Cheap flights to
Ireland

We know, from years of deal-hunting experience, that amazingly low fares can pop up at any time. We also know, however, that there’s a period of time when fares tend to be at their lowest—1-3 months before domestic flights and 2-8 months before international ones. We call this the Goldilocks Window, and it’s when we recommend most people buy their plane tickets.

There are a few caveats to this recommendation, though. If your travel dates are set in stone, or if you’re flying during peak season or a big holiday, plan on adding a few months to the equation. Whatever you do, we strongly suggest buying tickets well before airlines raise prices at the last minute, which usually happens 21, 14, and 7 days before departure.

First of all, we want to assure you that this tip is not about flying to Greece instead of Ireland. Rather, it’s just a nickname for one of our favorite travel hacks because it’s often the best way to save money on flights to the Greek Islands, but it works all over the world. The idea is that you find the cheapest long-haul flight you can into an airport that’s relatively close to the place you want to be. From there, you’d then find a low-cost flight (or a train or boat) to carry you the rest of the way.

For instance, if nonstop flights into Shannon from New York start at around $800 roundtrip, you may find a nonstop flight to Dublin for around $450. Even if you add in a $25-45 bus ticket to get you from Dublin to Shannon, you’re still looking at some big savings. This kind of itinerary does require a bit more planning on your part, but the savings are often worth the effort.

Whereas the Greek Islands Trick is about looking for a cheaper arrival airport, this tip is about looking for a cheaper departure airport. Even if you don’t live in an area that has multiple major airports to choose from, you can still take advantage of a super low fare from other airports around the country, and it never hurts to look.

If you’re in, say, the Philadelphia area and you want to visit Dublin, you might find that the best deal on a direct flight is about $800 roundtrip. Before you assume that’s the best deal you can get, though, it’s absolutely worth checking on fares to Dublin from other airports in the US. Flights to Dublin from New York can come in at under $500 (sometimes well under), and we feel like a $300 savings is an excellent incentive for the two-hour drive from Philly to NYC.

It probably sounds like a tip telling you to fly when fares are cheap is ridiculously obvious, but there’s more going on here than you might think. This tip is all about flexibility. When your travel dates are set in stone, the chances of you finding a super cheap flight are severely limited. You could get lucky, but you could also miss out on cheaper fares a few days before or after your chosen travel dates. Keeping your plans flexible means that, instead of choosing vacation dates first and looking at fares after that, you’d be looking at fares first and picking your vacation dates based on when flights are cheapest.

If you must travel during high season, however, or you don’t have the luxury of flexible travel planning, there are still a couple of things you can do to save a little on airfare. Summer flights in early June and late August are often cheaper for flights than the rest of the season. Also, try to book your flight dates on the days of the week when airfare is usually cheaper (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays), avoiding the days when it’s usually more expensive (Fridays and Sundays).

Rather than spending weeks or months of your free time scouring the internet for a better deal on a flight, we highly recommend putting technology to good use by setting up a fare alert for the trip you want to take. When the price is in the range you specified, you’ll get an email letting you know it’s time to buy. Do this a few months before you want to travel to have the best chance of finding a great deal—and keep in mind that if you’re considering multiple itineraries, you’ll have to sign up for multiple alerts. Or, you can outsource the whole kit and kaboodle to us by joining Going. This is kind of our thing.

The main international gateway to Ireland is Dublin Airport (DUB), serving more than 27M people annually. This is also the airport where we find most of the deals we send members on flights to Ireland. Shannon Airport (SNN) and Cork Airport (ORK) are essentially tied for second place in terms of the number of deals we regularly find, but of those two, only Shannon has direct flights from the US.