Can I do it? (Paris Flight)
 

Yesterday, on Air France's web site, a RT flight from JFK to CDG (Aug 30 - Sept 8) was $1128. However, its flight from JFK to CDG to LHR was $907. It makes utterly no sense. But I wondered afterwards if I could book the cheaper flight and not go on to London. Can that be done? Is it routinely done by passengers?<BR><BR>Gerry K

Is that for Business Class or something...? I think if you ditch the last leg going into Europe, you may lose your remaining reservation to return from Europe... others will comment, I'm sure...

Gerry,<BR><BR>Alice is right - you will lose the rest of your ticket if you get off in Paris!<BR><BR>But you can play along with the system as well and fly to Paris with a stopover (BA through London for example) for a cheaper fare. <BR><BR>Nonstop flights are simply more expensive on certain routes because of imperfect competition. Ridiculous isn't it?<BR><BR>Andre

They'll tag your luggage to go to london, and you'll raise suspicion by wanting to end your trip in paris. Airfares are so all over the map that there's no accounting for these different prices.

Gerry if you get off in Paris then your return will be cancelled because you will be a no show. Creative thinking but it will not work.

Gerry I looked on Orbitz and plugged in dates. Just out of curiosity I plugged in that you were leaving out of EWR (Newark) to CDG. I found a fare for $863.00 plus $5.00 service charge. Total fare $868.00. You would go on SAS from Newark to Copenhagen on flight 910 and then connect to 563 in Copenhagen into Paris (CDG). On the return you would take 1568 out of Paris (CDG) to Copenhagen. Then connect to flight 909 out of Copenhagen back to Newark. SAS is (Scandinavian Air Systems).<BR>Anyway hope this helps your situation plus it is a little cheaper.<BR>

Gerry, check out www.hotwire.com. Then go to www.biddingfortravel.com for a tutorial about bidding on Priceline. Once you learn how to do it, you could probably get a non-stop from NY to Paris on PL. <BR><BR>Let us know what you end up doing.

As far as I know, this can't be done. The reservation system will flag your iteniary and you will have difficulty on your return trip...possibly voiding out the rest of the reservation.

Wow! So many wonderful responses and not a single nasty one. (This must be a Fodor's first.) Thanks to each of you. You're terrific.<BR><BR>Gerry K<BR><BR>PS: I learned after posting this that if I book a flight on AF to Heathrow. And then book a separate flight to Paris on AF, it's a few hundred dollars cheaper.

Ummm.... Gerry, hate to be the first "nasty" poster on this thread, but AF doesn't fly the NY-London route. The itinerary you suggest would require you to go through Paris TWICE in each direction! Once as a stopover on your way to London, then back to Paris again!!!<BR><BR>Cheaper, perhaps - but not too smart...<BR><BR>Andre

hey, Gerry, have you gone online with US Airways and tried their "flexible dates" feature? They have some limited flights from NYC-CDG beginning $551 and up..

Andre,<BR><BR>You're right. The flight I was referring was not direct to London. It was JFK-CDG-LHR. Then LHR to CDG (RT, $123.) Three planes, many more miles, but still cheaper than JFK-CDG.<BR><BR>(And I suspect, you're the type of person who'd have a difficult time being nasty.)<BR><BR>GK

Gerry,<BR><BR>Thanks for the compliment :)<BR><BR>For the best fare, you will most probably need to change planes somewhere. Ann's suggestion of SAS was a good one, other possible candidates are KLM, Lufthansa and BA (which I mentioned in a previous post).<BR><BR>Never tried Priceline or Hotwire, but a lot of people swear by them.<BR><BR>Hope you find a real bargain!<BR>Andre

Gerry another suggestion is buying two tickets. One from JFK to LHR (a very competetive market). Second one from London (you may have to switch airports) to Paris. I used to work for AA in reservations and sometimes if I was not successful in helping a passenger come up with a better fare this was what I would suggest.

Thanks everyone. What I'm probably going to do is fly to London and stay two nights at the Heathrow Renaissance Hotel ($99 per weekend night),then go on to Paris. The flight savings will pay for the hotel.<BR><BR>G

If you can go this weekend to Paris there are $600 flights out of Boston to Paris. It is on Icelandis Air.

Gerry K--if you haven't bought your tickets yet and you can get a good fare to London, you might check out flying from London to Paris on Easy Jet.