I'll be leaving from LA to Paris on 12/20/02 and returning from London to LA on 01/05/03. My research has come up with fares in the $990 to $1100 range for R/T. This appears high to me or is it because the dates are busy travel days.<BR> Does anyone have similar plans and if so what are the plane fares? Thanks in advance.

Have you seen the promotional fares available from BA on http://www.britishairways.com/fallsale/index.shtml<BR><BR>Available for purchase before Oct 28.<BR><BR>"Higher fares apply for travel December 18 - 23, 2002" - - I am not sure how much higher.<BR><BR>Hope this might help you. Remember that you can fly between Paris and London for "pocket change". www.easyjet.com I think.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Those fares are in line for weekend travel. Switch to mid week and you will be able to bring it down a couple of hundred $$.<BR><BR> Keith

Check out Corsair. They're a weekly French charter (Tuesdays right now, I think) for less than $500.

topping<BR>

those are Totally outrageous fares. If you are felxible and have a decent travel agent you should be able to it for half that or less. I fly from the west coast to the UK and/or france 1 to 4 times a year. Have never paid more than $630 and that was in June. I usually fly in Dec and Jan in the $350 to $500 range. The reason is mentioned atravel agent is because you want open jaw. TA's can often get you better deals for these type of tickets.<BR><BR>Consider round trip into one city and Eurostar between them - it could save you hundreds of dollars if you can't get a decent opne jaw.<BR><BR>I am flying to/from London in early Dec on Virgin for $449 from LAX. A friend is going to Paris over New years and paying only $330 plus tax from SFO.

topping for Mike - you don't need to start a new thread. you have answers here . . . .

I just purchased tickets from Northwest Airlines (LAX to CDG-Paris) for $341.00 RT (per person). Expedia having one of it's fare sales.

The fares are high because it's the holiday travel period. You can get cheap fares at other times in December, but there are very few, if any, from a few days before Christmas till a few days after New Year.

I got $1060 published, so wholesale rate should be between mid $700 to high $800's. I would suggest calling a travel agent that is knowledgable about Europe and ask for a "consolidator" rate airfare.<BR><BR>You are traveling at a peak time. Christmas is a holiday celebrated worldwide, so tickets to anywhere during that time period will be higher. Also keep in mind that some connecting points will raise the fare. London is usually one of those points because of doing business when converted from GBP to US Dollars is not favorable.

Fellow Fodorites I need your help. I have not been able to locate a fare less than $1050 to fly LA to Paris/London RT 12/20 and return 1/5/03. I checked most of the usual travel websites. Can someone suggest where I may find a less expensive rate? Thank you.

That doesn't seem to unusual to me, because the Christmas/NY holiday period is often peak fare rates. <BR><BR>Try New Frontiers, that's a French travel agency (with NY office) that partly owns Corsair (or vice versa), a charter airline that flies from LA to Paris. <BR>www.newfrontiers.com

If you're locked in to that Dec 20 departure, you may have identified the challenge more thoroughly than others realize.<BR><BR>Besides the BA sale I mentioned earlier, I would recommend posting your question the Cheap Flights forum of www.eurotrip.com<BR><BR>and as an alternative - - although it won't get more than a tiny fraction of the exposure it will get here - - try www.travel-board.com as well.<BR>

Can you get a cheap fare to another hub? The reason I mention this is that NWA has fares for $166 plus tax (about $250) RT to Paris, London and Frankfurt from many other gateways from October through the end of March. I know that you can get the $166 RT fare from Boston to Paris for XMAS time, and I saw the same fares from DC. This might work for you if you are willing to take the extra time to fly to the east coast. You'd have to get a morning flight from LAX, and on the return, a late evening flight or red eye would work for you. It's not a great suggestion as you'd be spending a lot of time flying, but if you could save yourself $500, it might be worth it. Think of the incentive as a lot of frequent flyer miles.

Thank you all for your help. Because of my children's school attendance I can only depart and return on certain dates. The best I have found is about $900 so that will be the number. Again I appreciate everyone's help.

up<BR>

Mike,<BR><BR>If your two dates are firm, then $900 isn't too bad, seeing as those are the TWO MOST POPULAR travel dates until summer....

You folks are lucky with your low priced air fares. We always pay for a coach ticket and use miles to upgrade to business class to fly from the west coast to Europe. We do this upgrade thru the airline, so we probably don't get the best rate. We find that the shoulder season and winter season are the best and traveling week days (except Friday) are the best..<BR>lynlor