Greetings...

[Russ Irwin]

Michael,

>I am going to be hiking the Camino this summer.  Any advice on how to get
>cheap plane tickets?  Delta can offer me a round trip ticket for 664. USD
>into London (I am walking Canterbury and Croagh Patrick as well).  Anyone
>have news for a better price from the east coast (New York - Atlanta and
>anywhere in between).

Much depends on time of year and length of stay. Over 1 month is more expensive and so is July -
August bookings. I'm leaving about May 9th and am planning, for now, on a 45 day total stay which
will mean a middle of June departure. I'm also in the US at Pittsburgh, PA.

So, I spent close to two hours at a local travel agent today. We went through just about everything,
including all the major airlines and 'ticket brokers' (who can sometimes save you more). We came up
with using Iberia airlines rather than a ticket broker, even though it was about $100 more
expensive, because it leaves me with better options to change the return date. The total cost comes
to $1,078 US Dollars (that includes tax). While that's higher than I expected, it also includes both
"in-Spain" flights. It seems that if you use Iberia then the "in-Spain" flights are really cheap.
For instance, to add the Santiago - Madrid leg only cost an additional $38 (included in the $1,078).

Pittsburgh - New York - Madrid - Pamplona (from which I can take a taxi to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port)

Santiago - Madrid - New York - Pittsburgh (on the way back)

Hope this helps.

Russ