How do I get to Carcasonne, France from Seattle, WA?

Carcassonne has its own airport but it's only served by Ryanair, which flies from various airports in Europe including London Stansted, Prestwick, Dublin and Charleroi. (Be aware that Ryanair has a somewhat dubious business model that depends on deliberately confusing extra charges for things that the average passenger would assume to be included in the fare. Check the website very carefully to avoid being hit with shock charges when you get to the airport.) Alternatively, the nearest larger airport is Toulouse, and from Toulouse you can get to Carcassonne by train fairly easily.

Fly from Seattle to Toulouse (airport code TLS). Once in Toulouse, take the shuttle bus - it's called the "Flybus" - from Toulouse airport to the train station. The train station is called "Toulouse Matabiau". Then catch a train from there to Carcassone. Train takes about an hour.

Delta and Air France are partners. You could fly Seattle-Paris CDG on Delta and CDG-Toulouse on Air France on one ticket.

Another single ticket option: British Air will fly you from SEA to TLS with a single stop in London. Whether this is a better deal than Tim's suggestion will depend on the dates you fly. Prices vary. Got to do your homework.

Thank you so much for all the great advice!!
-Thyra

I ran dates in May and found that flying Air France from Seattle through Charels de Gaulle to Toulouse costs about the same as the simple round-trip to Paris. You could fly into Toulouse and home out of Paris and travel the countryside from south to (near) north. Air France and KLM, run by the same company, sell seats on each other's planes so you could fly non-stop Seattle-Amsterdam and then on to Toulouse for about the same price. Delta is also part of this pool. The only wrinkle to watch for is that sometimes when one airline sells tickets on another, advance seat ion may not be available. The price in May is about $1000 US; knock off up to $200 if you are willing to make a second stop en route. To get the same one-stop service from British Air through London will cost about $500 more in May; the two-stops are significantly cheaper. BA has been bullying economy passengers on seat ion for a decade. All these prices vary depending on time of the week and your combination of days. And all of them, you can be sure, will go up-up once June arrives.
Toulouse, by the way, is worth several days on its own, for southwestern cooking (cassoulet) and red-brick buildings.

Is your entire trip based on visiting Carcasonne?

Yes. My trip is to visit Carcasonne. I was assigned a penal in my 8th grade French class, which was in 1988. We have been writing & cooresponding with each other for nearly 25 years & our dream is to meet each other. She lives in Carcasonne & they aren't able to afford traveling to us so I'm trying to get to her. Hopefully this year, but it's so expensive & takes so long to get there.
-Thyra

That's a great reason to go there. I would try to include Paris and Provence in your trip.