AIRFARE TO PARIS

I tool I find to be useful is www.bing.com/travel Also, you can get some killer rates if you're willing to take certain layovers. AERlingus.com
icelandair.com have been known to have some excellent rates (for me, anyway) but I usually leave from O'Hare. They only leave from select airports. Also,if you're a student or teacher, sometimes www.studentuniverse.com will have nice airfare.

I usually use Kayak.com for daily e-mail airfare alerts to track fares.

They vary based on demand, competition and operating costs. If oil prices spike, you can expect airfares to jump. People flying during holiday travel periods constitute prey for the airlines. Prime time in a destination always (or usually) get a price hike. I recently bought tickets to Paris (non-stop) for early December for $756 RT. The flight was at least half empty. Flights a week later were over $1,000 and the planes were almost full. It's only business. Supply and demand are a big driver. Personally, I've seen better prices posted mid-week. Flights are frequently cheaper if you fly mid-week. The typical vacation trip is starts on the weekend. Business travelers frequently leave on Sunday or Monday.

Normand, In addition to the above, you can subscribe to the airline websites to get first notice of sales. Then you buy the same day you get the notice.

Thanks for the sites all.....have you noticed fares going way up? When we flew to England last year in May we paid about $2100 round trip from Indianapolis to Bristol. In September we paid much less to fly to Paris. I thought at the time that it was the website I used but now am wondering if the time of year played a role..has anyone found spring to be more expensive than fall? I was thinking frankly that the major hike in fares has to do with the whole euro and financial crisis over there...what do you think?

These things go in both directions. Yes, May is the beginning of the summer vacation season for the US, so the May prices are double what they would be this month, to Paris. Maybe you've noticed that the planes are fuller, too, which is because there are fewer total seats, to reduce expenses. On the other hand, Continental usually has a Business Class sale that doesn't start until the peak of the Summer travel has begun. I don't know if United will be continuing that.

Brian, thanks for the info but I just checked Orbitz for the middle of may as you suggested. Yes, the BASE fare is $717 but the taxes and surcharges are another $500 plus for a total of over $1200 round trip per person. When we flew there, we paid $1680 plus or minus TOTAL for both of us including all fares. I am hoping to find something like that again. Alot of people are advertising what appear to be great rates and then SLAM you on the fees. Gotta watch for that. Hope you all got what you thought you got.

Normand, My wife and I bought tickets on american just a bit ago and the price was between 700-800dollars. we flew round trip from indianapolis to paris in may 2012. hopefully you can find something that is more reasonable than you were finding. what prices were you seeing? p.s. we found that fare on orbitz for the middle of may 2012.

Norman I just checked from Madison to Paris and the base price is 385 + 555 in taxes and fees on Delta. That's connecting in GA. So it appears to be highly dependent on where you are departing from and which airline. Good luck! I need to find airfare to southern France in April, should be interesting.

Normand, the best rates are going to show up 6 to 8 weeks before you go. We usually fly "over the pond" in May, and get real seriious about watching rates right after the first of the year. Sign up with Kayak, etc for auto notices.