I know this only affects a small percentage of you, but today Delta announced a new direct flight from RDU to CDG. No more 3 hour layovers in New York or Philadelphia, no more missed connections, and hopefully my luggage will arrive with me now. In the past, this has been a source of continued frustration every time we go to Paris. We travel a lot in the off seasons so the icy weather north of the Mason-Dixon has caused us to take a few extra Zantac (as well as Xanax) on more than one occasion. I’m celebrating tonight!

I used to live in Raleigh, and other cities that weren't big hub cities - and I celebrate with you!!! One time I had to drive to Philadelphia to catch a flight overseas in a snow storm because they cancelled my flight to Philly... Enjoy that direct flight!!!

Congrats Susie! I may be driving to RDU for my next flight! We're over in CLT and only wish some more competitors would come in so US AIR wouldn't have such a strong hold on EVERYTHING!

And don't forget that this opens up a lot of Europe beyond CDG. As bad as everyone makes CDG out to be, I would connect in CDG before I would connect in any major US hub.

And there's the same news in the Pgh. Post-Gazette today, too; non-stop from PIT-CDG in the spring! Hurray, we might finally be able to get somewhere from here after USAirways did their number on Pgh.

Wonderful news! I'm in Charlotte as well and would gladly drive to RDU for direct flights. CLT is supposed to follow suit next year, I believe, but we'll see...

Tracy

I can't find these flights on the Delta website. When do they start?

I did find a new USAirways Charlotte direct to Paris but can't find RDU direct.

The USAir CLT to Paris non-stop was announced last week. I hope folks support it.

I agree with travelgourmet! And for me the more airports in the US that have direct flights to major European airports the better for me. I will not fly anywhere in the US that involves a connection in the US.
Don't mind going to CDG or LHR for a connection, but won't do it in the US, far too much hassle.

Judy,
The flights start June 2nd. See this link for the story:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3906367/

Thanks, Susie.

"Direct" does not mean "nonstop" in airlinespeak.

Direct means a trip on a single flight number where you make a stop enroute, and it could involve a change of planes at that stop, but as long as the same flight number is used, they call it "direct."

Nonstop means without any stops.

<i>&quot;Direct&quot; does not mean &quot;nonstop&quot; in airlinespeak</i>

This is an important distinction. The flights being discussed here, however, are non-stops. They will be flown on 757s, with 16 business class seats and 158 coach seats.

Hetismij, if you lived in Pgh., you wouldn't go very many places. Right now we can't get anywhere outside the US non-stop except the Caribbean and perhaps Toronto.

We have had nonstop to London, Paris, Frankfurt in the past but USAirways discontinued these a few years ago. It has made foreign travel very inconvenient and tiring.

The non-stop to Paris from Charlotte begins in April. Wouldn't it be nice if they had an introductory sale!!

If they have an introductory sale, you can count me on that flight to Paris from CLT!

Right now, we're contemplating flying out on Christmas Day for a 4-5 day getaway. USAir has been running some great last minute sales (domestic and international), so hopefully we'll be able to grab something good!

Our paper today said that there will be an introductory $599 one-way fare based on a round-trip purchase for travel from PIT-CDG through June 30 and must be purchased by Nov. 21. Hmmmm--if that's the introductory fare, wonder what the regular fare will be? I hope this isn't one of those &quot;good news is non-stop flight, bad news is that cost is prohibitive&quot; deals. Of course, that is high season, so maybe it will be a bit less in the fall. My euphoria of yesterday is not quite so strong today.

I was wondering about that CLT - CDG direct route. Good news that its coming in April! I too will be hoping for an introductory sale. Hopefully it will keep flights to CDG down in general.

Tracy

Tracy, I would think that your fare would be about the same as the one from PIT, but of course, who knows. Maybe I am way off base, but I don't consider $1198 to be a super introductory offer. What do you think?

I can't seem to let this go!

According to our paper, Delta will be using 757-200s for this route, and that's a 3-3 configuration and a 33&quot; pitch as opposed to USAirway's 31&quot; on Airbus.