My emplode is checking my disk integrity... I chould probably hop a plane to Paris, have a few glasses of wine, hop a plane back and still have time to catch a movie before this thing finishes. Uuuugh.

No kidding! I this the downside or having 60GB unit now? (Oh, poor me!!)

Does anyone have a suggestion on what one of the better ways (sites) is to check airfare prices between European locations?

The engine behind most of the carrier specific res sites is the same -- ITN. I still type in www.itn.com even though it is now owned by Amex and branded as Amex. Choose the "flights" option immediately. the quickie booking option doesn't provide enough detail. I always use this to eyeball flights before going to our corporate travel site (which also use the same ITN engine) to finalize bookings (because, among other reasons, you can use ITN anonymously so there's no chance of getting stuck with an accidental booking if you hit the wrong button!)

ITN doesn't cover everything. You may get lower last-minute pricing from a consolidator site (maybe somebody else can recommend some of those like "Last-Minute Travel" or whatever). Also, it's worth playing around with ITN -- try odd routes and times -- as sometimes a fare will pop up that is lower than what initially gets spat out by the "AI".

Some of the carriers are trying to avoid dumping seats to discounters by doing it themselves. I'm a United frequent flyer and they send me e-mails with "E-fare" offers -- typically last-minute, non-upgradable seats with serious date/route constraints. Below I've attached a sample from January 9th for "Atlantic" destinations (lots of empty seats from Newark, looks like!).

I'm pretty sure you need to have a United (or Air Canada...) FF number to get those notices, but that's easy to do. Not sure how many carriers are doing it, as I've been 90% on UA for the past 5 years. Even with the notices, you still have to jump through the hoops to figure out which few dates and routes qualify and they are typically not any help unless you are ready to fly the following week.

Hope that helps,

[EDIT: Ah, you said "between" European locations. If that is truly the case, I think that there are certainly low-cost carriers that won't show up in ITN (the way Southwest is not listed on ITN for intra-US travel). I'm thinking of outfits like Ryan Air. You probably would want to check Ryan Air and maybe some others directly. I leave it to Europeans to steer you straight! I'll leave the rest of the post alone, lest it help any other folks trying to get to Amersfoort!]


Atlantic destinations:

Atlanta (ATL) Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) $259.00
Boston (BOS) London, England (LHR) $195.00
Chicago (ORD) Brussels, Belgium (BRU) $298.00
Chicago (ORD) Dusseldorf, Germany (DUS) $290.00
Chicago (ORD) Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) $290.00
Chicago (ORD) London, England (LHR) $245.00
Chicago (ORD) Paris, France (CDG) $298.00
Denver (DEN) Munich, Germany (MUC) $310.00
Los Angeles (LAX) Amsterdam, Holland (AMS) $338.00
Los Angeles (LAX) Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) $345.00

Los Angeles (LAX) London, England (LHR) $305.00
Los Angeles (LAX) Paris, France (CDG) $338.00
Miami (MIA) Paris, France (CDG) $318.00
New York City (JFK) London, England (LHR) $175.00
Newark (EWR) London, England (LHR) $175.00
San Francisco (SFO) Dusseldorf, Germany (DUS) $345.00