New to Non-Rev and International flight to Europe week before x-mas

Quick question. My daughter and I will be flying non-rev to Europe (or hoping to) around Dec 17/18th 2019. I was hoping being a week before Christmas and mid week would help us get a flight. Our main goal is just to get to Europe then we can hop to France via train or Euro flight. My question is this... Are there better airports to try this from on the Eastern part of the US? I was considering Philly as it has several flights to Europe to help increase the odds of 2 open seats. Also, being flexible on the way home (Madrid, Spain Jan 7th 2020) is it usually difficult to get a flight back to the states (open to any US destination)? Any tips and websites with tips would be appreciated.

I did see the Kiwi site and I can get a flight for around $650 for us both as an option also...

Thank you in advance for any info.

Todd

Welcome aboard Todd and welcome to the topsy-turvy world of non-revving. First I want to encourage you to read the NRTP guide, it will guide you through the process of planning a trip/selecting a flight, checking loads etc. BTW, mid-week AM flights -always a good option. *wink*
Non-revving to/from Europe during the Christmas season especially to any city with a Christmas Market/Festival is going to be problematic, you're going to have to be flexible and be prepared for "anything", from wild load swings to a blizzard shutting down the entire East Coast ( and yes it happened to my D3's - Snowtober 2011)
As far as airports, it depends-where you're located/loads/your priority and travel weather. In other words, start your planning from your nearest hub and have plans A/B/C/D (alternate airports/flights/routing) ready to go AND you might want to invest in a good lucky charm too*wink*. Closer to your travel window you can start narrowing down your options and be prepared to "edit" your plans and/or buy a ticket- the non-rev gods-like the weather can be …...tricky. Good Luck

Depending on where you want to visit, you should also look into flying zed such as on BA out of LHR. Aa in/out of LHR in the off season *usually* has decent availability and is a good back up. Only hassle is transferring between T3 and T5 and having to re-clear uk security.

There are many factors to consider, weather is one. There is a good amount of connecting passengers on most of the flights from the east coast . You can only know at the last minute, If you want to play on the safe side, buy a confirmed ticket now. Nowadays flights are most of of time unpredictable. As far as the departure city, it is hard to say but JFK will have the most flight to Europe all airlines combined, AF have a lot of daily flight, their website gp.net is quite accurate. By experience I have been saved by them a lot of time. I wish I could be more specific.

Speaking as a Delta EMP I can tell you that DUB, MUC and AMS are our easiest routes to nonrev on a consistent basis. Once there, jump on Easy, Ryan or Vueling to navigate. Good luck.