Airfares to Paris in the Springtime
 

Planning on a trip to Paris from Mar 18-26, 2008. Departure city is San Diego. What is a good price for a roundtrip ticket with no more than one layover and when is the best time to purchase?

Also, if flight involves a layover what is the minimum time one should allow to get to the connecting flight?

I have been looking a mid-March airfare to Paris from Houston and it about $900 round trip no stops. I don't like layovers if I can help it and usually fly straight. In March 2006 we paid $861 round trip. For Thanksgiving 2006 we brough our 3 kids and got a $650 ticket from Air France. This year Thanksgiving Week is astronomical. I would expect the West Coast to be more expensive to fly out of than Houston. I have seen nothing less than 900.

to the top!

I'm trying to decide if I should buy now for our trip in early May. Prices are $754 (taxes included)non-stop from New York to Paris.

It's always a gamble. It seems unlikely it'll go much lower for a non-stop but you never know. Occasionally there's a spring special. Argh!

I paid $474 RT to go in May of 2006 and I bought those ticket 9 months ahead. Within two months, ticket prices had risen to $650 and eventually were up to close to $800. But then in April, a month before my departure, there was an Air France special for $399. You just never know.

I guess you just have to find a price you can live with, buy the ticket and then stop looking at prices or else go mad!

I just bought two roundtrip nonstop on United's economy plus for $1064 each leaving April 30 out of Dulles. Why do New Yorkers get all the breaks on international airfare?

Thanks for all the comments.

Now, what about the minimum time one should allow for a connecting flight?

Sorry, can't help you with that. I fly Air France straight through, no connections. I hate getting on and off. Once I get on a plane I just want to get there. Especially Paris.

If it involves changing terminals, we never allow less than 2 hours. But then we're slow and our airport is notorious for planes leaving much later than scheduled.

After 20+ international trips, we've learned that our stress levels are much lower when we don't have to dash to the gate.

I would look at the airport you're connecting in and see how far the terminals are apart. If there is only one flight per day to your final destination that would be a factor also.

Can you tell our travel motto is "plan for the worst and hope for the best"?

Hi ~
I assume you've checked Kayak.com for fares.

I just looked at http://smartway2travel.com/ - which is where I booked an upcoming flight because it is the site operated by my sister's fiancee. (Disclaimer! for those who would call this advertising!)

Entered March 12 08 thru March 19, and topping the list is an American nonstop RT from JFK to CDG for $543. In fact there is a whole page of results for under $600. From Dallas I'm getting aa lowest fare of about 850. So check it out for your decparture city.

My favorite thing on this site is that you can see seating availablity and configuration as you browse flights (at least for US carriers). Great to get an idea befor you go all the way through to booking.

Yikes. I just checked http://smartway2travel.com/ and the other usual suspects and $1045 is the cheapest fare on the dates she needs from San Diego. Given what Tomas found, it looks like either your departure city is the kicker here or the dates.

Never mind. I just checked the calendar. It's the dates. Easter week is highly travelled. If you must travel that week, then I would break my cardinal rule and check with a travel agent. You might be able to tag along on a group booking.

1800flyeurope.com shows flights under $600 from San Diego on the same dates (3/12-19). mobissimo.com shows under 700 from LAX.

Wow, thanks to everyone for their informative input and suggestions on websites for further research. I will continue the search while keeping all this info in mind.

We went to Paris this year and last year in March and paid $500 (this year) & $400(last year)RT/pp on Northwest from LAX. They advertised the fares in Nov and then again at the end of January both times.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you to mv_rd,

I have a post-it pasted on my computer to remind me to look for the fares on NW in November. Hope the trend continues this year as well.

We saved $200 per ticket by not flying out on Friday (November 16th) but on Thursday, the 15th. We'll still fly home leaving on Saturday the 24th.
$400 saved more than makes up for an extra night's hotel bill. Because we can't get into the apartment until Saturday. Oh the horror...having to spend one more day!

"1800flyeurope.com shows flights under $600 from San Diego on the same dates (3/12-19). mobissimo.com shows under 700 from LAX."

That still wouldn't help the OP unless they can change their dates. The dates they have are Mar 18/26. If they could switch to your date (3/12-19), that would bypass Easter week and save them a ton of money.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that Easter falls on March 23rd next year. This year is was April 8, and in 2009 it's April 12th.

Guess I shouldn't assume everyone keeps up with that like I do. :-) You can believe the airline bean counters do, thus the higher fares.

It's so true that the Easter holidays tend to be higher fares to Europe (as opposed to, say, Thanksgiving, when they are lower.) I'm hoping to take my sister to Rome for a big birthday in 09, and we'll be scheduling to avoid Easter - a popular week in Rome, of course.

Playing with dates can almost always come up with a variety of fares, of course - so for my comparisons above, I only used the same dates. One thing on smartway2travel.com that comes in handy is when they are down to something like 3 seats at the particular price, it tells you. (And I've seen "last two" seats disappear when refreshing the page!)

I just bit the bullet today and bought two tickets to Paris for May 7. We want to stay at a hotel that books up way in advance so I really needed to pin down the dates and don't have the guts to just wait and watch fares hoping for a sale for our exact dates.

Plus, we like to fly direct to limit how much of our vacation time is spent in airports and to skip the stress of lost luggage etc.

I paid $623 ($753 including all taxes and fees) out of JFK direct to Paris on Delta flights being run by Air France. I imagine there will be a spring sale in January where a few seats on this this flight might go for less but I like the peace of mind of having it settled and knowing I can now really plan!

So woo-hoo! We're definitely going to Paris for 10 nights!

Good plan, plafeld. May is not a bargain month generally, so you probably did well.

Now, just pay yourself $10 for every hour you don't spend hunting further for air fares, and you'll have a little cash cushion!