beaupeep

After eight years of my husband and I living in Europe, my mother has finally agreed to come over from the U.S. and visit! And I want to buy the air tickets before she has a chance to change her mind. My question is, right now the AirFrance flights she and my sister want are over $1,000. I see on the AF website they have good fares if you fly before March 31. Does anyone know if airlines have any kind of airfare deals after Christmas? Or should I just go ahead and buy the tickets?
Merci!

ira

Hi B,

>Do airlines have sales after the holidays?<

Sometimes.

Have you checked www.kayak.com and www.mobissimo.com?

ekscrunchy

Everyday this week in the newspaper I have seen airline sales from various carriers...yesterday was Delta, today's was American. (example: Chicago-Paris $299 OW plus fees) If you are finding good fares on AF now, why don't you book, or are you flying after 31 March?

wally34949

You are checking too early. Flights for Europe for Spring and Summer are sky high. Wait another month or two unless you are using frequent flier miles.

You did miss a good sale three weeks ago with the Italian Airline. I saw flights for under $500 for June and July but that sale is over.

Last year American Airlines lowered their prices to around $750 for Europe but this did not happen until March for June/July travel.

Best time to book International flights is about 3 months ahead unless someone has a really good sale, or makes a mistake.

Seamus

It is always difficult to predict, but typically US and some European carriers start advertising reduced fares for travel early in the year around now. Given that flights are fuller than ever, there may be less promotional fares but one never knows. In general, fares to Europe are lower through the end of March and then start to increase so if you find a deal that fits your schedule I'd jump on it. You may want to also check out http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/

beaupeep

Thanks for this info. I will wait then as my mother will fly only AirFrance since they have the only direct flights between Boston and Paris and she doesn't want to come in March. Since I now buy my tickets on this side the seasons are different. Thanks for your help and links.

wally34949

Direct flights are usually a little more expensive. But if your mother is not used to large airports, that would be the best choice.

beaupeep

My mother is not used to flying period! She and my father (who died last year) did not like to travel and took their first flight when in their early 60's when their first grandchild was born and my sister and I had to accompany them! I convinced her that the Geneva to Paris flight and then Paris to Boston when she heads back home is better than taking the train all day from Lausanne to Geneva to Lyon to CDG. But thanks for these links - I didn't know about most of them!

wally34949

When does she plan to come over? What month? May and September will be cheaper than June, July and August because the students are still in school. Early June is possible.

djkbooks

Try your dates on www.1800flyeurope.com

AA, Delta and Air France all offer direct flights from Boston. (Usually the Delta flights are code shared with Air France.)

Scroll down until you find a direct flight (if available), then click on "Show Additional Flight Times".

The names of the airlines are not shown, but you can figure them out by the departure times (from having shopped on Kayak, etc.).

If you see a fare that is significantly less, grab it. I always phone to book, rather than book online. The representatives are excellent. That way, you will receive an e-mail so you can check over the details before finalizing.

Know that 1800FlyEurope will have limited seats, and they may run out if you wait. I have had excellent luck with them (no lower fares anywhere else later) over the last three years.

Beware of airline fare sales. Those "as low as $199 one-way" plus, plus, plus, never seem to be available from your city to your destination on your dates.

Christina

I think you may see some "sale" fares for April or possibly May a bit later, but very unlikely for summer. But I don't think there is a big rush to buy something right now -- you could well end up with a $1000 fare (or more) for a nonstop flight June or later, though, that would be perfectly normal according to last years' fares. But you should be able to get something cheaper for Apr-May.

How are the seasons different in Northern Europe than Boston? They have spring, summer, etc. at the same time we do.

Dukey

Frankly, I think the first problem is obviosuly the relative's absolute unwillingness to fly anything bur Air France so that means you have to wait and hope AF has some sort of sale or bight the bullet now...not a real enviable position for one who is trying, nevertheless, to be generous.

You might also look at www.itasoftware.com as well as www.onetravel.com

I suspect the airlines are only going to offer sale prices if seat sales fall below a certain level for a certain time of year. It might happen if the Euro continues to rise against the Dollar but I would check the various sites constantly and you might consider signing up with AF for any fare alerts if that is possible.

djkbooks

We have flown Boston to Paris many, many times in May, June and September (and we find the weather those months most pleasant).

beaupeep was assuming that only Air France offers direct flights, but you can also find direct flights with American and Delta.

I recently booked for next September with Delta (because I like the departure times), but due to code share we will actually be on Air France flights.

For the last few years, there have been no significant "sales". Not for direct flights at favorable times...

Years ago, I watched and watched the fares, but lately I shop diligently for a while, then book. As mentioned, I've had fantastic luck with 1800FlyEurope. I have continued to watch fares after booking. They are more likely to go up than down. Typically they go up and up, then down a bit, then up again. After booking, I have never found a fare more than $50-100 lower that did not involve a connection. The only time I ever found something "better" was that for $60 more, we could have flown Air France with a more preferable departure time instead of American.

In my observation, the airlines are continuously fine-tuning their schedules. The goal is likely full planes at top prices and to minimize empty seats. And, they have sophisticated software for accomplishing this.

And, about those Delta flights I booked for September...both have been eliminated from the schedule since I booked.

We depart Boston at 11:15pm rather than 7:50pm (or we could depart at 5:30pm), and we depart Paris at 7:35pm rather than 3:55pm (or we could depart at 1:15).

overlookfarm

There are lots of good deals being offered now. This is prime time for them.

I grabbed two round trips not long ago on Air France for my daughter who is studying in France. One for the Thanksgiving holiday at $580 and a longer term one returning in June at about $700. I am hoping to snag two tomorrow for 500 R/t with hotel for five nights so my son and I can go to visit her, but there were plenty of slightly higher offers.

I am pretty sure I saw a really good offer to Paris out of Boston on a travel site earler today. Decide on the dates you want, sign up for several air travel price watch sites like travelocity and trip advisor and just keep looking.

Nikki

I believe only Air France flies nonstop from Boston to Paris in March. There are two flights per day, and the schedule has recently changed to make the later flight at 11:15 PM rather than at around 8 PM. The Delta flights are on Air France planes. I believe American only flies seasonally; in any event I have not found flights on American when I have gone in February and March, although if I check summer dates there appears to be an American flight.

I caught some excellent Air France sales in the winter both last year and the year before, paying under $400 round trip. I have not seen similar fares this year.

beaupeep

Thanks for all your help. I am going to try the 1800 site now. When I looked on the AA site they didn't seem to have anything direct to Paris, I kept getting a connection through NYC and I didn't try Delta for some reason. It's my mother and sister who are coming and they will come April 20 through 30. We have to work around the school, ballet, soccer, baseball, graduation schedules of my sister's three kids and this week seemed like it worked best. I've already booked an apt through parisaddress so the flights need to match the dates!