Airfare to Europe Paris on Thanksgiving early December Very High!
 

I was thinking of going to Paris on Thanksgiving or right after but the fares are really high. Any thoughts? Leaving from NYC

Are you flexible with regards to dates ?

I just checked US Airways and found this:

$663 (+ taxes)
JFK - CDG dep. Sat, 11/21, return Fri, 11/27 or Sat, 11/28

"<i> . . the fares are really high.</i>"

What sorts of fares are you finding?

I'm going in a few days. I must say I paid $200.00 more for this flight than I did for similar flight in March. It seems like there are fewer flights which is keeping prices up.

that's what I was wondering, maybe you just think a good fare is really high, as that isn't an expensive time of year to go to Europe by air. You should be able to get a fare $600-700, and that might include Air France nonstop. Those are not real high fares to Europe, that would be around $1200-1500. They might be cheaper in late January or Februrary (I mean to go then).

Perhaps a flight to London then TGV, Open Jaw?

We are going to London first and flying home from Paris. I booked with Air Canada and the best fare I could find was $820.00. We are on the west coast, however. I have been spoiled getting non stop flights with AF for around $600 for the past few years.

All in it was about 739 which I thought was high. Thanks for the reality check.

KLM to Amsterdam then TGV?

I also think the fares from JFK to CDG are high now. I am looking at the week after Thanksgiving as well and American Airlines has a price of $719 - the only cheaper fares have stops. Icelandic is a bit cheaper but I really want to take advantage of the double miles special AA has for flying from the NY area....

The last time I went to Paris was about the same time of year in 2006 and I paid under $500 on AA.

Also according to the seating chart, both flights I am looking at are basically empty. And the price has gone up from around $650 a couple of weeks ago....

So if you folks think this is good I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy it... ):

What gets me is the fees and taxes are nearly the same as the fare.

I can more or less understand your "pain" but can you hopnestly tell me any other form of transportation to ANYWHERE which is as cheap as it was <B>in 2006</B>??????

Mara - I wish I had book a couple of weeks ago!!!

I guess you're right, Dukey....but this is over 40% more.

yeadonite - I know exactly what you mean - I just couldn't believe that the fare went up....and I still don't feel ready to buy yet - btw, if you are looking at American the price and schedule - enhanced choice shows which days around the one you want may be cheaper - that's how I found out leaving on a Sunday would save me $20 - hey, every little bit helps!

I figured leaving on Thanksgiving day would mean a cheaper and empty plane. I guess I dream!

yeadonite, I see on your other thread that you're looking for an apartment - did you buy your ticket?

no I am trying to do both at once. What about you?

When I checked much earlier this year, November fares were high. In fact, they were much higher than many late-May/early-June fares this year. I paid $365 to Rome in May, but whenever I searched for November to Paris this year, it was close to $800, so I booked with miles instead.

Last November was around $800 too. Before that, I thought $500 was high.

I'll probably book in a day or two - I'm afraid it will keep going up.....then I'll book my apartment - I already have one in mind and others as a back-up...maybe we can have a mini gtg in Paris. :)

Thanks for the info, Mlle. Fifi - that was a great price for Rome assuming you came from the US ;-)

There was an article in the WSJ today indicating that air fares have stopped dropping, are stable or even slightly increased. Just did a quick look at Continental out of EWR and it is $719 all in. Iceland Air is about $100 cheaper if you are willing to connect.
Have you looked at http://matrix.itasoftware.com?

Mara which apartment services do you think are best I need a 2 bedroom or 2 sleeping area. If you want to tell me after you book that is ok.

http://www.parisvacationapartments.com/prop-vosges.html

<i>There was an article in the WSJ today indicating that air fares have stopped dropping, are stable or even slightly increased.</i>

Funny. I saw an article just the other day talking about how yields (the average price paid) were continuing to drop and that Continental (the only carrier to report monthly yield estimates) was anticipating its largest year-over-year drop for September. If prices have bottomed out, I suspect it is because they are as low as they can go.

