Originally Posted by
chriskfla
I could use some advice. I was about to book 3 business class seats between DTW and CDG this coming July. They were $2140 each for months. Today they are now about $4500 each. Hardly anyone is on the flights. They must have gone up on 12/1 or when 2 add'l seats were taken. What are the least expensive cities typically to find lower priced business class flights to CDG or London? Is ExpertFlyer the best way to search? Thanks.
It appears to me that you were looking at an S-Fare:
- Min stay 10 days, max stay 30 days
- Advance purchase of 60 days
- Non-refundable; $400 change fee
Destinations where reasonable S-Fares are available include: DUB, SNN, SVO, BRU, PRG; ZRH, IST, ATH, BCN, MXP, FRA, VCE, MAD.
In my experience:
- there are relatively few S-fare seats and they appear / disappear quickly and often. When one suits my travel plans, I purchase it right away.
- some destinations have more often S-Fares than others (e.g., MAD > BCN).
- some destinations are supposed to have S, but I have never been able to findone (e.g., IST & ATH)
- if your dates are flexible (+/- 3 days) I have found that some search engines work better than others (Orbitz works great; Kayak only shows S for single day searches)