Today when I tried to schedule my FF trip Phila to Paris via USAirways, I find it impossible as it is booked all summer. I can get to London and back from London. I have visited the Eurostar website for travel July 21 from London to Paris and attempted a return July 21 (my flight to USA from London is Aug. 1, but I keep getting the red message saying there are no available trains at the time I need - (I arrive London at 9:15). My plan is to visit Paris a few days, and then train down to Avignon, rent a car, and explore the area around Avignon. Can someone experienced come to my aid. There are two traveling.

Just had lunch with friends in from London. We are in NYC. They flew here on BA for something like $250 each. They said that once you are in London, the air fares all over Europe are very very cheap. So you might consider flying to and from London, but when you get their-seperately book the flights to Paris and back.Even if it is on a different airline than the one you use to go back and forth from here.(You can also just call, I always get better results from dealing with the airlines on the phone)

I think you may be booking too far out. The Eurostar schedule doesn't appear to change, but I believe the furthest out that you can make reservations is 6 months. Go ahead and make your flight reservations, you can always secure the train reservations later.

If you're not actually planning on spending time in London on this trip, flying between London and Paris may well be a better bet in terms of price. I was in this same situation trying to use my United FF miles to fly to Paris last year, and was able to get a better choice of dates flying into and out of London. I booked a roundtrip between London and Paris on Air France for about $100. I don't think you can get the Eurostar at that price. If you're not spending time in London, there's no need to go into the city to catch the train since you can just pick up a connecting flight to Paris at the airport.

There are many intra Europe discount airlines and some have unbelievable prices. Try www.flybudget.com.

Try the Air France website-<BR>You can usually do a roundtrip in/out of LONDON supercheap<BR><BR>It is way cheaper to fly from LONDON to anywhere in Europe and back-- or even buy a roundtrip and use the front portion if the need arises.....

If anyone is attempting to use frequent flyer miles to Europe - the best chance of getting your flight is literally to do it when the airline opens its seats for your time of departure - which is usually 364 days in advance. Even then the airlines will attempt to have no more than two or three sets on each aircraft. Only within about a week of the actual flight departure will the airline's computer release seats for availbiblity. Things the airlines don't tell you.

hi,<BR><BR>I may be able to help with this one. 2 years ago we could not book the eurostar more than 90 days in advance online. your trip to paris and return must be under the 90 days. we actually called eurostar direct and found that out because we were having the same problem you are having. they run trips to paris every couple of hours just about so they are rarely booked solid each day.<BR><BR>unless something has changed this may be your problem. also, booking eurostar by online is more expensive. you should book by phone. for some reason the us online distributor for eurostar is more expensive. we saved about 1/3 of the price of a first class round trip 14 day advance ticket by doing it this way. cost us about $7 for phone call and we saved about 60 pds per ticket. (we had 5 going so that was substantial). we got the 1st class price for about what you would pay for coach online.<BR><BR>hope this helps!<BR><BR>

OK, so let's try to make something positive out of your little reservation problem: you're stranded in London, and can't access the Eurostar, so take advantage of London being a base for a host of low cost airlines. This'll enable you to fly direct from the south of France to London without adding TGV + Eurostar. I did a quick search on the web:<BR>London Stansted- Paris CDG by Buzz on 21/7: &pound; 21 (E 32) <BR>Nimes or Montpellier to Stansted on 31/7 22h00: E 81 or 75 with Ryanair <BR>or Marseilles to Stansted with Buzz either on 31/7 22h00 or 1/8 10h00: E 75. <BR>All prices include tax. <BR><BR>Of course, given the high, high season you are travelling at, book ASAP, because those prices will be multiplied by 2 or 3 within a few weeks.