Florida to Paris Flight options

I have full confidence in Air France and its safety.

Where did you see that their safety rating had gone down ? What was the body doing the rating, and based on what evidence / criteria ?

This one rates it as a 4 star:
https://skytraxratings.com/airlines/air-france-rating

This one details a few issues that occurred over the years...
https://aviation-safety.net/database/operators/6679

A few articles via Bloomberg / NYT
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2009-07-13/report-faults-air-frances-safety-record?embedded-checkout=true

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/world/europe/air-france-safety.html

Agree with Kim and will add if you are a nervous flyer no point in adding layers to your flight to add anxiety like booking separate tickets. Book direct flights since you’ve got the option.

Booking 2 separate flights…what if flight #1 is delayed, cancelled or rerouted?

Did you want to spend time in London? If so spend a few nights and take the train to Paris. Surprised the train is double the cost of a flight. Are you looking on the Eurostar website?

How much total time do you have?!

Look at Aer Lingus. They fly from MCO (Orlando) to DUB (Dublin) to CDG Paris on one ticket. Which airlines do you trust? You might be able to get a connection to Paris through Atlanta.

We have around 14 days; and that is a good point of delays etc.we will look to book as a package.
We looked on the Eurostar website that suggested a transfer to St Pancras from LHR and then the train to Paris. Prices averaging around $440 pp !

@jazzandtravels; thanks for the suggestions.

I have had excellent experience through Virgin Atlantic and have flown numerous times with them to the UK over the last few years. Their flights to Paris have an extremely late departure from here though which is why I was looking at other options.

Will look into Atlanta to Paris also, thanks for the info!

We live in the Tampa area and are flying to Paris through Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic and home on Delta via Atlanta. I don't mind connecting on my outbound trip, but find the return even more exhausting. At least with an Atlanta connection the second flight home is short.

You say you are worried about the safety rating. Are you confident in Virgin because you flew them and the plane didn't crash?

I can confidently tell you that i've flown r/t to Paris w AF twice and have zero issues with their safety.

I have flown AirFrance from Miami to Paris over 10 times. Never an issue. The most dangerous times on aircraft are takeoff and landing. So to be as safe as possible, get a direct flight. Note that no airlines from Florida to Paris are rated 5 stars by Skytrax. Those ratings seem to be based on amenities not safety.

I took a look at the Aviation Safety Network link and the only incident since 2018 for Air France was at JFK -- the AF plane was parked, waiting for a tractor to tow it to the gate, when the rear of the plane was clipped by an ITA Airways plane that was passing by.

The cause was a failure by the ITA Airways crew to assure sufficient distance to safely pass the parked plane. It had nothing to do with any fault with Air France's fleet or its crew's actions. In short, they were stationary and were the victim of a very minor hit-and-run (or, rather, hit-and-fly) accident. I've flown Air France many times, including its Hop! short haul carrier, with no incident whatsoever.

We live in the tampa bay area and normally fly Delta or United to Europe. Depends on the pricing structure and where are going. We have had very good experiences with both airlines. I have also flown Air France several times and enjoyed my experience. I have a lot of miles with Delta and some status so they are my preferred airline but United has offered better fares on a couple trips in business class. I don’t know why you would drive to Miami or Orlando as Tampa has great options to Europe and is a far more pleasant airport than Orlando IMHO (I flew in/out of orlando for 22 years). Miami can be a zoo. Either way you have to rent cars or pay a lot in parking.

We recently tried a new approach to getting to Europe. We flew to Paris on a Delta day flight out of JFK. We flew to New York actually on southwest the day before our flight to Paris and spend the night close to JFK. We left JFK at 8 am and arrived in Paris at 9 pm (30 min early). We stayed at CDG overnight and then took the eurostar to Amsterdam the next day where we started our trip. We had NO jet lag going across the pond. We were very surprised how well that worked for us. We flew in coach and saved a lot of $$$ over business so this is our new model.

If you go the London route there are several day flights options there as well. Unfortunately not out of tampa. On the return, Virgin has a nonstop flight from London to tampa (not sure when that starts but it was there in mid August). That would be very appealing for us. The downside with booking a separate ticket such as London to Paris is if your flight to London is delayed then you will likely not be protected on the flight to Paris. You will also have to collect luggage if you check and check in again. That is why I like the day flight option. - get to Heathrow - spend the night then take a flight the next day when you have more options and less opportunity for travel issues. If you are planning a trip to France I see no good reason to go through London.

