hopingtotravel

Are there any airlines that fly direct Seattle to Paris? Since I begin my day flying Anchorage to Seattle first, it's a concern to me to make that overnight leg as short and cheap as I can. I realize BA to Heathrow, then to Paris is an option. Also, one that's about $100 cheaper is NW flying as KLM and transferring in Amsterdam. I could get AK Air miles with both. I'd even be willing to fly out of Vancouver if an airline flew a direct polar route. I was surprised that Air France does not fly from Seattle. At the time of year I want to fly the Anchorage charter to Frankfurt is not running. Anybody faced with the same question?

WillTravel

I don't think there are any direct SEA-CDG or YVR-CDG flights. At least I've never seen them and I've done a lot of looking. There is a YVR-Zurich charter this summer.

If you are flying Alaska Air from Anchorage, maybe you could fly to SFO or LAX instead so you could get a nonstop to Paris. (But I guess that flying to LAX or SFO would probably involve a plane change also.)

If you want to fly from YVR to LON, there are several charter options that can be fairly cheap (depending when you are going). These do not change planes, but some of them do make a stop.

stormygirl

Sadly there are no direct flights from Seattle. I have taken the BA flight a few times, also Delta/Air France from Seattle to Memphis and then on to Paris. Next week I'm trying NW thru Detroit to Paris and through Amsterdam coming back.

hopingtotravel

I'll be curious to hear how the Amsterdam return leg of your trip goes. Let us know. I thought of the SF or LA option. However, I flew BA London to SF once and it was an hour longer than the BA Seattle flight (polar route). Also, SF airport can sometimes get fogbound causing delays. It's so frustrating that international passenger jets no longer fly out of Anchorage since Russian air space has opened up. When we moved here there were short, cheap flights on BA and SAS. Couldn't afford them back then.

Gardyloo

You might have a look at AS or UA nonstop summer services to ORD then a nonstop to CDG. Probably will cut off an hour or two.

Barb

Last Sept. I flew SAS from Seattle with a very short connection in Copenhagen and then on to Paris. It was a polar route flight 9.5 hrs. to Copenhagen, 1:55 to Paris. I love SAS, food and service was great.

BowenLinda

WillTravel, I am on the hunt for cheap YVR-CDG tix, preferably with just one stop. Hoping to avoid the BA/BMI YVR-LON-CDG route. What's your preference for flying to CDG and will you kindly give me a price idea?
Thanks, Linda

WillTravel

Linda, the Air Canada + BMI mix is exactly what we are doing this July 9-25. The Air Canada tickets (which we actually purchased from the BMI web site) were $811 CAD total each (a bargain which quickly disappeared). The BMI ticket from LHR-CDG leaves the morning of July 11 and was 12 pounds + taxes and fees (less than 30 pounds total). For the night of July 10 I bid on Priceline and got the Holiday Inn Heathrow Ariel (bid $40 US and total was $53 with taxes and fees). After a week in Paris we are going to Berlin via EasyJet, and then after 5 days in Berlin going from Berlin to London via EasyJet, and then spending 2 days in London, and then home again.

Alternatives I considered:

*Going to Seattle for a cheaper fare SEA-CDG (these are available for about $650 US total via Hotwire on certain dates). This would have involved a stay in a Seattle airport hotel at both ends of the journey. Given the likely SEA-CDG options, it probably would have meant a flight to either Chicago or Philadelphia before connecting to a flight to Paris, for a total of about 16 hours (as opposed to the nonstop flight YVR-LHR).

I've noticed lately that SEA-BRU is also available cheaply on Hotwire, often for less than $600 USD. Similar drawbacks, of course. Going via Seattle requires taking a coach there, which is about another $100 CAD (more or less).

* Flying to London Gatwick via a charter and taking the Eurostar or another budget airline. This was more expensive and less convenient (because I lucked out on the AC fare). Summer fares are about $1100-1300 CAD now. However, fall fares are in the range of $800 CAD or less. Charter sites: http://www.flyzoom.com http://www.canadian-affair.com
http://www.selloffvacations.com
http://www.airtransat.com

* Flying to Toronto or Montreal and taking Zoom (www.flyzoom.com) to Paris. The flight to Paris is quite cheap (less than $500 CAD total). But in total, this seemed just as complicated and expensive as the AC/BMI plan. But if YVR-YYZ or YVR-YUL fares are cheap enough, and you are wanting to visit either, this is not so bad.

