My cousin is hoping to find fares from Milwaukee/Chicago/St. Louis to Paris for January and is alarmed by the $750+ cost. I told her that I recalled fares in the $400 range last winter. My advice to her was to wait till Sept/October when winter fare deals will start to appear.

My question is whether other Fodorites would agree with my advice or offer another suggestion.

Yes

There have been low Jan fares already - - you simply have to watch for them. They will come again, perhaps Aug-Oct.

Best wishes,

Rex

The best airfares for this period will come AFTER the summer travel season. Plenty of time, no reason to jump the gun now...

The amount of competition in the market (flight route) will influence fare prices, e.g., flying out of Milwaukee vs. out of Chicago and I suspect the amount of route competition to Paris from St. Louis is less than out of Chicago, also.

The fares for January are already set. Why would the travel season NOW have any influence on fares charged in January? You are correct in your thinking that the only "deals" will come if there is a sale and those will be driven by the amount of prior sales as well.

Good luck and please tell your cousin to look somewhere for deals besides Orbitz and Expedia, too.

Last year I bought a January ticket from Austin, TX to Paris for $390.00 in October. But keep checking between now and then, you never know when a sale will come up.

AerLingus/American Airlines are having a sale from Nov1 to late March at this moment (the 2 holiday weeks around Christmas excluded). ~$325-350(all in) fares to Dublin from Chicago, non-stop flights. RyanAir will get you to Paris for another $25-50 from Dublin.

Something to consider if you want to lock in early.