Very simple question. I want to travel in the low season to Provence. I am finding airfare from SFO to CDG around $430 R/T in April but up to $830 R/T in September. All I want to insure is that I avoid the summer crowds and not travel in July or August. Will flights come down the closer September approaches or am I better off with the airfare deals now? Since airfare is a large portion of the trip a savings of $800 for 2 is considerable. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Hi B,

$430 sounds very good to me. When in April?

Where did you find it?

Sept is at least shoulder season.

On www.kayak.com. April 11 - April 26th. Haven't used this website to much but assume since it displays the same fares are www.orbitz, etc. that taxes, fuel surcharges are included. Obviously could make a big difference

If that truly is the price with everything that is one heck of a deal and I'd take it for sure. I went in November last year, direct from SFO to CDG, round trip and was lucky to get it at 763.00. A couple weeks before that the fares were coming up at 1400.00. Earlier they have been about 830.00 or so. I have to admit, I'm a little bit picky because I want direct, no stops or plane changes, so I was left with either Air France of Delta. So, if 430.00 is all inclusive, and if I were you, I wouldn't assume...but if so, take it.

I fly from SFO and that's a great fare. Take it. Very unlikely you'll get better. Even my bargain fares are around +$500.

You certainly won't find a $430 airfare in Sept. We go to France almost every Sept from SFO, and the cheapest I've ever seen was around $700 - and that was about 6 years ago when we caught a BA deal. Last year we flew AF non-stop for about $1,500. I think one-stop was about $1,200. We usually leave around Sept 1 & return Sept 30th or so. We have FF tickets this Sept.

This June, we're flying Iberia from SFO to JFK (AA flight) to Madrid to Nice for $1,100. Everything else to Marseille or Nice was much higher.

June & up to the second week in July is not as crowded as you might think. The lavender will be in bloom late June & July, and the days will be long. If you live in SF, you'll also miss the June & July fog. June is my favorite time in Provence.

Stu Dudley

You could check out the British Airways sale that is on now - for a day or two - and then fly RyanAir, which goes all over Provence. The fare you've located in April sounds really good, though.

If your $430 fare doesn't include taxes and fees, the Airfare Watchdog weekly email newsletter reports a United SFO to CDG fare of $495, all taxes and fees included:

San Francisco, CA (SFO) to Paris de Gaulle, France (CDG) $495 RT
Last Updated: Thu 8 Feb 2007 11:15 AM EST
Plus: includes all taxes
Airline(s): United Airlines
Seats are: easy to find
How to book: Orbitz, Travelocity, United.com

Yup, Betsy's right. I booked a flight in late Aug from SFO to CDG on United for $553.00 (all included). I thought that fare would be gone by now (booked last week-end), but if it's still around (for Sept), I'd take it. Either way, I take one or the other.

I live in Pgh., which is closer to CDG than SFO, but we haven't seen fares like that for several years; sure sounds good to me!

Last week I booked a May trip at $511 inclusive on United from LAX to Amsterdam, returning from CDG. Two days ago my friend booked on United $491 RT LAX-CDG, also for May. I don't know what's going on at United, but they are running some great deals.