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Hey! Is there a way to get cheap first class tickets from USA to Europe (specifically Germany?)

I have changed my dates and gotten cheaper tickets going a day or two earlier or later. So thats good. But I wonder if i leave from a certain city or fly in to a certain city if its even cheaper? Like, is Frankfurt cheaper than Munich?

Ive tried a few options on cities (again, I’m flexible as we are renting a car to travel around) but it does not seem
To matter, even if it cuts out a smaller connecting flight

Hi…sorry, don’t know your location but I can try to help. I’m a retired travel agent so my info is about 5-7 years old, but most of it is still the same.
Frankfurt or Munich would be about the same cost. You need to get ahold of a travel agent and see what they can find for you. They have access to consolidators who sell tickets cheaper than you will ever find them. They buy them at a net price and add their commission on to the quoted fare. Travelling mid week helps sometimes and the time of year is another factor. You might even be able to find a charter flight, but again it depends on where you are flying from.

I can fly from DC or possibly even NYC if you think that would help?

DC and NYC will tend to have better pricing as there should be more competition on that route. Denver, chicago, and orlando tends to have better pricing also. I use google flights to track all the options. You can save a search with notifications for major changes. Pricing can have huge swings from week to week depending on how many seats are selling. If you are not taking kids, avoid the summer months or between the holidays if possible. That's peak season so they don't discount much. Generally there's only 21ish first class seats on the widebodies flying the long haul, so if you can expand your class to Premium economy you might save some plus that opens up more seats (24 more) They are going to reserve some of those to sell at a premium on short notice. How far out are you looking? I tend to look for international pricing at least six months in advance, though I bought for March last November but that was on the tail end of the Delta spike. When I booked I had my choice of PremEcon seats. The flights were full on day of travel.

Oh crap. Trip is 5 mos out, in august . We are a little flexible, as in, we are taking a tour but want to stay longer than the tour, so were planning on staying aug 1- mid august.

However, we could also go earlier and have the tour at the end of our trip

Plug your potential cities and dates into Google flights and use the date grid.
JFK to Mun August 2 to august 16 is $4567 on British Air/American with a layover in LHR. LHR to Munich is business class. Lufthansa has a non-stop to Frankfurt for 7200. Google considers both those lower than normal. I didn't try Dulles.

First class tickets are going to be extortionate. Have you looked at business class?? Is there a reason why you want to travel in first class?? Even business class is going to be very expensive but you’ll have a better range of airfares. Also look at premium economy which is very comfortable. Both BA and virgin air have this class.

I wouldn’t travel via London as the landing fees are very high which jacks up all the tickets to the U.K.. try looking at airlines that either fly direct or via Paris or Amsterdam then get a connecting flight on a local budget airline.

Id like my mom to travel first class because she is 85 and I want her to have a great flight. I also have a two year old and the thought of him in coach kicking someone’s seat is anxiety inducing! Id like to lie flat with him, and hopefully he could sleep if its a night flight

The last international flight I took everyone immediately slammed their seats all the way back and i felt very squished the whole trip. I dont put my seat back so I was unfortunately pretty squashed!

Premium Economy on American is pretty good and were only a few hundred premium over main cabin. They were only 7 wide compared to 9 wide in main cabin (first class is 4 wide) and have 38" pitch compared to main cabin's 31. I doubt I'll every fly cross Atlantic in main cabin again.
For the two year old go for the bulkhead seats up front though he might not even be able to get to the seat in front. Seat cost for that was under 1500 each with connecting flight. I don't think you'll find first class under 3500.
Right now 2 adults 1 kid JFK to frankfurt economy=2.2k, Premium Economy is 4.2k, Business is 6.2k, first is 13k.

FWIW my wife very much prefers flying over during the day instead of the overnight. Getting there at 11pm UTC and going to bed early is much better for the sleep cycle than landing at 8am, taking a nap, and trying to go back to sleep night UTC time.