Rene McDaniel

Greetings,
We are planning a 2-week Paris trip to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary next Spring. (We honeymooned in Paris 20 years ago) We have made a timeshare exchange for the end of May and returning the second week of June, so our accommodations are already set & locked-in.

For the past couple of months I have seen roundtrip flights, nonstop from LAX-CDG for about $1,600 each on Air France (10.5 hour flight). Or, a second less expensive option would be to use our 50,000 Southwest FF miles to get free flights from Southern California to New York. Then, fly from NYC to Paris on a separate roundtrip ticket for around $1,000 (but to get those fares you have to stop & change planes either in Iceland, Ireland, or Portugal). Nonstop flights from NYC to Paris continue to hover @ $1500/each - so, no real savings there!

For all the hassle of booking separate FF tickets, changing planes in NYC, changing planes in Iceland, etc. Plus, if there is any delay in our flights coming back from Paris to NYC, we would have to get those re-booked & that could be costly.

I am thinking maybe I should just book the $1,600 nonstop from LAX. But is it really worth $1,200 more to avoid the potential for hassles and flight delays? Is there any possibility that prices for non-stops to Paris for either LAX or NYC would go down? May and June are peak travel times for Paris.

I would appreciate advice from more experienced travelers as we do not fly often, and I am not very familiar with airfares between the US & France.

Thanks in advance, for any advice or suggestions you could offer.

UAPremExecflyer

Welcome to FT.
Congrats on your impending anniversary.
You really aren't going to do much better in terms of air fare, particularly for a non-stop. It might go down a little. I would wait until after Labor Day and see if any sales lower the price(s) a bit. Carriers have reduced capacity on TATL routes and high aviation fuel prices keep tickets from going down.

Rene McDaniel

Thank you. I will wait to see what fare deals might pop up after Labor Day.

I also see that Air Tahiti Nui also has non-stop flights from LAX to CDG for $1,450 round trip, although their flights are not every day. Their Yelp reviews seem pretty good, except for the food complaints, which is not a big deal, so no worries there. I just wish they had more flights.

Meanwhile, I keep checking fares everyday.

menton1

Predicting airline fares these days is like predicting the Stock Market... a bad idea that nobody is really very good at.

Fares are volatile these days, and there are no rules. With so much lead time, you can set one of the tracking websites (Yapta) and it will email you when the price changes. When the price gets to a place you are comfortable with, just buy the tickets, and forget it. If it gets lower before your trip, so be it. Just think about enjoying Paris!

slawecki

you have also selected a location and a time frame that may very well sellout.

Buzzman

Beware of Air Tahiti Nui Y seats.... Forced to fly to Tahiti twice with them... Seats like rocks... Never again..

keisari

flying SouthWest to NY and then connecting with AF or some other airlines means that you are traveling on two separate tickets.
if something goes wrong with the SouthWest flight and you miss the connection, neither company is responsible for the connection since you are flying on separate tickets.
Also keep in mind that your luggage will most likely not transfer which makes it more of a problem

Fares go up and down and you can go nuts checking daily.
I would just pick a price that you feel comfortable and buy it.
If it goes down by a few $ so be it.
Overall prices are much higher than in previous years and they are staying there.

Have you thought about getting a couple of credit cards with great bonus miles and then get award tickets?
many companies are giving 40-60K for signup bonus

stablemate77

the a380 does this....and super nice plane new....but would wait till 4 months before not to let airlines collect intrest on your money if you think of 1600 held up for 6 months before flight they put in bank and make 60 extra....if you do big double deck enjoy all extras and sit close to kitchen free sweets are nice

gaume

United is currently $1325 with a Chicago stopover....leave at least 2 hours to connect. if you book early you can get 2 seats on the side of 2-3-2 configured 777. Not a bad ride for economy.

menton1

777 equipment is just about never a 2-3-2. (Too big an airplane) Perhaps you meant 2-5-2, which is on some of the United 777s. They also have 3-3-3. Or perhaps it is a 767?

gaume

Correction noted. My point was book early and get the 2 seats on a side.

aamilesslave

767s are 2-3-2 in Y (but who on FT flies Y )

Rene McDaniel

Gaume,
Thanks for the heads up re: the United airfares. Sadly, United does not show those $1300 fares for our travel dates: departing from LAX at the end of May, and returning June 14 or 15. United is running about $1600, or almost the same as the AirFrance non-stop flights. I think we are definitely in the peak travel months for Paris.

The best deal right now seems to be the Air Tahiti Nui flights for $1400 round trip, which is pretty good considering it is a non-stop both directions. I am thinking of going ahead and booking soon as it is an Airbus A340 with the 2-4-2 seating configuration, and it would be nice to have just our 2 seats together, without the intimate company of a 3rd random stranger sitting 2-inches away for 11+ hours.

I hope the pitch of the seats on the Airbus A340 is not any worse than the regular discomfort of most flights. I plan to ask my doctor for prescription sleep aids as the airplane noise always keeps me from sleeping, even if I've been awake the previous 24 hours!

menton1

And your point is?

keisari

I think you are mistaken.
We all love to fly upfront but MANY of us in FT absolutely fly in the back of the plan either for business or personal travel.
I think we hear more about the experiences/complains/award tickets up front so the information on FT is biased.