Laurie

My friend and I plan to fly from Des Moines, Iowa to Marseille in Mid March of 2007. I will fly home to Des Moines in Early April from Paris. She will fly from Paris to Ft. Myers, Florida.

I have found flights that would allow us to fly together on the international flight for a fare of about $750.00 each. Previously, the flights had been $830.00.

Is this a decent price or should I hold out until November for a better fare?

Thanks for your advice!
Laurie

martytravels

I don't think so. I paid $406 roundtrip (inc. taxes) this past March for a Detroit-Frankfurt, Paris-Detroit ticket. Granted it was from Northwest's hub and the flights were nonstops, but I can't imagine THAT much more for a flight from Des Moines. I'd wait it out a bit.

pdx

I was advised (by the owner of the house we are renting) to wait until after Christmas for March airfares to France. I know it's painful to wait, but even if we don't find a better deal than $750, I doubt we will do worse.

pilgrim

I agree to wait. The fares are usually lower before Easter holiday than $750.
You might want to try kayak.com as another search engine or travelocity.com for their fare alert
program. Have a wonderful trip.

Clifton

Maybe wait, but keep checking in the meantime.

I'm looking at itasoftware.com right now and the tickets we bought two weeks ago from St. Louis into Morocco, return from Spain for March/April are $170 more now than they were then. We got them for less than what you're seeing for your route. So, as others have said, I'd wait - but keep looking for deals, don't just backburner it for a month.

janisj

Seems awfully high to me - but flying out of Des Moines might be the reason. One year doesn't bear much on the next - but I flew from San Francisco to Paris this March for a bit over $500.

concernedposter

You say your friend is flying from Des Moines to Marseille and returning from Paris to Ft. Myers? You are flying from Des Moines to Marseille and returning from Paris to Des Moines? If that's what you found for the prices you mention, I'd jump on it. Or are those not the exact flights?

Margo_Chester

sign on with airfarewatchdog.com thanks to them I was alerted to Virgin's sale last February and got JFK-LHR for $408 including all taxes and fees.

Laurie

Thanks for your advice, everyone. I am still considering these flights. I have not purchased yet.

The DesMoines market is quite a bit different than the Detroit or St. Louis area. Our flight prices are often $150 to $200 higher because DesMoines does not have any budget airlines and it is not a hub city.

Concernedposter, Yes those are the exact flights. My friend lives in Florida but she is helping her elderly mother move back to the midwest and then we will fly together from Des Moines. After our
trip, I will return to Des Moines and she will return to Ft. Myers, Florida.

Thanks again for your help. I am going to keep thinking, but it is so hard to wait!

JoyC

I agree with you Laurie that Des Moines market is quite different from Detroit or St. Louis which although not as big as JFK or LAX also serves as hub for NWA or AA respectively. So its not really accurate to compare the fares coming from those airports. Likewise, you can sometimes get better fares out of Chicago (ORD) than STL. I recently bought tix to Italy from STL for July 2007. I paid $1000 incl tax which I thought was a good fare because (1) Italy is a more expensive destination than some countries in europe e.g. France or Germany (2) I'm leaving out of STL which I've said before is not that big of a market- not having a lot of different airlines flying in and out of it. I bought my tix 2 months ago and I'm satisfied with the price I have paid for it.

JoyC

Oh and I forgot the 3rd reason: (3) I am going during peak summer travel season!

Viajero2

Laurie-- the average for that route (Des Moines-Marseille) in March is about $620/pp. That said, the fact that you are returning in April from a different city ups the price. Definitely not a bargain, but certainly not in the range of outrageous, either.

Clifton

Wow, Joy I guess I've never priced leaving from STL in peak season. That really does make a difference, doesn't it? Our trip leaves STL 3/31 and ended up running $700 all in, with Casa and Granada adding segments and less than competitive start/end points. I guess I was thinking that if anything, ours would run a bit more for that reason.

The last few years, I've not thought of STL as being much of a hub, and definitely not a gateway like back when you could fly to LGW non-stop. Now you always have that one US connection before you can get to Europe *grumble*, usually ORD (which I think has direct DSM-ORD route as STL does - I've even seen routes on the AA site that want to take you LHR-ORD-DSM-STL). We actually live in Memphis now and the prices seem within the same range on AA from here, even though AA has only one gate at MEM. We just drive up to fly out of St. Louis due to having family there that will watch the pets while we're away.

But in that I know very little about the Des Moines market, it may well be the best price Laurie will find.

missypie

If you have the time (i.e. if you have access to a computer all day), check several times a day. I just bought our tickets to Barcelona. The variety of flights, connections, etc., using the same search on aa.com changed several times a day. The day I bought, the flight (which had been in the mid-$700 earlier that week), was suddenly in the mid-$600s. I bought a few hours later, and the fares were in the very low $600s. I checked back a few hours later, and my flights were $723. Well over a $100 fluccuation within a few hours. It's nuts, but if you have the time to check rather obsessively, it can pay off.

tara3056

Hi, Laurie *waves* - I live in West Des Moines, and am well aware of how we have to pay more for airfare to fly from our *cough* lovely Des Moines *International* Airport.

Persinally, I'd hold off on the $750 tickets. We're heading to Europe for a month-long trip from May 19-June 18. I booked open-jaw tickets flying into London and out from Venice for $850. $100 over your price, yes, but any trip to/from Italy seems to cost more than flights to Paris or London. Also, we're going in the HIGH season.

For March, I'd imagine you could do a bit better than $750 by waiting...

In January of last year, we went to Paris for $398 (taxes/fees included!). March is busier than January, and has nicer weather, but still... you'd think you'd be able to get March tix for $600ish perhaps.

It's all a gamble, though. $750 isn't really that bad, especially since you're flying from DSM, so if you're comfortable with that and really itching to get the tickets bought, maybe it's worth the risk of prices dropping later?

Laurie

Thanks to everyone! I think I will just wait and watch the fares. I appreciate knowing that the average price should be around $620.

Waving back at you Tara! Yes, it is sometimes frustrating flying out of DSM. But even if we could take advantage of lower fare from Kansas City, we would still have to pay to park the car. And it is a hassle driving to and from KC, especially whin we are jet lagged.

Thanks for the advice. Now lets hope the fares keep dropping!
Laurie

Laurie

By the way, Tara, Congratulations on your great fares to London and home from Venice.

We have been to Venice 4 times and love the city. It is beautiful, especially at the time of year that you are going.

If you would like any recommendations for places to stay in Venice or restaurants, please let me know.

Have a great time! Laurie

Flyboy

It may or may not make sense to book these tickets simultaneously, since you have different itineraries on the return and Fort Meyers is a rather popular destination in the early part of April. Personally, I think there is about an 80% chance that you will be able to get the Des Moines return for less by waiting until November to purchase it and your chances of ultimately having to pay more are not all that great, in my view.

I wouldn't hold out for anything as low as people paid this past Spring because that just doesn't seem to be in the cards from anything I've been seeing.

suze

Because of such specific flights you need for the two of you, and desire to end up on the same transatlantic flight, I don't know I'd hold out for the absolutely lowest price, rather keep an eye on the itinerary that works best for both of you. Check things like which airports you transfer, connecting times, etc.