* Taking the YVR-ZUR charter. It's not cheap and not at the times I wanted. I think it's about $1150 CAD this summer.

Worst of all in terms of expense was booking a YVR-CDG flight on one ticket. I have never seen that done cheaply, although I think TravelCuts can sometimes do this in the offseason for a reasonable price. They had a deal this winter that involved a YVR-PDX-FRA-CDG routing (so two connections necessary).

BowenLinda

WillTravel: Thanks for the great info, you've given me new sites to search. Your AC price is wonderful - well done. The cheapest I've found for YVR-YUL-CDG is AC's $1370! ... I'll keep hunting using your new info.
Cheers, Linda

richardab

How about Lufthansa from Portland via Frankfurt?

An easy way to find decent flight is to go to the websights of Skyteam ot Star Alliance and use their flight finders. It will sort them by the shortest time. For example on Star Alliance best routes are-

SAS - Seattle to Copenhagen with a connection to Paris (about 13.5 hours).

United Airlines from Seattle to Chicago to Paris (about 13.5 hours)

United Airlines from Seattle to San Francisco to Paris (14 hours)

United Airlines from Seattle to Washington DC to Paris (14 hours)

Skyteam suggests flights via Cincinatti or New York which are also about 14 hours on Delta.

If you want to do Vancouver a good bet is on Lufthansa via Frankfurt for a 12 hour flight.

Air canada also does it in about 15 hours thru Toronto.

hopingtotravel

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll look up the Lufthansa Vancouver/Frankfurt option. And I can see if the Copenhagen/Paris is shorter or cheaper than Amsterdam/Paris.

WillTravel

I forgot about LTU for charters from YVR-FRA:

http://www.ltu.com/

WillTravel

I don't know if Copenhagen interests you, but stopovers are often possible with SAS flights.

richardab

At least you know Lufthansa will be on-time!

richardab

P.S. Orbitz.com says the shortest flight is KLM at 12.5 hours. That is followed by Delta thru NYC, British thru London and NWA thru Detriot. SAS and United are not too far behind.

BTilke

Another vote for SAS. My father-in-law has flown over to Europe from SEA several times on NW/KLM, BA, and SAS. NW was the worst, his back was killing him after that trip (with delays due to mechanical problems going over and coming back), SAS was the best in terms of comfort and service. BA was very cramped, but not as bad as NW/KLM.
Will be curious to see if the KLM route stays if the AF takeover bid goes through or if a direct flight to Paris gets added.
Also, have you checked into flights to Brussels? You can often find good deals flying into Brussels and it's only a 90 minute ride on the Thalys to central Paris (the Gare du Nord).

stormygirl

I should have mentioned that my NW flight is taking advantage of a special they have right now- cash and miles. For 10K and $400 odd dollars round trip SEA - CDG

artlover

hopingtotravel (or others here that may be interested),

I don't know when you plan to travel and if this will help, but I have a NW/KLM certificate good thru June 30 that I can't use and would be glad to give to you, if it would help. It would be $399 RT from the West Coast.

If you're interested, give me your e-mail address and I'll e-mail you the certificate number.

I'm going through the same thing planning our next trip from Seattle and the information here has been so helpful! Last time it took us 18 hours to get from Seattle to Malaga, and this time, I plan to break it up.

BTilke, OMG! It's hard to believe that NW/KLM could be more crowded than BA! I was thinking of going with them next, but am having second thoughts!

hopingtotravel

Artlover. Sounds like a wonderful price but am currently planning for mid-April 2005. I know that sounds like a long way out for planning purposes, but it sounds on this board like some of the popular rooms fill up 6 months ahead of time. Maybe someone else will see your note.

artlover

hopingtotravel,

I too am starting to plan for a trip around the same time (somewhere around late April-mid June 2005 for around a month), so I sure don't think it's too early to start planning! My planning is quite challenging at this time since we'll want to meet up with my daughter who will be in a university program either in Italy, France, or Spain! She's having trouble making up her mind, which is holding up my planning!)

But I would like to give the NW Coupon to someone in the Europe forum for I've gotten so much help here on my trip last Nov. and would like to "pass it forward" so to speak.

Anyone interested in the coupon?