Carla

she cheked with airfrance and tickets come out to 1448(plus tax). Destination is Venice, Italy and we want to be there for 6 days in early june and then to paris for a week. This is what she offered: <BR> <BR>DFW to CDG then VCE <BR> <BR>VCE to CDG <BR> <BR>CDG to DFW <BR> <BR>This is with airfrance. However she suggested to wait a month and she'd have prices of consolidator. <BR> <BR>Is this too much $$$$, should I wait?? what do I do??? <BR> <BR>My other question is regarding hotels. <BR> <BR>When do I book Pensione Academia???Now, should I wait or I wait to get tickets first?? <BR>If I wait and there is no availability, any other recommendations????? <BR> <BR>For Paris I have no idea what hotel to call, please help with this one too. I know, I know, too many questions but your help will be greatly appreciated. HElp me what should I do???? Forgot to mention that for hotels in Venice to look into DER brochure. Anyone heard of DER hotel company???

elvira

Make your hotel reservations as early as possible. You can always cancel if you have to change plans. <BR> <BR>Definitely wait for tickets; those prices are no bargain. Look for an open jaw (into Paris, out of Venice, or vice versa) or another airport (into Milan i/o Venice). Look for r/t CDG, then find an intraEurope flight (like goeurope or ryanair, for example) between Paris and Italy. <BR> <BR>For hotel suggestions, do a search on this forum for both Paris and Venice, and you'll find a wealth of information. You can also go to the main page of fodors.com and find accommodations links/menu.

Hang Dawg

Sounds like a pretty steep fare. You are right on the edge of the high season to Europe, and discount fres are not yet published for next Spring. A consolidator may have a deal, but remember that you don't get FF credit with consolidators. <BR>Your routing suggest American Airlines, Try looking at packages offered by AA. Though they are my least favorite carrier, if you live in DFW area it may be your best option. <BR>Haven't heard of DER hotels - may be a company that your travel agent is familiar with and/or gets a good commission from them.

Russell

Traveling on your own, rather than with a tour, is easy enough. Since you have until next June, you should book your flights as soon as you're sure of your dates. A straight roundtrip from DFW to one of the major European cities shouldn't cost much more than $1000, but you have added a stop in Paris. That will raise the fare by at least a few hundred dollars. If your travel agent thinks a consolidator fare will be available in the next month of two, by all means wait. My rule of thumb is to book at least six months in advance so you still have plenty of time. Once the flights are reserved, you should book your hotels. I know nothing of the pension in Venice that you had mentioned and suggest that you search on "Venice hotels" and "Venice pensions" in this forum before finalizing your selection. In Paris, I'd suggest that you stay in the 6e arrondissement (sixth district), which runs north and south of the Bd. St. Germain on the left bank. Here, too, a search on "Paris hotels", "Bd. St. Germain", and "left bank" hotels will be useful. For a three star (by the French rating system), you can expect to pay $100 to $200 per night. For the most part, hotels below this level are so-so. There are many that are more expensive as well. If you want specific suggestions, please e-mail me and I'll forward a list of my favorites.

StCirq

Carla: <BR>It's fairly early to be purchasing tickets for next June, so your agent's advice to wait is actually reasonable. I go to France every June - usually buy my tickets March or April, and usually pay under $600 RT (of course Venice would be more, but $1448 plus tax is TOO much). <BR>Also, you can just as easily call a consolidator yourself. When I use a consolidator, I call Fare Deals at 1-800-347-7006, but there are plenty of them out there.

Rex

I agree that you should wait - - and there is a new trend for "full service" travel agents to be offering consolidator fares - - as your agent is proposing to do for you. <BR> <BR>I recently had a generally positive experience with an agency in Georgia - - www.the-joy-of-travel.com (1-888-AIR-TIXX); the agent who served me was named Gur (yes, Gur, not a typo). I doubt that would mind providing a competing quote if you to double check. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

elaine

Hi Carla <BR>It's a lot of money, but the amount doesn't surprise me because of the <BR>routing. Take the above advice on <BR>exploring other airfare options, but also take the advice about booking your hotels now. The Accademia in Venice books up many months in advance, as do many other small popular hotels in Paris. <BR>I have files on Venice and Paris; if you'd like to see them, email me.

Liz

Yes, hotels first. At most, choosing your flight later might cause a minor change in plans. And, there are many good hotels in Paris that have only 2 stars, and cost under $100., if you are looking for budget accomodations.