I would count on continued good deals through at least next spring.

yeadonite, I've just rented studios - I answered on your other thread about apartments - I put the $719 fare on hold with AA - will probably buy it tonite as they don't seem to be going down and the closer they get to the departure date they are going up.....

Have you checked Air India from New York to Paris?

I'm waiting for some cheaper fares, too: this is supposed to be the winter I get to take a madcap, low-cost trip to Paris.

All the planets are aligned: my workload is light enough to go, my husband's schedule will allow him to take off the time, we have grandma ready to stay with our son ... I need those classic cheap-o winter fares.

And so far, I'm seeing $700-ish. For February.

Fewer planes, smaller planes, fewer seats, higher prices.

Continental is using 757's (horror show) to Europe, which must be about half the size of a 747.

Nancy Mitford's Uncle Matthew used to say, "Abroad is bloody." I say "Getting abroad is bloody."

I'm also ready to pounce on tickets for a January trip, but I'm holding out in hopes of a fare cut. Maybe it won't happen, who knows?

Prices dipped a bit in mid-September, but haven't budged since then.

The flights I'm looking at are only about 10% full right now, so I'm praying to the airline gods that a winter sale is planned for October or November. If not, I'll just bite the bullet and spend the dough.

Nanbug, how do you find out how full they are?

MlleFifi - if you go through the booking process on American Airlines website - you can see a chart with the available seats. The flights I am looking at from JFK to CDG in early December are also quite empty......

Mara is correct -- you can see the seating charts on the airline's web site when you start the booking process to see the fares.

It's hard to believe that they won't start sales soon with all of these mostly empty planes. But what do I know?

Oh, to have a crystal ball...

In 2007 I flew to Paris the day after Thanksgiving and the plane was not even half full. They told me that is usually a slow day, so maybe fares are lower.

PS I flew on an award ticket so I don't know what the fare would have been.

NanBug - I know exactly what you are saying - since I've been watching the AA fare from JFK to CDG it has gone from $663 to $719 - I've already put it on a 24 hour hold twice and punked out....I think I'll wait til the weekend. If it goes up again I will be really p---ed....

Mara and Nanbug,

Are you sure the unassigned seats on the chart are all unsold spaces? Don't people often pick seats long after buying tickets? I didn't get to choose KLM (code-share) seats until several weeks after booking with Delta, for example.

Once I kept putting off booking an AF flight because it looked like there were many seats left, but then the next time I searched there were no tickets available.

I've read many times on this board that you should never trust a seating chart to determine how full the flight is and I completely agree. I've looked at seating charts where the flight appeared to be empty the day before my flight, so imagine my surprise to find a full plane.

I'm not sure - however, when I went to Barcelona the end of January - the seating chart showed the flight very empty and it was - I think each passenger has a set of three seats to him/herself.....

On AA when you book online, the system automatically assigns you a seat which you can change if you want....

Another time I went to Japan and the plane seating chart indicated quite a number of empty seats but then it was pretty full. There seemed to be a really big group traveling so maybe they were last minute...?

Just to report - I bought my ticket on AA - JFK -> CDG at the high price of $719. ;-)

After tracking other dates for the past two weeks, the prices just seem to be going up so I figured I'd buy it before it got even higher.

Good luck to everyone else looking for cheaper fares! :)

Well Mara, even if it does drop a bit later, sometimes it just feels better to have it over and done with so you can plan the rest of your trip instead of stressing about it every day for weeks or months!

<i>I've looked at seating charts where the flight appeared to be empty the day before my flight, so imagine my surprise to find a full plane.</i>

<i>There seemed to be a really big group traveling so maybe they were last minute...?</i>

The seating charts tell you pretty much nothing.

There are many people that simply don't pre-assign people, especially large groups (as in the Japan example). Also, in my experience, Europeans are MUCH less likely to pre-assign their seats. Not sure if it is habit or the fact that more book through agents and packages or whatever, but this is consistently the case. I've been on planes that showed half full the day before the flight that were oversold in coach.