gumercindo

I plan to go in September with my wife and can't seem to find anything cheaper than $1k. Is this the going rate for a trip to Paris (due to oil costs, USD, etc.), or do I hold out for a better fare?

Many thanks!

Night Flyer

No one can really answer your question reliably, but for what it's worth I tend to take a couple of transatlantic flights each fall and traditionally the airfares available in May for September-December travel are significantly higher than those available in late August/early September. There's no significant competitive pressure on those flights right now so what you're seeing is what the airlines would LIKE to sell those seats for; they're playing just as much of a "wait and see" game as any of us are. But if people wouldn't pay $700 for those flights last fall, and many wouldn't as evidenced by the fall "fare sales," chances are they aren't going to pay $1,100 for them this fall, and once one airline starts selling lower the others will have to choose between flying empty seats or flying lower-priced seats.

A lot depends on your risk tolerance, if you have expensive fixed lodging costs you'll have to factor that in. But since travel demand in general starts to peter off after Labor Day, it's a reasonable assumption that fares will drop somewhat. September is a bit on the cusp, prices will normally be lower in November-December for obvious reasons. Of course we've never had $125 oil either so there are variables yet to be determined.

If it were me, I'd wait a while. But I also don't think we're in for a return to $358 RT tickets either so you'll have to make your own choices when you see a decent fare.

slawecki

good post.

this fall will be a new game in the new world of bush bucks. due to the high price of fuel, the absurd weakness of the dollar, the second flight pairs may be pulled very early this year. e.g ua has at least a pair of iad-lgh, iad-fra, iad-cgd flights in big planes. they may go to 767, or they may pull one of the two altogether. if so, prices do not go down. i do not know about other markets.

also $1100 up from $400 is not very much in real world money. $400(did not do a 358) was close to €500 a few years ago. today, $1100 is €700. not much of a change considering price of fuel.

willie--wonka

I have been flying sfo-iad-cdg in late August/early Sept outbound and mid to late Sept inbound for quite a few years(ever since the nonstop ceased). I usually book in Jan/Feb and this ticket always costs $1300, more or less, although next year may be more. I've never known the fare to go down as Sept. approaches, and I've never been able to refare for a voucher.

keisari

what do you mean the non-stop ceased?
is it the SFO-CDG that ceased? Air France still does that flight once a day

slawecki

we have flown iad-europe for about 20 years. the fare reduction sometime occurs in late oct, and continues into nov,dec,early jan, then starts rising in jan & feb.

the initial announcements are usually on the last days one can purchase the oct tickets. sometimes it seems to me that the offer is back dated. 4 week advance purchase required for the last week of oct, and the announcement is made on oct 15 or so. that late announcement makes even late nov planning difficult.

some of the Z or I class(disc business) is 50 day out, and i am positive the announce ment is made in mid oct for dates in nov and dec.

nomad1974

He probably means the UA SFO-CDG nonstop.

willie--wonka

Correct. The old 925/926 SFO=CDG was cut some years ago.

keisari

sorry. I am a Skyteam person. Unless UA merges with CO and they stay in Skyteam then UA does not really exist......

Kate_Canuck

In connection with a conversation to resolve an expensive ticketing glitch on a JFK-CDG ticket, I asked our corporate travel agent to look at the cost of returning home from a different city (e.g Madrid) since this is where I was going after my business trip and had planned to return to Paris and then fly home. She said "Terrific - flights are much cheaper out of Madrid" and managed to find me a business class ticket that was almost $3000 cheaper than the messed up ticket she'd booked (JFK-CDG-JFK in a week where there's really high demand on the JFK-CDG route) but $1000 cheaper than the fare she was supposed to book (JFK-CDG-JFK) when the seats hadn't filled up and the fares were lower.

The point is that you might find a somewhat cheaper fare if you book an open jaw ticket and either fly to or return from a different city than Paris. Make a virtue out of the economy and enjoy two cities for about the same price as one (as you'll have to find a cheap one way ticket between the two). I'm planning to fly into Paris, and then used 12,500 miles with Skyteam to fly to Madrid for my holiday and then I'll fly out of Madrid.

London's probably about as expensive as Paris (and the Eurostar is not a cheap way to travel between the two), but you might have a look at Madrid, Frankfurt, Zurich, Nice, Rome, Milan, etc. For Y tickets, I checked open jaw fares flying IAH-city, CDG-IAH: flying to Frankfurt (indirect) was only $845, into Zurich (direct) was about $900, flying into Madrid (direct) was $1000, and Nice was $1025 (indirect I think).

For someone located closer to NYC, I'd recommend splurging on l'Avion, where you can fly business class for about $1450 return right now (provided it doesn't go under as Eos did).

roberto99

My experience is that the airlines usually announce the reduced seasonal fares after Labor Day (1 Sep 2008) for the upcoming off-seasons.

And the lowest tatl fares start 1 Nov....

benzemalyonnais

Definitely go for l'Avion, it is really nice and easy, and flies into Orly not CDG, so do you don't have to deal with the hassle of transportation. Otherwise don't forget about a cheap flight into GVA; I know the CO flight from EWR is very cheap, and that train ride is just as fast and is much cheaper than the overpriced Eurostar

2stepsbehind

seems pricey to me, but I'm used to student rates. I would try to see if you can get something cheaper to London.