Christina

I think that fare is somewhat high, but not totally outrageous, assuming the June dates you picked were in high season, which they probably were. They are pricing that based on demand this year, probably, and air fares to Europe were very high this summer due to high demand (partly due to good value of USD). RT US East Coast to Paris was about $800 this summer, that was not that unusual at all (I paid it and checked around a lot, so I know), I'm sure RT from DFW would be several hundred dollars more than that, say $1000 RT for the DFW/Paris only, and I'm sure Venice is more expensive from US, it's not a major airport, so maybe USD$1200 RT at least, so your ticket should be around $1100, I would think, or maybe $1200. $1450 does seem high even at that. In any case, there is no reason I can think if that you have to buy a ticket now for next June, regardless of this consolidator stuff. I never buy mine that far ahead of time for travel to Europe in summer, I buy at beginning of the calendar year in question, even though I don't look for super bargains, just standard APEX stuff.

bingo

I agree with those who say that it is early to be buying air tickets for next June, way early, in my opinion. It is never too early ,though, to book the Pensione Accademia. Also, if you love the romance and adventure of train travel, there is an 11 hour overnight train running between Venice and Paris. <BR>Best wishes.

Jim

Carla, <BR>I doubt that you can get cheaper tickets by waiting. You are not doing an open jaw ticket, but rather a "double open Jaw" Buying today you can get an open jaw from Dallas to Venice outgoing and Paris to Dallas returning for $880 using Orbitz--www.orbitz.com. <BR>If you went the cheaper route, you would have to get from venice to Paris by other means-train/car perhaps. What you are trying to do is buy 3 one way tickets instead of an open jaw and I don't think that's going to work. <BR>Good luck

Jim

Carla, <BR>I failed to say that the $880 I mentioned above are for the early June 2002 departure that you mentioned

to the top

to the top!!!

Howard

Jsut last week, when I was at an Air France office inquiring about fares to Paris for next May, the Air France agent advised me to wait until December or January, when the prices will be lower. I figure if they say so, I'll listen!

Kay

You'll find lots of data and advice on tickets and prices on the eurotrip.com cheap flights forum.

Karen

Carla, <BR>You might want to check go-today.com. They have city packages (air & hotel)for both of those cities and might be able to work some deal for both. We used them for Paris in November and they allowed us to stay a few extra days at no charge for changing the air; and the hotel rate was their discounted rate. <BR>I don't know how far ahead they have their air/hotel packages available. May or may not work out, but worth a check. Have a great trip.

Phil

I just made a reservation from Chicago to Paris and returning from Nice to Chicago for June. My whole stay will be for 6 weeks (you pay more for returns over 30 days)with Orbitz for $717. I don't think you will beat this any time later. Bird in hand! I don't think anyone from any airline knows what prices will be in the future. You may hang your hopes on a lingering business downturn for lower prices. Personally, I would'nt wait for an if come-if I get what I consider a good price now. <BR>I have gone thru this numerous times and waiting only made me wait.

Carla

Thanks for all of the responses. I will definately wait for the consolidator prices and will book vce hotel a.s.a.p. Need suggestions for Paris hotel (what area is best etc. Thanks to everyone!!!!

Carla

Forgot to mention that we are considering going to Paris from VCE by train but I've heard that it takes sixteen hours to get to Paris. Is this true, and would the Eurostar take less time??? Thank you so much once again. By the way, forgot to mention that this is our honeymoon trip that we are planning.

Rex

The itinerary is NOT a "double open jaw" at all - - as I understand the term. A "double open jaw" is not an official term as far as I know - - it is sometimes used for an itinerary that breaks the cardinal rule of open jaws - - that one end or the other has to be "closed". Carla's itinerary would be a double open jaw if she fly into one European city from Dallas and wanted to return from a different European city to Houston. And such tickets can almost never be purchased economically. <BR> <BR>This is a simple "stopover" - - the stopover is in Paris on the way back; the fact that the service from DFW to VCE happens to CONNECT in Paris is almost irrelevant. <BR> <BR>Sometimes stopovers are priced affordably, and sometimes they are not. I have found better fares for stopovers when the stopover city occurs "first" - - and especially when it is a hub of an (European) airline. Another alternative is to see if the carrier offers a "Discover Europe"-type add-on fare; then do this as a "true" open jaw - - plus a simple one way (or round trip which never gets used) ticket on the SAME airline, using the "Discover" type fare. <BR> <BR>There is no way to predict for sure, but I still suspect that it ought to be possible to get this air travel for under $1100. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>