You can score a cheap plane ticket through these Valentine’s Day sales

Published 9:03 am Monday, February 5, 2024

While chocolate and flowers are more traditional gifts, nothing will endear you to your valentine quite like a plane ticket to some picturesque destination. 

With U.S. spending on Valentine’s Day gifts expected to fall just below $26 billion by the time Feb. 14 rolls around, airlines are tapping into the marketing opportunity with a number of promotions and sales.

Related: Flowers and Crypto? V-Day Expectations Often Fail To Meet Reality

Founded in 2019, Iceland-based budget airline Play carved out a market in shuttling tourists from the East Coast of the U.S. to European capitals such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and its home base of Reykjavik.

Many low-cost airlines fly to Scandinavia from Eastern American cities.

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Airlines are promoting their routes as ‘romantic getaways’ for V-Day

As part of its Valentine’s Day promotion, the airline is offering one-way $99 fares to Reykjavik from Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Stewart International Airport in New York’s Orange County. The airline’s other European destinations, which also include cities such as Copenhagen and Berlin, are available at $129 each way while the sale also gives one a chance to book a “stopover” to see Iceland for up to 10 days through the same ticket.

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“Travelers can book a first stopover trip or romantic getaway for Valentine’s Day starting today with $99 flights to Iceland or $129 flights to one of nine European destinations!” the airline says of the promotion.

Taking advantage requires some thinking forward as the promotion ends by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 6. Travel can be booked anytime between February and May or September and December 2024 while those looking to travel in the summer will need to pay the airline’s regular rates.

Want a ‘comfortable and romantic journey’ to Paris?

Another small airline that launched by offering all-business flights between New York City and France’s Nice and Paris (later expanding with a route to Milan), La Compagnie has an annual Valentine’s Day sale in which it offers two-for-one flights.

While round-trip fares across the Atlantic with the airline usually start at around $2,000, the promotion begins at $3,800 for the NYC-France flights and $4,800 for the route to Milan. Each ticket comes with a lie-flat seat, free Wi-Fi and a menu highlighting ingredients from one’s French or Italian destination in what the airline promises will be an “overall comfortable and romantic journey at an irresistible duo fare.”

To take advantage, one will need to go on the airline’s website and book travel before the end of 2024 by the end of Feb. 14. The lowest rates are for those who can fly during the week while there are also some blackout dates during popular summer and holiday periods. Nice flights will also only be available from April.

For both airlines, the price includes all taxes and airline fees but not baggage or certain other perks like early seat selection.

With Valentine’s Day still a week away, many airlines will also announce day-of sales targeting those who want have either forgotten their present and need to seriously make up for it as well as those who are feeling spontaneous during the most romantic day of the year.

This article will be updated as more airlines announce their Valentine’s Day sales.

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