France airline tickets--best time for purchase??
 

Am starting my plans for a 3 week trip to France in late June--cheapest ticket I can find from Los Angeles to CDG airport is about $1300-- will it come down or go up?? What is the trend?? Thanks

I travel to Paris several times a year and the fares have gone up quite a bit since I was there in April. Typically, it is less expensive to travel "off-season" (Jan-Feb) but with the price of fuel, the fares are high. I check all of the airline websites directly as well as Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. They will send you updates as lower fares become available. I found a lower fare for my trip to Paris this fall on Lessno.com (even cheaper than on the airline's own site.) Air Tahiti Nui and Icelandic often have good specials if you live near one of their hub cities. $1300 seems a bit high to me--most I have ever paid in coach is $750 RT. Keep checking! Better to spend your money on great food and wine in France!

Hi, bornintheusa!

The best airfares to Europe historically seem to be advertised beginning shortly after New Year's Day. Keep an eye out for your local newspapers, and also check the specific airline website and other sources beginning on January 2.

Good luck, and let us know how you fare! (pun intended).

Thanks so much for the info--yes the lessno site was way less than what I have found already at $804!!!! Will hold off until January and see what I can find--$1300 seems way to steep!!

You need to start checking all the possible sites now at least every couple of days. You never know when a fare you can live with will come up. And then daily starting in January. It's going to be around $700 unless you find a glitch. HIGH season. I hope this isn't the year of the air show--or the auto show. That time is when it usually is and prices are high.

Not to scare you, but we flew AF from SFO this past June (late June) and it was $1700. We decided on this trip on Christmas Day, and we purchased tickets within a couple weeks. The cost never went lower than $1650. Our flight was nonstop, so of course that upped the price. But IMO, coming from the west coast that is the only way to go.

The cheapest airline flying between California and Paris is often Air Tahiti Nui.

Air France often has an internet sale (at least in France) some time in November for flights to the US from December through the end of June, with a blackout period over the Christmas holidays.

There's no reason to buy a ticket to France this far ahead. However, my crystal ball says it will probably remain about that level. That's not an unusual fare for peak season travel and going all the way to/from LA -- actually, I think it's a pretty good fare compared to this year--at least, if it's a good carrier and nonstop or only one stop at most.