Yup, the wife and I got our bookings for the British Airways cheap flight for April 04 from SFO.

Now, we want to spend 3 nights in Paris - most likely sandwiched during our London stay. Our past visits to London did not involve travelling out to other Europen cities. What is the best way to travel - Train or Plane? Is there a reasonably cheap way (e.g. Internet, call travel agent, specific airline(s) website)to book a round trip air travel between the 2 cities? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Go right back to BA.com and price a flight. BA has been matching low cost carriers on the same routes. You have to change the BA.com to United Kingdom at the top right hand corner.

Another good on is www.easyjet.com

If you are into trains, and if you want to say you did the tunnel, that's another option, but it will be more expensive, although you will go from center to center of both cities, something to consider when comparing prices.

Have a great trip!

Sometimes the Eurostar trains are not expensive and good deals can be found in advance. You go from city center to city center and save on transportation costs (and time) that way. I found it very easy and pleasant lats summer.

AAFF is exactly correct. Flying is usually cheaper than train these days but you have to get from the city to the airport at both ends so that adds time & expense. It's been proven that train actually is shorter time when you add to/from the cities.

I would suggest not "sandwiching" but either do Paris at the beginning or end. Since you're coming from SFO, I'd do it at the end of the trip. Train from London to Paris then fly back but try to fly back to your departing airport (ie don't get stuck making a change from Gatwick to Heathrow. It's awful). Too bad you didn't organize this before buying the ticket. Often making a "stop" on BA costs no more! (ie RT ticket to Paris with stop in London)

Both Easyjet.com and ryanair.com have cheap air flights but I don't think they fly in & out of Heathrow. Check who does the route (LHR/CDG) on travelocity.

The other option to look at is booking an air/hotel package in Paris. ebookers.com is one site that has these. But check with BA firts about whether you can do this added stop for free.

Hi RCC,

sorry you're flying BA. Sure it'll be OK though
: )

Eurostar is the one, and they seem to have got most of the gremlins outta their online booking. You can use eurostar.com from 90 days out from your desired dates (e.g., 3 months before your preferred trip time). If you factor in a Saturday night away, then you can nab the cheapest possible fare.

Alternatively check London-based travel agents for 'city breaks' with train&hotel all in. These can be cheaper than doing it independently - but, everybody wants to be in Paris in April...
HTH & say hi to SF's sister city
: )

So far the only good advice is to not sandwich your trip to Paris. Go right from Heathrow when you get to London. Why waste time going back and forth to the airport?

Anyway, forget the train, Easyjet and Ryanair. You can fly BMI from LHR to CDG. Look at www.flybmi.com

Just be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to make the flight. You will have to collect our baggage and go to terminal 1 from terminal 4. I'm doing the very same thing tomorrow. I have allowed myself 3 hours to catch my Paris flight. I travel light so it shouldn't be a problem.

BTW, British Airways is a very fine airline.

What is flybmi - can't find the website. Also British Air may be a very safe airline - their agents and their keeping track of seat assignments have to be listed as the worst.

Marcia,

www.flybmi.com - British Midland,

also,

www.bmibaby.com

It's hard to beat eurostar's $90 round-trip Mon-Thursday fares London-Paris-London. Factor in getting to London airports and then probably landing well out of Paris so you need to pay more to get into town. Eurostar takes you right into the heart of town. The $90 is fairly new, a response to the cheap airfares. But tickets are limited, if you know when you want to go you can book up to 4 months in advance. I'd call Budget Europe Travel in the U.S., they are experts at booking Eurostar trains (800-441-9413). Due to the new high-speed track just opened in England, Eurostar has London-Paris times of well under three hours, much quicker than air figuring that you must get to and from airports and be there well before the actual flight. Plus with the train you see the lay of the land and experience the world's fastest in-service passenger train as it blows along at up to 186 mph in France. Note that the $90 round trip fare is good on any train Mon-Thu but Fri and weekends are significantly higher.

rcc

I actually think your original idea of "sandwiching" the Paris portion is very good - it avoids long airport layovers (although you do have to pack/unpack an extra time).

Unless the price difference is huge, I would definitely take the Eurostar train to/from Paris. Since you're travelling round trip and will be booking far in advance I'm sure you'll snag a good fare.

EasyJet may be cheaper, but you alse have to factor in the extra cost of transportation to/from the airport on both ends.

Hope this helps,
Andre

we just booked a flight for my daughter and it was cheaper to fly than the train. maybe even a little easier.

Thank you for all suggestions. Each are valuable and have been (or are still being) carefully considered.

One that has been decided on is NOT to sandwich the Paris trip. Thank you mclaurie and others for this tip.

AAFF and peck-man - thank you for the web sites.