marya_

We (mother and daughter) are beginning to think about a one-week trip to Paris next January (2008), late in the month, between university terms.

We do not usually plan this far in advance. Does anyone have any advice about timetables for airline ticket purchase and apartment rentals?

Many thanks.

ira

Hi M,

Usually accomodations aren't available more than 6 mos out.

You can start looking at airfare in Feb, but I would wait until the announcements of Winter specials to book.

Christina

You shouldn't have that much trouble for late January as it isn't that popular a tourist time, that's for sure (which would affect the apt. rental). It even has lower rates for some hotels.

No harm in looking for apartments if you have the time, why not, to narrow down to something you like. If you are picky about those kind of things, many people do actually book some vacation rental apartments a year ahead (I mean picky in that you have very specific criteria on location, size, what kind of appliances it has, bathroom, etc.). If it were me, I'd probably aim at having something booked about 6 months ahead of time. I don't know about airfare or when they announce the best fares for January. It seems those aren't out until maybe early Fall -- or late summer at the earliest. I wouldn't worry about that for a long time.

Judy

It depends on what type of accommodation you are interested in....at 6 months out many of the best apartment choices will be gone. I frequently book apartments one year or more in advance.
Airline schedules are not usually available until 330 days prior to travel.

Christina

FYI, I have had many apartments booked up I wanted when I was trying to book about 6 months ahead. I really don't know what Ira is referring to about accommodations not being available more than 6 months ahead, I don't agree with that at all (for apts or hotels). YOu wouldn't need to book a hotel for January that far ahead, of course, a couple months should do for that. You wouldn't need to book very far in advance at all if you don't have some particular popular hotel in mind.

marya_

Thank you for such prompt replies!

Precisely because January is such a comparatively easy, low demand time to book, I began to fear that I would be too lackadaisacal and then wait too long.

I get the impression from your posts that I should be concerned with the apartment before the airfare. True?

My daughter loves the Marais. We have a couple of apartments that we have stayed in before there but if anyone recommends anything, that would be great. I'd love to try something new. Furthermore, it certainly doesn't have to be the Marais, it's just that we have spent about a month there and she loves the area.

Thank you. This is such a great resource. We don't usually plan this far in advance and so I feel fortunate that I can benefit from your expertise in planning a special mother-daughter trip.

crefloors

What I did when I was looking for Paris airfares was: I went to Orbitz and Expedia and got all the airlines that showed flights for the dates I wanted. Now, this is just a personal preference with me, I wanted to book directly with the airline and NOT use a consolidator or "discount" site. Once I had the airlines I checked to see if they were non-stop or how many stops and also checked the prices. I wanted a non-stop and was willing to pay a little more to get it if I had to. Again, that's just me. I found there were only two airlines that had non-stop. I checked the prices and didn't especially like what I saw. I had some time so I signed up for e-mails from the airlines. Well I got an e-mail from Air France and checked, the fare looked right so my friend and I bought. When you get an e-mail about a sale, before you get too excited, be sure to check and see if all the fees are included or not. I was lucky in that the price I got included all those fees. I have since gotten other e-mails and the prices have looked fabulous but when I have checked (just curiosity, not going anywhere in the near future, darn it!!) the fares actually were not so great. I was going the first part of November last year and started looking during the summer. I just kept checking every few days and then in late August I got the "fall sale" e-mail and the purchase and travel dates were right so that's when I bought.

No one can predict fares. I would certainly thing at that time of year, you should be able to come with something pretty good however.

marya_

Ira,

Can you say more about the "winter specials" that you referred to above?

Would you book flights to Paris (BOS-CDG) well in advance of a January '08 trip or wait until next Fall to book?

Thanks for any advice.

WillTravel

There can often be brief, transitory, and unannounced low airfares starting 11 months ahead - it's impossible to predict of course.