East Coast to Paris airfares for May
 

The current airfare sale does not seem to be very helpful for East Coast/Paris airfares in May, despite the fact that the sale fares are supposed to be valid until May 18.<BR><BR>After a thorough search of Travelocity, Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz, etc. and individual airline sites, the best fares I found were in the $750-$850 range. Because I had to make a decision one way or the other (based on vacation policies at my workplace) I ended up booking with Destination Europe for $452, which seemed decent in comparison.<BR><BR>We flew this exact same route during the same week of May two years ago (2001) and I think we paid $443. But somewhere in the back of my mind is the nagging thought that if could wait longer to book I might be able to do better. . . <BR><BR>What do you think will be a good fare for mid-May?<BR>

That sounds like a good fare for May. That's about what I paid in May '99, and it was the best fare I could find.

Last May from here in PIT I paid $456 to CDG and purchased that in March. This year I'm paying $466(inc. taxes, etc.) for an &quot;Esaver&quot;(?) that I had to purchase before 12/12 for May, '03.<BR><BR>Last year I flew direct; this year when I booked the flight it was direct. I got an email from USAirways last week saying that flight had been changed, and I have to change planes in PHL. They've evidently discontinued the other flight, obviously cutting back; I guess that's why there aren't such good deals. They're filling the planes.

elle -- What's Destination Europe? I'ne never heard of it.

Destination Europe is the airline arm of AutoEurope. I guess they'd fall into the category of consolidator. We've never used them for flights before, but we have used them for car rentals and have been very pleased.<BR><BR>The flight is actually on American Airlines, Philadelphia-Boston-DeGaulle (same itinerary we had two years ago on same airline, almost the same dates and close to the same price!)<BR><BR>

While I often &quot;preach&quot; about not buying rail tickets (nor passes) from RailEurope, they have an air travel division too (like Autoeurope - - but no business relationship between them, as far as I know).<BR><BR>And their fares are similar to fares typically offered by consolidators. Might be worth your while to check out.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>