SFO-Paris: Cheap Tickets?

February 6, 2008 9:52 AM

What is your advice for finding cheap San Francisco-Paris tickets for a trip this summer?

We want to fly from San Francisco (or environs) to Paris in late July and return in early August. Tickets seems expensive at the moment. The least expensive start around $1,500. Should we wait to purchase tickets, and risk prices going even higher? Are there deals that we aren’t finding on expedia, orbitz and the like?

posted by ferdydurke to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

The cheapest deal around that time will only be a couple hundred dollars less than what you are paying, but a bird in hand beats two in the bush.

I bought this itinerary for 1400 a couple summers ago just a couple weeks before departing, but on priceline, where tickets get cheaper as you approach the departure date.
posted by flaneuse at 9:56 AM on February 6

Are there deals you aren't finding? Yes, but they are more painful. Basically, get to NY the cheapest way, then get to Europe somewhere the cheapest way, then take something like RyanAir within Europe. Miss a connection though, and you're pretty screwed.
posted by smackfu at 10:07 AM on February 6

I've seen some better deals on vayama. You might also want to check kayak which searches all the major travel sites. You can sign up for an alert where they will send you a daily/weekly/whatever email showing the best deals they have found for your particular itinerary.
posted by logic vs love at 10:46 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]

http://www.smartertravel.com/ is a good resource. Sign up for their San Fran alerts and keep an eye out for Paris. I've seen Seattle -> Paris for as cheap as $650 in their alerts.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:39 AM on February 6

I faced the same situation a year ago. Cheapest prices were around $1200 through most of the Winter. Right as I was about to bite the bullet & go for it, though, American suddenly dropped their fares to $600 round trip not including tax. I bought them then, and within a week they were back up to the former prices. The plane was essentially empty when I flew, though, so I don't really know what was going on with that. Anyway, prices do magically drop. There's just no telling when or if.
posted by devilsbrigade at 11:41 AM on February 6

try STA

Don't worry about the 'student' thing -- if you're not currently a student (or even if you are) they print you out a little card.

While it's hard for travel agencies to compete with online listings, it can't hurt to just call or stop in and have them do some work for you. I have a few friends who work/have worked there and they still get consistently great deals through STA.

The other thing I would do is monitor deal travel sites like Travelzoo etc and be ready to jump on something if it comes up.
posted by fishfucker at 12:17 PM on February 6

Farecast is the way to go. Plug in your info...and it'll tell you on the basis of past indicators, whether or not the price is going to go up or down.

The only problem is that CDG (Paris) isn't an airport they track. I don't know if it's a fluke...but I saw a price there (on it's default settings for day, etc.) for way less than $1500.
posted by filmgeek at 2:36 PM on February 6

All these answers are great! Thank you so much for your advice. If I get a substantially cheaper ticket, I'll report back.
posted by ferdydurke at 10:32 AM on February 8