Here are basic travel tips for booking INTERNATIONAL airfares from The Traveling Professor:

One-Way Fares Can Be More Expensive than Round Trip Fares:  A one-way coach fare on American Airlines from New York's JFK to Paris CDG on flight #44 on June 4 is $3358.70.   Add a non-stop return leg on June 11 and the fare is $732.33.  This sometimes does not apply to discount airlines, but in almost all cases, it applies to legacy carriers like American, Delta, British Airways and United.  

Make a Connection: Try booking a direct flight from JFK to Peru LIM (Lima) departing May 6 and returning May 13.  The direct flight will cost $866.  Then try booking it out of LGA (New York LaGuardia), about 11 miles away.  The flight connects in Miami but costs $635.   That puts $231 in your pocket.    An American Airline flight on the same dates direct from PHL to Munich (MUC) costs a whopping $1369.  Fly out of Boston and it goes down to $628.  That saves $741.

If Using Award Miles, Avoid Flying Through London: For example fly from JFK to CDG going out on October 23 and returning November 3, the fees are $361.13 if the flight connects in London.  Do a non-stop with fees for $83.63.  And if the non-stop is not available, connect through Charlotte (CLT) or Madrid (MAD) and the fees are only $178.53.

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