How to get to Paris thru London
 

We've been trying to use our AA miles to get to Paris, but are having no luck. We can get a rt flight to London, but I think this would add 2 extra travel days to and from Paris. Has anyone flown into London (arriving around 10am) and then gone on to Paris the same day? If flying...which low cost carrier would you suggest. If we had the time, we'd love to spend 2 days on each end in London before going to Paris, but this will be our first trip to Paris, and we'll just have about 5 days without taking extra time for London. Would love to hear any suggestions, advice. I've looked into paying for ticket, full and partial, but the cost is out of our range for this short trip...would be over $3000US, even for economy 1 way (2 of them). Thanks all.

Yes, you can make the connection. I am flying into Heathrow (using Virgin FF to upgrade to Premium Economy) and then BA on to Lyon. I don't know who offers service to Paris, but there must be many, BA, Air France....you MAY have to arrange to take National Express bus from Heathrow to Gatwick (or other airport) which I have done once before, you can book online and just find the bus once you clear customs. If you're not taking the same airline on, you'll need to claim your baggage and handle the connection yourself. I was travelling by myself and managed it, it's not stress free, but not any worse than other new experiences.
www.whichbudget.com lists all sorts of budget flights...they show BMI has service from LHR to CDG for31 GBP...BUT
if you're booking from the states, you'll need to go to a travel agent, you can't book a foreign to foreign flight online...'least I couldn't do my BA flight that way...

Hope this helps, let me know if you want more personal experience info..

With the Eurostar only 2hrs 30 minutes from downtown London to downtown Paris, I'd take the express train to Paddington Stations, cab it to Waterloo London and catch the train to Paris.

See
http://www.raileurope.co.uk/eurostar/index.asp
http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/...il.htm#express

You <b> can </b> book flights within Europe on-line and very easily; either on the particular airline's own website or through &quot;engines&quot; such as Expedia.

If time is short, then try to get a flight from Heathrow to Paris - the other London airports are all spread far and wide and don't make a quick transfer. If BA is too pricey, then try BMI. Unfortinately, the low cost carriers tend not to fly from Heathrow, but BMI often has good bargains.

The Eurostar is great if you're already in London, but if you're at Heathrow, I'd look at flying - it's only a 1 hour flight.

Onthegogo,
We are flying into London Heathrow on BA miles as well and flying easyjet to Venice out of Gatwick the same day. Check some of the discount carriers. I usually go to the destination airport website and see who flies into that destination.

We took the Eurostar from Paris to London in 2003 and it was wonderful. Very nice.

Good Luck.
Travelatte