My sister and I are going to Paris in September. We live in Belfast but our mum who lives in Brighton wants to come with us She is in her late 70's and not good travelling alone. Her nearest airpot is Gatwick but I can't find a cheap flight from there to Paris.

It looks like it would be cheaper by £150 return for her to go via Belfast!!

Anyone know of any low cost airlines that travel this route?

Might not be any on "LCC's" (low-cost carriers), according to www.whichbudget.com - - are you also looking on the www.opodo.co.uk website?

Search "PAR" - - I think this will retrieve any flights for CDG or ORY or BVA.

Best wishes,

Rex

If she lives in Brighton, why doesn't she take the Eurostar from Ashford? She would end up right in the middle of Paris at Gare du Nord instead of having to cope w/ CDG.

And get there faster to boot.

It's not that there aren't any cheapoes. There really aren't ANY flights from Gatwick to Paris, unless you want to get your mother to change planes in Jersey.

And getting to Ashford's no joke either.

You might actually find the easiest thing is for her to get the train to Southampton and change at Soton Central for the train to Soton Airport (or get a Brighton minicab), then get the Air France flight to Paris. The train times from Brighton-Soton airport are typically a bit shorter than to Ashford, and it's a much quicker minicab drive. Checking in for the Eurostar at Ashford is just as nasty an experience as checking in for a plane at a small airport like Soton, and if she's getting frail, she'll get better wheelchair attention at Soton.

It's a bizarre gap, given that there are practically hourly shuttles from Gatwick to every grass airstrip in SW France where Londoners buy second homes.

Unless some public-spirited airline fills the gap in the next few months, your best bet is probably to put your mother up in Belfast for a day or two, travel with her, save a few quid and dine out on the story for the next few years.