Airfare question

linda, there just isn't much rhyme or reason to airfares. I would buy as soon as you have a pretty good idea of the itinerary you want, $1200-1400 seems to be the range in the last two years, unless you can handle a 30 hour flight time that passes through Moscow.

Airfare is a hard thing to finesse much, book it when you know and move on to the fun details of planning.

I have flown from Seattle to Europe for 12 of the last 13 years. After years of research, I have come to the conclusion that I let my itinerary in Europe set my flying dates as prices seem to vary so much by day of the week, day of the month, and month of the year. There are many studies that will tell you the best time to book, be that a Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, etc. The only thing that I have discovered is that if an airline is having a sale from Seattle to Europe around the time I want to fly, the moon must be made of cream cheese. I book about six months ahead of time. I take a RS tour every year while I am in Europe and usually spend time in Europe either before the tour, after the tour, or both. This gives me some degree of flexibility in scheduling my flight. I always book a European airline to assure (hopefully) that I will get a non-stop flight from Seattle to Europe. For my trip this coming June, and planning on going to Paris, I booked (or so I thought) Air France only to get the details showing I will be flying on Delta (code sharing they call it). It will be a non-stop flight thank goodness. I have found less expensive flights the are not non-stop and stop somewhere in the US before going on to Europe. I prefer a non-stop flight even for some more money.

I purchase airfares 5-6 months before the trip. It would be worth paying a little more for a non-stop flight. Air France is a good airline, and you get a chance to practice your French with the flight attendants.

Check out Air France. You can get a direct flight from LAX at a reasonable price if you book now.

I've tracked a number of flights to France via yapta.com since last August. Here's what I found:

The major carriers' flights to Bordeux and Toulouse have hardly moved (I'm flying out on June 24th). They started at around $1750 and they are now at around $1550. Some action has begun this week, with some flight coming down $50 each day, but they are still expensive (and 2 months before flight time is too close to cut it for me). I changed my itinerary in December and booked $950 flights into/out of Paris and Geneva via Icelandair. (From Boston). After a year of data collection I'm starting to think that for the time being, I'm going to be a returning customer of Icelandair as nobody can beat their prices.

Over the same period of time I've tracked flights to Venice and Slovenia, two locations not serviced by Icelandair. Those prices have not dropped at all. The Slovenia flights have actually gone up and are now at $1950! That's $700 more than I paid to fly to Tanzania last year and $1600 more than my most recent flight to LA from Boston. I'm not sure what's going on, but the data point to sustained higher prices on AirFrance, Lufthansa, KLM, etc. for USA to Europe flights. Perhaps demand is up because of the great exchange rates or perhaps their computer models are better calibrated. Either way, I'm checking where else Icelandair flies to!

I will just add that if you are booking a Rick Steves tour along with your other plans, go ahead and book the tour, await their green light (usually takes a couple of days), then book your airfare. Give yourself time before and after the tour if you can manage it, either with your friends or in Paris.

Thank you for the input! Great advice, I'm sure I will more questions as I plan!

I normally book my flight two to three months out. I watch the airfares for at least a few months before that and will purchase earlier if I spot a particularly good deal or if the flight itinerary I want is almost full.

We are leaving for France in three weeks on Delta/Air France. I started doing research about six months ago and booked three months ago. Strangely, the prices haven't changed for our itinerary and I just last checked last week to see (even with the euro declining) -- so you never can tell.

I might also check to see rates from various airports or cities might be (if the travel time/hassle is worth it) -- we are actually flying out of Vancouver instead of Seattle and saved about $900 between the two tickets (and is worth the three-hour drive north).