifax
August 7-28
Condor
$739
This is an example of two cities the Condor website won’t let me combine in one booking unless I go through Skyscanner first. I had no problem with the PRG-WAW open-jaw above.

Remember to add your Alaska Mileage Plan number to any Condor flight bookings if you’d like to take advantage of the 2020 partner bonus.

Booking Separate One-Way Flights

It’s occasionally possible to save money by making two separate bookings. Although “separate tickets” sometimes show up in the results on Google Flights when searching for a return or multi-city fare, you can also see what you can put together on your own by searching one-ways individually.

First, I’ll show you what you could be up against in your search. You might find great one-way outbound fares while inbound one-ways are unreasonably high.

For example, here are the current non-stop one-way fares Halifax (YHZ) to London (LGW) on WestJet according to Google Flights:

And here are the one-way fares for a non-stop flight home. It doesn’t help that London has hefty departure taxes from its airports.

Let’s say you want to spend a few nights in London and then travel by rail or budget airline to another destination and return home from there.

Here are a couple of options:

Halifax – London
July 29
WestJet
$334
Dublin – Halifax
August 17
WestJet
$379

Halifax – London
July 29
WestJet
$334
Florence – Halifax
August 14
Condor
$429

Worldwide By EasyJet

Setting the search to “Europe” and limiting the price to $400 and under, I initially found a few good one-way fares on Google Flights. For example, there was a $360 one-way fare Halifax to Lyon in late July. These were Worldwide By EasyJet fares where booking with them gives you a protected connection through London Gatwick airport from a WestJet flight to an EasyJet one. However, when I clicked through to the booking site, the fares had risen. It’s a good reminder to always go all the way to the booking page when using Google Flights to make sure you’re seeing the actual real-time fare.

Conclusion

I generally view any airfare from Halifax to Europe under $1000 to be a good deal in July and August. If you can get under $800, that’s a real score and especially if you’re booking for multiple people.

However, the airfare is only one piece of the puzzle. Saving a couple hundred dollars is great, but the overall cost of the trip will largely be determined by your choice of destination and itinerary. For example, if you’re going to central Europe, a higher airfare is quite acceptable in light of how much less you’ll spend on food, lodging and sightseeing.

As March approaches, it’s wise to keep an eye on airfares if you have any inclination to travel this summer. There is no specific time when fares will be at their lowest so you need to be aware of what will work for your budget and scheduling flexibility (or lack thereof).

Lastly, remember to note the exclusions and restrictions attached to the lowest economy fares such as “Economy Light” on Condor or “Basic Economy” on WestJet or Air Canada.