airfares to Paris

Does anyone have any knowledge as to when airfares will drop (if at all)?

If anyone at the airline knows, its a good bet they are not telling; it very well could be a computer driven thing based on the ever changing input of customer demand and crew and equipment availability. The short answer is 'no'

You need to consider a number of issues.

First, the airfares change drastically with a change of dates. Flights in March aren't that expensive, while May is prime tourist season, so you can expect double the fare prices in May.

Next, the websites that show the flights are set to analyze the cookies your computer and to push the higher fares when you have already tried to book to a particular destination. For example, if you are looking every week, your cookies will tend to be rejected when lower fares are listed. I have heard this is the case, although I am not a computer geek. Consider erasing the cookies from the airline website (or not accepting them in the first place) and each search will look like a one-off to the airline computers.

Finally, nonstop flights can be more expensive or, in the alternative, can be only slightly less expensive than one stop flights while not actually being that much more convenient or comfortable. Look for one stop flights that have short layovers and you will not only get a chance to stretch your legs halfway through your trip, but you may actually pay less for the two leg flight.

I echo what Pam reported about airfares. We fly Delta out of SeaTac. Our last scheduled flight was arranged in 2019 for a flight to Rome in September 2020. Of course canceled due to lockdown. I recall our flight was about $1400 for comfort seats. I can’t recall the last time our airfare was below $1300. We usually have a layover in Amsterdam coming from the west coast.

I am also looking at May 2022 and the prices still seem high.

With higher fuel prices and fewer flights, don’t expect that they’ll go down soon. Maybe after 8 November when the U.S. opens to foreigners more flights will be scheduled. That might bring prices down a little, but then the airlines might run into staffing issues like American and Southwest have had recently. We recently bought tickets to the UK for not much more than when we went in 2019, but that trip is still a few months off and prices have already increased for the same flights. Keep checking and look for any specials.

British Airways sale through 11/3. Have you checked those prices?

I just looked on Air Lingus and found a RT fare of $589. for your trip in May. 1 Stop in Dublin/economy.

Check French Bee.
They show May RT's from NYC at about $500 to Orly, which also has good down town connections.
They have 3 tiers' of prices, and I read of them either in the NYT's or Travel and Leisure.
I am seriously considering them for our trip in May 2022

If you are considering French Bee, you may want to check this thread. Other forum posters recount some bad experiences with them.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/french-bee-airlines

I paid $754 RT on Iceland Air from Seattle to Paris with a short stop in Reyjkvik for April 2022. I will use miles to get to Seattle from Anchorage.

Well good grief. I somehow managed to delete my reply...

Reposting and I’ve been home enough days I can’t blame it on jetlag!!

I think that would require a crystal ball. I just paid $1,600 but I fly from the West Coast so to me $1229 looks pretty good, lol.

To me it's partly the airline schedule and you've probably got lots of choices out of Newark. I prefer to fly on Delta so I just book whatever is available on or near the dates that work for me.

If the flight is from SFO to Paris CDG non-stop for $1229 r/t economy in May of 2022, that is not a bad price at all. I would take it.

If you don’t use the hopper app, I highly recommend it. It helps to predict if prices will rise or fall in the future and you can set up price alerts. I always use a combination of hopper, skyskanner, and google flights to get an idea of the prices and where they’re going. Google tells you average prices for the route and also shows you what the prices have looked like over the last 90 days. So it can help you see if the current price is just a random spike. My guess though is that prices are definitely going to drop for a flight that far in the future.

How flexible is your timing ? We did a spring trip to Paris a few years ago and two weeks after returning saw SFO-CDG for about $500 -- so we booked it for September. But we didn't have to go through the "may I please use my vacation time" hassle.

I read a Bloomberg wire news blurb yesterday; Delta Airlines reports that since the US announced opening to European travelers about 6 weeks ago, their transatlantic bookings have increased over 400 percent. The surge in demand is clearly swamping the supply of seats, and prices are increasing accordingly, even well out into 2022...

Use hopper and Google flights. Set alerts for price changes. Search on tuesdays.

Just to add a bit of clarity--Delta said they have seen a 450% increase in international point-of-sale bookings over the past 6 weeks, not all international bookings. But, yes, it does still mean more demand, and prices have risen accordingly.

https://news.delta.com/deltas-international-bookings-surge-450-us-reopening