Good luck with your planning.

Kim, thank you for sharing that info. I will definitely look into these options...Tampa would be our preferred airport for sure as we are in Sarasota, it's the closest and nicest airport.

I know my daughter would love to spend a night in London before moving on to Paris! We took the Virgin non-stop from LHR to TPA last year and had a great experience. I do see some flights via Virgin from TPA to Paris with a change at LHR, but they leave at 10.30pm .

Appreciate the info and all the best on your travels!

I would never, ever voluntarily fly out of Orlando. Air France is fine, take the direct flight out of Miami.

I'm changing my answer now that I have had my morning coffee! I didn't key in to the SRQ airport code. I would fly out of Tampa, too (and did a million years ago when Laker Airways flew Tampa to London, hahaha!).

The good thing about leaving that late in the evening is that you can go to sleep immediately!

With Eurostar, the further out you book the cheaper the price. They use demand pricing so when the cheap tickets are gone they get progressively more expensive. Looking out 6 months I see Eurostar fares for as low as $68. Transportation into town will be less than 20GBP if you use public transport. The forum members can help you figure out what will work best on that if you decide to overnight in London.

Thank you Pam!

I'm thinking the Eurostar may be a viable option...it would be an interesting experience as we've never travelled that way before and makes it easier to arrange flights from Tampa straight into LHR.

Planning on taking just carry-on's if we can make it work to avoid lugging big bags around!

I did a mock booking on Lufthansa and found cheap flights from Tampa to Paris.

Heathrow charges passengers huge airport fees, so it’s not always cheaper.

Also Eurostar is totally manageable with luggage.

Can I ask when you are planning to travel?

Pam, we are thinking sometime in September; anytime after the first week.

Be advised that Air France's and probably Lufthansa's carryon size is smaller than the US legacy carriers and Virgin.

ZRQ Traveller,
I have flown many different airlines to Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa. Last year we flew Air France to Europe, and flew our children and grandchildren there on AF as well, on different days and from different cities. So you see I have complete faith in the airline for safety, comfort and service. I am more concerned about safety based on the plane that is being flown than I am about the airline. (I'm looking at you, Boeing!) As of now, if a company is using Airbus planes I feel better about the flight. It may be a foolish concern, but the most recent airplane horror stories I read are about the Boeing 737s, not about Air France Airlines.

As for your point of departure and itinerary, I have no experience flying from Florida to be qualified to comment. I hope you find the solution that is best for you. My only comment regarding flying to Heathrow is that it is one of the worst airports to navigate. And when we flew to Kenya via British Air and changed planes in Heatrhrow, our checked luggage remained in Heathrow until our 8 days in Kenya were half gone. To add insult to injury, they lost our luggage on the way back as well! Both times the luggage was misdirected (bad euphemism!) and remained at Heathrow for a few days. And yes, the airport fees at Hearthrow are ridiculous!

Whatever you decide, I wish you well. Have a wonderful time!

"Pam, we are thinking sometime in September; anytime after the first week."

Looking at the Eurostar website, I see prices for Tuesday Sept 10, St Pancras/London to Gare du Nord/Paris for prices ranging from $68-$115 depending on the time of day.

https://www.eurostar.com/search/us-en?adult=1&origin=7015400&destination=8727100&outbound=2024-09-10

NOT saying this is what you should do but just wanted you to see the prices for just the train ticket.

Thank you Pam for the link and for checking this info; really appreciated! I see that the prices are indeed better than what we discovered over the weekend.

You asked for alternatives to your original plan and got lots of good ideas. But you might want to reconsider your original plan (driving to Miami for a direct flight to CDG). I agree with Philip's point about reducing takeoffs and landings. In addition, we prefer to drive from the Tampa Bay area to Miami for a direct flight because of some unpleasant connecting-flight experiences.
Turns out we actually enjoy the drive both ways, but even if you consider it a hassle, in my opinion it's preferable to the hassles that come with connecting flights. I hope others have helped reduce your nervousness about flying and with Air France in particular.
I hope your trip is a good one however you decide to go.

We also live in Florida, and I am always amazed we do not have more options for flying directly to Europe (I live in the Tampa area, St Pete). I used to live outside Philadelphia, and flying to europe was great as I almost always had a direct flight.

I would get the best flight to either London or France, and then book a local flight to the other. Also, ALWAYS book flights directly with the airlines, and not through 3rd parties - I will never book a flight through a 3rd party again, no matter how much it looks like you are saving.

Glenn