I’m planning to go to Paris and I’m looking at airfare now, but the prices are pretty much across the board, from $585 with IcelandAir to $1000+ on a few better-known airlines. I don’t just want to hop on a $585 flight because it’s cheap and have a horrible flight, but at the same time I don’t want to overspend, I’d rather spend my money once I’m there. Any suggestions on where to buy or what airlines have the better deals?
More specifically, I’m flying from New York to Paris, June 1-10th, if anyone has an idea of what a good fare is for that time, I’d love to hear it!
Any help is appreciated =-)
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8 Comments On Need tips on best AirFare to France
If you found a $585 round trip flight, grab it. You are going in tourist season and returning on a Sunday, both high price guarantees. I checked Air France, my favorite, and it is $445 ONE WAY. The cheapest thing I found was on Booking Buddy and that was $773 on Aer Lingus with two stops. If you changed so you avoided Friday through Monday, it might go down a little. You might check Air France Specials and also alternative airports.
http://www.bookingbuddy.com/ is the Booking Buddy site and I like it for comparisons. I also use http://www.onetravel.com which is One Travel dot com and they have lots of excellent travel services.
Could you rethink your travel dates? I know we used to be pretty stuck with our dates before we retired so you probably can’t. Just a thought.
I have used Air France’s web site, Booking Buddy and OneTravel.com and had no problems with any of them. They are pretty competitive.
BTW, watch out for add-on fuel surcharges. They can go above $200 on a transAtlantic flight.
Good luck.
Hi SalB,
Thanks for replying, I’ll look into AirFrance and BookingBuddy specifically and see what I find…
As far as travel dates, nothing’s cast in stone so I might be able to switch over to an earlier date. Is Mid-May still too touristy? I probably can’t go too much earlier than that.
Hi. June, July and August are the major tourist months, especially August. May is sort of pre-tourist season but still busy. Sept. is the same. October works but the days are getting shorter and attractions shutting down to some extent. April and May are both good times to go because days are getting longer; spring is springing and the weather is pretty cooperative.
The airline industry knows this! Hence, highest fares in July and August. Down a little for June. Down a little more for May and September. Earlier and later are usually the lowest fares except for Christmas and New Year.
If you can move to May, you’d have a better chance at a good fare. If you can fly on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, you will get the lowest fares. I don’t know if it’s true but I’ve heard checking airfares around 1 AM EST on Wednesday is good for bargains, but this probably only works in the week or two before you go. I’ve never tried it.
Honestly, the $585 you found earlier is pretty good. Of course I fly from the west coast so that sounds cheap to me. You may have much better rates in NYC. If you check the Air France web site, on the right side of your screen they will list bargain flights. Be sure to check those out because a lot of them are priced from NYC . . . lucky you!
Good luck. My least favorite part of any trip is finding a good price on tickets. Even when I find one, I know I’ll see something lower within a week. Sigh . . .
I flew Iceland Air back in 2000 from Keflavik to Zurich. It is a niceAiline, one of the better airlines I have flown. Flight attendants are very professional and provided excellent service.
SalB,
Just wanted to thank you for your tip on BookingBuddy. I was able to find a flight with AmericanAirlines, whom I have miles with, for $620 RT. I’ll continue checking BookingBuddy for future trips.
Thanks!
Pixie, So glad it worked out. The most traumatic part of planning for me is finding tickets. We just got tickets for Scotland and are starting our France search. It’s one of life’s complications . . . but a very nice complication.
Have a great trip!
My husband & I want to go to Nice, France mid-Oct. 2008 for 2 weeks. The tickets I’ve seen are about $1100. with taxes. Anyone know of a better deal?
Thanks
SalB
Don't know why this wasn't marked "new" until April 7th. Anyway, here are a couple web sites to try. We're flying into Nice in a month and that is about what we paid for our tickets. Mid October might be a little less but fuel prices and the exchange rate have made finding bargains difficult. We were fortunate to have miles for ours.
I'll give you a couple web sites we've used often. I get the prices and flight info and then go directly to the airline web site to book. It is usually cheaper by a few dollars and you have a direct booking if something goes wrong. Try these:
http://www.bookingbuddy.com/
http://www.kayak.com/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/
Also, look at the blue banner on the left of your current screen here on France.com and you will find a link to Airfare under the Transportation section. This is often a source of better fares. Most important, keep looking; it changes daily and finding low prices is almost a full time job.
When you are checking web sites, be sure to get a "final" price. Often you see a real bargain fare but when you get to the checkin process, all sorts of taxes and fees are added and the bargain is no bargain. I've seen as much as $800 added to a bargain fare. ($800 is not a typo)