london to Paris by air
 

I will be travelling to Paris from London in October. I hear there are some great fares available. Any info. on airlines or sites to get them would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

Easyjet are quoting prices below £40 return for October. Book as soon as you can - the prices go up steadily until the departure date. www.easyjet.co.uk

Mike -

Here is your earlier thread on this subject with some replies:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34421413

(In future, you can find all your own posts by logging in here and then clicking on your user name in the upper left corner of the screen.)

Check applefares.com for budget airlines that fly your route.

also check out BMI [British Midland?] We had gotten a great rate with them, though I don't recall the exact amt. any longer.

As cited on another related thread tonight, BMI rates come up as the lowest priced on www.opodo.co.uk

Best wishes,

Rex

Think about the chunnel. We've travelled both by air and train and have always found the train faster and more pleasant.

Charlie I've always suspected that the train was faster as it goes from city center to city center v. airport to airport and you don't have to check in so far ahead of. So is it significantly faster?

Well, SAB, at the moment it's a very close call between air and rail. Basically, center to center, both boil down to the same travel time. However, as a regular London-Paris commuter, I've fallen out of love with the Eurostar, for several trivial reasons, but whose accumulation starts to be annoying:
1. The trains' interiors are in a very poor state, and you really feel like

Well, SAB, at the moment it's a very close call between air and rail timewise. Basically, center to center, both boil down to the same travel time. However, as a regular London-Paris commuter, I've fallen out of love with the Eurostar, for several trivial reasons, but whose accumulation starts to be annoying:
1. The trains' interiors are in a very poor state, and you really feel like you're travelling on a third world train
2. It is very rare not to undergo a 20-30 minute delay (granted, it also happens on planes, especially at peak hours)
3. Because of the UK's refusal to be part of the Schengen countries, and the current "war on terror", last check-in time is 30 mn prior to departure, ie the same one as for a flight (whereas in Paris you can hop on the Thalys to Brussels 2 mn before doors actually close)
4. For some reasons, you will pay 30 % more (well, now with the current strength of the Euro, only 20 %) for a return Eurostar ticket from London than the other way round, which means that basically it's the same price as flying.
5. There is no "frequent rider" programme on the Eurostar (unless you cough up 200 pounds on a business return), whereas BMI, AF and BA all belong to world wide alliances.

That said, September should see the launch of part of the British high speed portion. So, if the opening is not delayed for the umpteenth time, by October you should gain 20 mn, bringing the Gare du Nord to Waterloo stretch down to 2h40mn (in the best of cases). And, assuming that you are American, there is a more European feel by taking the train.

But at the moment my money would be on flying with BMI: www.flybmi.com. I don't really recommend EasyJet: you fly out of Luton ($ 20 by train from central London) and arrive in ghastly Terminal 3 in CDG, where you feel they are shipping out sheep to the slaugherhouse!