What's a Great Airfare From US to France in 2016?

Fares have been the lowest I have seen them in quite some time. I did a search this morning using Kayak for early next year and the fare was $530.00 for economy, East coast/Paris connection. A few days ago, I booked a business class fare for April on BA which was $1,300.00. If you are not ready to purchase tickets, I use the app Hopper. Put in the dates and departure/arrival cities and it will alert you to a low fare.

What's a great airfare to Europe? Sometimes it's the one I just missed, thinking the price would go down.

I think you mean 2017? June may be tough because it's peak season. I consider anything in the ~ $600s (mostly Turkish Air) to low $800s to be really great. It's possible from the East Coast but my experience is almost exclusively with Fall travel. I've never looked in June but I'm thinking that you could snag something cup to the $800 range if you're flying out of a major airport (NYC, Newark, Dulles, Philly, etc) with lots of competition. So first look at how many carriers are competing on the Paris route out of your airport. If several, then you should be able to get a fare you're happy with. Track fares over time on itasoftware.com or kayak to see how they're trending over time. Don't overlook the non-legacy carriers - Norwegian, Turkish, Icelandair, etc. You can get very competitive fares on those carriers. And jump on a fire sale when you see one...they do have those that last perhaps 3 days. Pick a range you're comfortable with and be ready to pull the trigger when the price meets your range.

Wow airlines from Newark to Charles De Gaulle has several 179 dollar one way fares up through late March, but doesn't have offers after that. My guess is they will be higher in June, but hopefully not too much. And that doesn't include baggage, water etc. but I believe bathroom facilities on board are complimentary.

Hi Agnes!

I probably should have posted 2017 instead:) Was trying to get a sense of what folks may have paid to travel in June 2016 for comparison as I am searching for flights for June 2017. Last time I flew to Europe (not France) in the summer I was able to get around $1200.00 round trip, so wasn't sure if that was still a realistic price to shoot for during one of the more popular months.

Thanks for all of the advice!

Kristin, I think you can do (even) better than $1200, especially since you're coming from the East Coast. Not that $1200 is bad, but it's not in the "great" category. Fares have come down quite a bit even from a few years ago, and some of the (flash) sales are truly amazing. Several (relatively) new budget and non-legacy carriers are in the mix now, which makes things interesting!

Kristin,
If you are not already using Google Price Alerts, do so. We live in the Southwest and managed to find flights to Italy in the mid-$700s for June 2017. At the time of that sale, the same prices existed for Paris. The sale was on American and British Airways. I found it using Google Flights. I have noticed that sometimes I see sales right around holidays. We bought the aforementioned tickets about 5 days before Labor Day. Last year I found our tickets for 2016 Thanksgiving weekend. The year before I found them President's Day weekend. The key is regular monitoring. I would absolutely NOT pay more than $1200 from the east coast. As other posters mentioned around $800 would be very reasonable for the summer season.

Good luck finding your tickets!

Kristin:

You've not specified where on the east coast you are talking about. Flights are more expensive from Florida, for instance, when compared to DC, NY or Boston ...

Porcupyn

If close to Canada , Airtransat has some super cheap fares.. and in Canadain dollars..

Check out XL Airways! We flew to Charles de Gaulle this past June for $470 (one way)! It's a budget airline but the food was good, plane was clean, and seats were pretty comfortable.

Hi Porcupyn! I usually fly out of a small regional airport (ILM), but may end up being closer to CLT when we would be leaving (still in early planning stages). When I've compared rates in the past to fly out of a larger airport, I didn't find the savings to be so much that it justified the extra travel time to fly out of a larger airport that was further away. I do believe I could connect in some places like New York or Atlanta if the ticket price made sense (haven't done New York before, but often go out of Atlanta). CLT has a direct flight to Paris, but if it's more expensive I'm willing to make a connection (not a fan of more than one connection). Thanks again for everyone's insights. Everyone's tips are super helpful. If you have more, keep them coming. Thanks again!

Norwegian, Icelandair, Wow, etc are budget airlines that you might look into. But like you said, you would need to a) fly into and out of their hubs and b) you would be severely limited in the amount of luggage you could take onboard (though even after paying for a checked baggage piece, they might still end up being less expensive than other carriers).

Porcupyn

Do check all suitable airports, as the exact airport does affect the price. There is no such thing as an "east coast price." For instance, about 10 years ago flights from PHL, EWR, and JFK were usually about the same; now I often see big differences (most often more expensive from PHL, but not always). From a small airport like Wilmington, NC (I had to look it up), sometimes it's cheaper and sometimes more expensive compared to going out of larger airports.

And as pointed out above (and you seem to be aware of this), do take into account all the factors. If you find a cheap flight out of JFK, are you willing to take a chance flying up that morning on a separate ticket to catch it? I wouldn't, but others do. Or will you have to come up the day before and stay in a hotel, likely negating any savings, but giving you a day in New York (fine if you want that, not otherwise).

I pulled the trigger on purchasing tickets this week as there was a flash sale from CLT to Paris. Thanks so much for all the recommendations on sites/apps to help me track prices. The sale was MUCH lower than the average price when I started looking. Google Flight alerts ended up being the winner for me. I also loved the recommendations from the hopper app on if you should wait or buy now. Thanks again and happy travels!