lyb

I leave for Paris 3 months for today and starting to seriously look at flights. I'm leaving from Sacramento to Paris, and returning via Amsterdam.

I've been looking at my preferred airline, United, but I seem to have missed a golden opportunity a month or so ago for the scheduel I'd like when it was $850, now that same schedule is $1400!! Yikes!

I'm looking at several other airlines but going crazy over the connecting flight time...one schedule from Continental would work pretty good but my connecting time is 1hr 12 minutes in Houston...it makes me panicked that I'll be late, miss the flight and won't be able to leave until the next day. If I used my preferred schedule with United, I'd go from Sac to San Francisco and then directly to Paris.

Yes, I could leave directly from San Francisco, but my parents will be dropping me off and I don't want to put them through the drive to and from San Francisco.

Anyway, basically, anyone who knows the Houston Airport...how is 1 hr 12 minutes for a transfer?

2nd....anyone flying out from the west coast with a similar itinerary....is $880 +/- a pretty rate and should I just grab the Continental flight and stop driving myself insane????

rex

<<is $880 +/- a pretty rate and should I just grab the Continental flight and stop driving myself insane?>>

Haven't you answered your own question with this, in the first paragraph?

<< I seem to have missed a golden opportunity a month or so ago for the scheduel I'd like when it was $850, now that same schedule is $1400!! Yikes!>>

This is an excellent illustration of what I like to call the "upside/downside" risk - - while I couldn't have made a prediction for your flight a month ago, you are seeing what a "downside risk" (potentially) means - - and how, in one month, no "upside potential" has crossed your radar screen.

That signals "BUY NOW", to me.

Best wishes,

Rex

lyb

Rex,

Thanks...like I said, I'm losing my mind, second guessing, triple guessing myself....hoping that United will see the light and give me my flight at the price I want... Do you think if I hold my breath until I turn blue they'll give me what I want at the price I want??

And I know that once I buy the tix, I'm going so tempted to keep checking airfares and will drive myself insane if a better rate comes up.

Traveling..what a tough job...but someone has to do it.

LoveItaly

Hi lyb, have you checked the other flights from Sacramento to Paris?

Also, if you can get a less expensive flight from SFO here is what you can do. Have your parents drive you to the Amtrack train station in Sacramento. Take the train to Richmond. Transfere to BART. Take BART to SFO and fly to Europe from SFO.
Just another thought.

Also, I just read today (USA perhaps) that fares are expected to go down after Sept. 1st. So perhaps wait a bit and see what happens.

At some point you will of course have to make a decision. And once you do just live with it. Don't keep checking fares. And good luck with your decisions.

janis

I don't think I'd ever risk less than 2 hours for an international connection. Just too much can go wrong. You will have many more flights to choose from out of SFO or LAX then SMF.

Definitely consider LAX - you can fly very cheaply from SMF to LAX on SW and then your folks wouldn't have to drive you to SFO. I've flown to Europe a couple of times from LAX. The actual time in transit actually is less than flying directly from SMF because all SMF flights have connections somewhere.

And if you fly out of SFO - as LoveItaly says - Amtrak is a good option. If you are in NE Sacto county you could catch the train in Roseville and save the drive into downtown Sac.

greg

I would not worry too much about the connecting time as long as it is something the airline provided to you as a valid connection.

The airline would play with the schedule all the way up to the departure anyway. I had my 1hr20 initial layover turned into 55min, then a flight got cancelled and made into a 6hr layover, then finally the first flight got delayed 4 hrs and ended up with a 2hr layover.

ira

Hi lyb,

Continental has a flight leaving SMF at 06:40 on Oct 2 with a 1:54 hr layover at IAH and a 2:58 hr layover at EWR to CDG.

Return flight is 12:55 CDG/IAH with 1:25 hr layover to SMF.

$846

See http://www.continental.com

lyb

Thank you everyone for your input...I wanted to let you know that I did it today...I stopped obsessing and decided to do it...I'll be flying out with Delta from Sacramento, with a layover in Atlanta, on my way out, 1:45 minutes layover, and on the way back about 2 1/2 hours.

Though I couldn't get the combination of flights that I wanted on the internet, so I called Delta and got the flights I preferred for $25 more. My roundtrip ticket is $905...I am now putting the obsession to rest and will not allow myself to keep looking at the prices and drive myself crazy!

Now, back to the travel books to read about the places I will definitely put on my list.

ballbuster

The houston intercontinental airport (Bush) is very efficient. Delays are extremely rare. but if you have to reclaim your luggage between the flights(which I think you will have to on the way back) then I don't think 72 min is enough time

LoveItaly

Good for you lyb! Sacramento is an easy airport to fly out of and it sounds like you got a good fare! Enjoy reading about about where you want to visit in Paris. And have a wonderful trip!