Airfare Prices
 

My husband and I are trying to book tickets for a spring break trip to France and I am shocked at the cost of airfare right now. We decided to go during March so that prices would be cheaper but it is still going to cost us over $2000 to fly to Paris. Does anyone have any tips for getting better deals?

yes, positano, prices certainly are high, I am trying to find the best price from Baltimore/Wash,DC to Paris in February and I am not finding any bargains.


You might check out the information here for finding the best prices. I don't know if I totally agree but it's FWIW

http://tinyurl.com/22ycpr

I have always used kayak.com to watch for the best fares when I do not have flexibility on my dates and I have usually been satisfied. Good luck.

You should post which airport(s) you want to fly from and when you are flying to get additional information
Deborah

In past years, we've always found it worthwhile to wait until January sales for best spring pricing. While there is no guarantee, some good prices usually show up at that time.

Something that may shift travel behavior a bit this year, though, is that the exchange rate makes US travel much more of a bargain for Europeans, and thus may tend to keep trans-Atlantic flights full and prices higher.

You don't mention your originating city, which will of course make a difference. Just checked two websites in my list:

1800flyeurope.com showed NYC/Paris RT in March 08 ranging from 546 into many under 700.

smartway2travel.com showed flights NYC-Paris beginning at $521


Try those, and the aforementioned kayak.com

We are flying from DFW. I have checked Kayak and can't find anything less than around $1000 a piece. Thanks for everyone's help so far!

Plunked dates into Orbitz just to 'test'...

US AIR $936pp total 3/15-3/21

US AIR $956pp total 3/17-3/23

The airlines know it's spring break - exactly one week earlier, fares are $807-938 on several airlines (and higher, of course).

I'd also like to throw out there not to limit yourself to Paris. My sister and her hubby wanted to go and found unbelievable price R/T from Denver to Frankfort, Germany for $397. So, they flew into German and took train to Paris.

This is just an example. I'd look for London, Paris, Amsterdam flights. Any city close enough. As airfare even between those cities is nominal this far in advance.

Paula

Popped DFW into smartway2travel.com and came up with $801 RT to Paris - or 1071 per person including 6 hotel nights. (3/17-24 sample dates)

To Brussels, $749

positano, Is there any possibility of your flying from Houston? I ask because we find that IAH offers cheaper flights as a rule and is about the same distance from where we live as DFW. March 17-24 shows $788 Lufthansa/United and $885 Air France (Kayak.com)

AA DFW-FRA RT is on sale for $601.20 departing March 17 return March 24 Then it is fairly quick to Paris on train and it is on sale for 39€

t

Try vayama.com or air one
I booked SFO to Venice return Naples to SFO for my daughter in Sept 2008 for 1211 whihc was 400 below airlines fare.

airlineconsolidator.com has a number of fares in March from Washington to Paris in the $700.00 range.

Easter is 23rd March this year, prices will be higher around this date. You may find April is cheaper. Other than that, try to be flexible with your dates if you have to go in March. I

Seems like there are always deals that show up in January for March/Paris. Seems like "last minute" to wait, but it might be worth it.

Based on just the change in exchange rate with the Euro, airfares to Europe SHOULD be 15% - 20% higher than last year. So $1,000 per seat makes sense.

'Spring Break' is a premium. Our week of spring break (Atlanta) matches up with a two week spring break for most of England. High Demand period.

I've been searching for airfare from Wash,DC to Paris at the end of May and haven't had any luck. Direct flights around from $1350-$1600. I'm hoping a sale pops up soon!

www.airfarewatchdog.com is a good place to find deals on flights as well as the many listed by the other posters.

Good Luck!

I paid 697.50 on Northwest from Nashville to Detroit to Paris. It was 997.50 until I put in the "my dates are flexible" option and just by flying Easter Sunday night instead of the following Monday, I saved $300. Less than the cost of the extra night in the hotel.

katzen,

I'm in DC also and just got non-stops from PHL to CDG (PHL is about a 2 hour drive from the DC beltway) on US Airways for $1005 (total price per ticket). I also had to leave on Easter Sunday to get the best price. I had been following IAD prices for about 3 months and they only seemed to go up...

bardo1, thank you for letting me know that!! I will add Philadelphia to my search options. :)