What are the chances of getting a last-minute fare under $500 JFK - Paris?
 

I have the use of an apartment in Paris this summer, the last week in July and the first week in August. My daughter and her friend would love to come over, since they would only have to pay for their airfare. But they can't afford to spend more than $450 - $500. Is there a chance they might find an airfare like that - or should they not even think about it? They have signed up for airfare alerts between JFK and Paris, and have also signed up for last-minute deals. I hate to see them get their hopes up if it's really not going to happen!

You don't say where from. If it's the US, that's probably a pretty big long shot. If they recognize that, there's no harm in looking, even up to the last minute, since they have no further arrangements to make if they find a fare.

It's worth checking for deals listed in the local paper, plus kayak.com, mobissimo.com, and any number of other sites. They should also look at flying into ports like London or Dublin and then catching a RyanAir or similar superbudget flight over to Paris

Impossible.

No.

thanks artsnletters! they would be coming from New York.

They won't get a sub $500 fare to Dublin in the time frame either.

zero

Even if they got a sub-$500 fare to somewhere else, the costs of getting to Paris from wherever that was would put them WELL over that limit.

Can't they find a way to make a couple extra hundred dollars between now and then? My son's selling books on Amazon while waiting for his summer job to begin. My daughter's supplementing her summer job by going to Goodwill, buying hot-label clothes and reselling them to a fancy local consignment shop. Not that these are brilliant job ideas, but for making extra money, anything goes.

That's not even close to a realistic fare.

I would never say never. The possibilities I would expect to be very low in finding an airfare that low. But, I well remember, in December when I was trying to get to Buenos Aires for less than $1,000 from , L.A., and many thought it was impossible.

Well, at 2AM, I went on expedia and an airfare popped up for $559. on American Airlines, from L.A. to BA, via N.Y. I jumped on it and was off to BA around 3 weeks later. I had been on line checking airfares regularly and it was all pricing out in the $1,000-$1,500 range.

Since I'm a night person, I go on line looking for flights well after midnight. Many times deals pop up after midnight and I try to jump on them while most are sleeping. That's definitely what happened with my BA airfare because it was no longer available a few hours after I had booked it. Happy Travels!

After midnight in what time zone?

! StCirq - that's a great idea - take another approach to solving the problem!! thanks ...

There's always a workaround, usafran. That's what you learn running a small business. Always a workaround and some other way to get money. Go for it.

StCirq-I'm in Los Angeles....so Pacific. I kind of figured that the original poster figured that one out as I stated above that I was flying from L.A. to Buenos Aires.

I've been checking airfares, after midnight, long before the computer age or before I owned a computer which was just July 2008. The system has worked out quite well for me checking airfares at those wee hours. Happy Travels!

Actually there are a couple airlines running $408 RT Newark to Paris specials right now - though taxes would put it over $500 most likely. Could they fly out of there. I received an email from (?Travelocity ?Expedia? Travezoo? one of them) this week but already deleted it so can't provide specifics. IIRC, Iberia was one of the airlines.

Seamus-One of my best, male friends has been flying for decades out of Newark to Europe and gets really cheap airfares. He lived in Newark, for a couple of decades, before moving to Jersey City. As he's been married over a decade to a European woman and the two have flown back and forth to each other the whole marriage, he flies 3-4 times a year and a lot of times in high season.

He just moved, a few months ago, permanently to Europe, as he took very early retirement. I remember when he and a friend of ours, from N.Y. City, met me in Paris a few years ago, and they both flew out of Newark for an airfare in the $300 price range, rd.trip. So, I never say never. One just must be persistent and hope that luck comes one's way! Happy Travels!

I wouldn't rule it out. It will be tough, but keep checking. They could always give Priceline a try...

usafran- I just happenend to get an e-mail from my friend who lived in Newark for decades. So, I just mentioned to him of your situation and asked him how he used to get those really cheap airfares to Europe from Newark. So, I'll wait until he replies and if there's anything that I think might benefit your situation, I'll post it. Don't give up. Hopefully he'll reply soon. Remember he just moved permanently to Europe a few months ago, so we're really in different time zones now. Keep trying though. Happy Travels!

Also, it might be helpful to know the departure and return dates as I'm on the computer late a lot. If something pops up, I could post it and hopefully it wouldn't be sold out before you got the message. Happy Travels!

Petert Greenburg was on one of the morning shows today (CBS Early Show I think) talking about bargain airfares. According to him, the best time to get a bargain fare is after midnight on Tuesday. He says flights that people didn't finish processing/buying over the weekend are released then during a two hour or so period. He also said you need to be on the phone with the airline to get these released deals and it needs to be at 12:01 for the time zone where the airline is located.