Hi
I am about to pull the plug on tickets USA to CDG for a trip to Provence that has been put off several times. These are the best award tickets I can find.

I would love some feedback on traveling to this area during the last two weeks of September.

Merci

I was just there Sept. 30 through the second week in Oct. the weather was beautiful. Temps in the mid 70's and lots of sunshine in Nice and the coast. Sunshine in all of Provence and temps 68-73 for highs. Aix and Avignon had crowds but not so bad.

It's 'pull the trigger'. 'Pull the plug' would mean you are going to cancel the trip. ;-)

September is a great time for the area in my opinion. On the Cote d'Azure, my favourite spot is Antibes.

'Take the plunge'. ;-)

It is normally a beautiful time to be anywhere in the Provence area, so go for it.

We just spent nearly two weeks in Provence in mid-Sept. We needed light jackets in the morning and evenings. It would have been too cold for swimming for me, but it was lovely for walking and sightseeing and we ate outside most evenings. I would go again in September in a heart beat!

Wooo whooo! Just finished the transaction. We leave on September 23 and return on October 7. I have been working on this for years and it is now officially (barring catastrophe) going to happen.

I'm so excited.

Thanks to those who gave such helpful feedback. I will be looking for trip reports soon.

Flying PHL <> CDG, the tickets were 55K points each, and considering credit card fees and moving some points around, as well as taxes and fees, one ticket ran about $250.00 US, and the other closer to $500.00. I feel that is a very good deal.

We only accumulate points through credit card purchases and some internet specials, and maybe one or two flights a year, so pulling in two tickets a year (one for each of us) to Europe feels like a score.

Good for you! I hope you do include the Côte d'Azur.

Great deal! I found RT JFK to Marseilles for $650 and was happy. You did even better!

Well, Sassafrass, if you would see me playing the miles game all year, you might not think I did better. ;-) Your fare is terrific.

Micheline, we do intend on visiting the Cote d'Azur, especially to take in art as well as the scenery.

You know the 'miles game' is not the only game in town.

Air miles work pretty well for business travellers who put a lot of miles on each year. For the average person trying to accumulate enough miles through use of a credit card though it's not necessarily their best way to go.

We use a card that gives us points which translate to cash. Initially it was 2% of every dollar spent. If you use your card enough they up you to a 'preferred customer' as they did for us after the first year. We get 4% on every dollar we put on that card.

So the question is, are the flights you get worth more than 4% of your total spent on your card. The other advantage is our 'reward' is in cash which can be spent on anything, not just air travel.

Determining the value of air miles is a very contentious issue. Visit Flyertalk.com and do some searching on the topic and you will see how contenious it can be.

If National Airline A says the flight is $1000 and National Airline B says it is $800 and Low Cost Carrier C says it is $500, how much is it worth?

Your air miles do not let you choose from ALL airlines. Our cash 'reward' does let you us do that. So instead of using air miles on A as you might need to do, we pay for C and keep the other $500 in our pocket.

tuscanlife - We were in Nice for 3 days on the way to Corsica, this past Sept (7th-9th). temp was about 80F.

BTW - We did it with FF miles too. But only had to use 40k with AA. Flight was JFK to Dusseldorf to Nice. On Air Berlin (partner with AA).

kenav: 40K is a hell of a deal for September. Was it a special? I've not seen anything that low at that time of year. We often do Europe in the winter for 35K, but never in high season.

Is that 40k each way?