May 27 is the start of the French Open tennis tournament and Monday, May 28 is Pentecost. I'm not 100% sure if Pentecost is generally considered a day off in France (we got it last year where I work). If so, those dates might explain why the fares are high for the dates you're looking at. It might be a busy travel weekend in France.

Predicting when French holidays are going to result in heavy weekend travel and long weekends is a little tricky this year because of the French presidential and parliamentary elections. For example, ordinarily, you'd see a lot of people taking a super long weekend just before May 8 (even a 10-14 day holiday because May 1 is also a holiday), but this year May 6 is the second round of the presidential election, so more French likely will stay home. Maybe that's pushing more into taking a long weekend at the end of May, around Pentecost Monday.

What we are really wanting to do is fly into Paris and out of London which makes it more difficult and expensive. We are really not very flexible on our dates because my son has friends that will also be in Paris the first week of June and he would like to be there at the same time. I guess if you're going to be so picky you have to be willing to pay the price. Flying out of Atlanta also limits your options.

You might check roundtrip to London and the cost of roundtrip on the Eurostar from London to Paris as an alternative.

I actually did check that amwosu and it's about $1000 dollars cheaper. Because of the days we want to be in Paris and my son is graduating from high school on the 26th has something on the 27th so as you can see it gets complicated. The only way it would work is if we flew into London and went straight to Paris on Eurostar that day. That would make for a loooong day.

I'm heading to Paris in a few weeks and only recently bought my tickets.

I've had good experience with Air France in the past. I went to book with them again but noticed on Orbitz that a Delta flight for $200 less with the exact same times and dates as the Air France flight I wanted. I went to book the Delta flight and noticed that it was to be "operated" by Air France under the same flight number of the more expensive flight I almost bought. I understand that they are code share partners but the $200 difference seems strange. Has anyone ever noticed this?

The Air France and Delta prices on the code share are almost always different when you go to the Delta or Air France website. I have noticed this also. Sometimes Delta is cheaper, sometimes Air France is cheaper.

That is interesting, Fraggle-when I booked my $481.00 fare to Venice all taxes included on the Air France website, that same fare was more on Delta-and it is operated as a codeshare. But opaldog is right, sometimes Delta fares are more or less, and sometimes Air France runs a sale on their website-you have to check both, or go to kayak.com to see what it comes up with in terms of websites with the lowest airfare.

cindynpp

I was reading the NY Times on the weekend and I saw a full page Delta ad for a Europe sale. I don't remember if Paris was on there, and the ad was basically for out of JFK (other airports listed in small print for different fares) but the fares looked in the range of $600 -$900 RT depending on destination.

I didn't pay much attention since unfortunately I need a flight in - ugh - high season due to traveling companions, and travel for these fares needs to be completed by June 15th. If that works with your dates, check out the Delta website.

American is also doing a pretty major spring sale including flights to Paris.
The big question is when are you going and from where?

And in coach, I think American is as comfortable as it gets -- certainly more room than most carriers.

From L.A., my choice is Air Tahiti Nui. Non-stop, decent food and very nice flight attendant.

((H))

Great points from AGMCapeCod and RastaGuy. Seatguru was very helpful and I always check on the type of aircraft when booking (holdover from my Air Force days, I guess). My wife and I are flying to CDG on United out of Washington Dulles a week from Sunday. I used AmEx points, but the rates were all pretty close at the time I booked. I had a choice between two directs: Air France and United. First, I'm a United frequent flyer, so the miles appealed to me, but what really sold me was the aircraft. AF offered an Airbus with a 3-4-3 configuration. That meant if we could get on one side or the other, we'd have to take an aisle and a middle. With almost the same arrivals and departures on the dates I wanted, UA is flying 777s with the 2-5-2 config. I booked in time to get us on the sides both going and coming, so we get to cozy up to no one but each other! It might sound a little silly, but that was a huge selling point...it definitely helped me make up my mind.

We are flying out of Atlanta. I don't think anybody has a sale out of Atlanta. Not that I can find anyway.

American has sales through May -- I was even looking at open jaw into CDG and out of London or vice versa from Atlanta -- 2 weeks for $388 ($561 with taxes). I saw on another post you are planning on doing London AND Paris, so this could be ideal. And into the first week of June, they still have prices in the $500 range, (around $ 700 with taxes).
It seems that American flights are all cheaper if you go into or out of London one way instead of round trip Paris. Or if you're doing London and Paris, maybe just check round trip London.

Sign up for US Air's e-savers via their website. I just got e-saver info for Indy to London for $199 one way but it only goes thru May 22.

I did see that Atlanta was also on the list for flights into Manchester England for $249 for the same time frame. I know that isn't YOUR time frame but maybe the next esaver next week will have another good fare pushing into June.

NeoPatrick
I wish I could find a fare for $700 to Paris. I just went to American ( i actually already searched there once today), clicked on multi-city leaving from ATL on May 31 to CDG, returning from LHR on June 9 $1155.00 Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I've searched so much they won't show me any low fares. We're really considering flying round trip to London ($645 RT) and taking the train to Paris mid-week to save $1000. I rather fly into Paris and out of London but a $1000 is 1/2 room price. I may look another day or so to be sure. Then it'll probably be $900 RT.

I was in the exact same situation two years back, trying to schedule inbound to Paris to coordinate with my niece's graduation date. Because it was during the French Open, everything was harder to find at a discount. We wound up leaving the night of her morning ceremony because it saved a whole lot of bucks.

And about Tuesdays - in addition to the day you check posted fares, midweek (Tuesday - Thursday) flights are often cheaper than those on Friday through Monday

Thanks for the reply Seamus. I'm glad to see your name. I actually posted a question to you because I someone posted a link to a thread from last year where you commented on VRBO 74510. We have been corresponding with Giancarlo to rent it while we are in Paris and I'm a bit uncomfortable about long distance apartment rental, Just wanted to confirm from your previous post about the apartment and Giancarlo. He does not ask for any deposit which makes me a little uneasy. I just don't want to get down to the wire and have to stay in a dump because everything is booked. Any comment would be appreciated.

Ouch. No you aren't doing anything wrong -- other than flying out Memorial Day week. I suspect that's the real issue. Once Memorial Day hits, the fares go up. For those other fares I was looking a week earlier.

Thanks to everyone for the info. We don't have a choice but to leave after Memorial day, my son graduates from high school the Saturday before. I guess if we want to go we will just have to pay the price. From what everyone has said I don't see airfare coming down a significant amount so we better hurry before it goes up

Hey, I just got an idea from StuDudley to fly into Brussels Belgium (BRU) and it saved me $375/person even though I'm doing a mulit city trip and flying home thru CDG. From Brussels you can hop on a TGV and be in Paris faster than from London.