<p>My daughter is leaving for her study abroad in Paris in 2 weeks. She is traveling before and after. She did pretty extensive online research of airfares, etc, and is flying into London and out of Berlin. Her research echos the advice you’ve gotten here - London round trip is cheaper than Paris, Ryanair is very cheap, but the logistics back and forth to the smaller airports may negate the savings, train tickets aren’t cheap either. Unfortunately, $1200 sounds about right for a Paris summer fare, maybe a little steep, but hte later in June, the more it will cost.
Look into an open jaw flight, into Paris out of London, with a one way Chunnel ticket, it might be a little more expensive than the round trip Chunnel with a flight into either city, but might make better use of his time.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.deckchair.com%5B/url%5D”>www.deckchair.com</a> is the site I use for all my airline air fares.</p>
<p>It is probably best (if you are flying into london) to go to heathrow, take the Heathrow express train into london, the tube to Kings Cross Station and the train to cambridge (there are direct trains from kings cross to cambridge) it takes about 1hr 10 mins, and would cost around </p>
<p><em>loads of my post just disappeared</em></p>
<p>anyway,cant be bothered to type it again, but basically I live 20 miles from cambridge and will possibly be studying Econ there next year so am in a reasonably good position to answer any questions!</p>
<p>If you’re thinking of short trips onto the continent from the UK, remember that the Eurostar can take you to Brussels as well as Paris, and it’s a quicker journey. Brussels is obviously a lot smaller than Paris, so more manageable. The centre is worth seeing and the Grand Place is spectacular, especially at night when it’s lit up. Being the HQ of the European Union you’ll find that almost everyone seems to speak English.</p>
<p>At the moment, posted fare sales on the major airlines are good through May 17 or so. I would expect to see a new wave of prices posted in early-to-mid April. However, summer fares are always higher than any other season, and you should probably grab anything under $850 or so. Sale seats do not last - sign up for the online notifications and be ready to buy the same day the fare is published.</p>
<p>You can take a train into London from either Heathrow or Gatwick, so that cost is minimal. There is a cutoff for student fares at age 17, I believe.</p>
<p>I did not read the whole thread. Sorry if it is posted before. BA is offering $398 R/T to London. + $20 credit if you purchase through ba.com. </p>
<p>Only 1 day left at that price.</p>
<p>simba – thanks for the tip… I see a one-way trip NYC to London for $373 each way (total $750+) but I don’t see the $398. could you link? I would buy today at that price!</p>
<p>I will keep searching the BA website.</p>
<p>here is the link</p>
<p>Here are the prices:</p>
<p>$198 - 3/13 - 3/25
$199 - 3/36 - 5/27
$373 - 5/28 - 9/05</p>
<p>you also may want to check kayak.com</p>
<p><a href=“British Airways - Information Page”>British Airways - Information Page;
<p>My D did a study abroad program in Cambridge. She flew from LAX to London Heathrow (on FF miles 
). There’s a bus station at Heathrow that has a bus that goes straight to Cambridge - this is the best way to connect. From the stop in Cambridge (Drummer st.) it was an easy walk to the res hall she was staying in at Cambridge. The buses leave every 1/2 hour to hour and take about 2 1/2 hours. I think it’s quicker and easier than going from Heathrow into London and then back out of London to Cambridge.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalexpress.com/[/url]”>500 Error;
<p>Airfares are generally cheaper on the frequently traveled routes where there’s more competition - i.e. big city to big city but there are some exceptions, especially with promotions. </p>
<p>On another trip we (as a family) took the Chunnel from London (Waterloo station) to Calais, France where we rented a car and went tooling around for a few weeks. I think we’re about the only ones who ever stop at Calais and rent a car since shortly after our train departed for Paris the station emptied out and there were no rental car attendants. Anyway, it worked out. Although we took the Chunnel, I believe the flights are even cheaper.</p>
<p>simba, Are you sure that’s not a one way fare? I see where it says $373 is the one way fare <em>based</em> on a round trip purchase this summer. We are still trying to pin down travel plans, but I’d book today for anywhere near that price too! D has a group rate round trip fare of just under $1000 to London as of now (not out of NY, though).</p>
<p>I think $726 (373 x 2 then minus 20) is still an excellent price for round trip from NY to London for that time of year.</p>
<p>i took a good look at the British Airways specials – it is $373 each way plus $160 for fees/taxes/etc, minus $20.</p>
<p>total for the ticket would be $886. not a bad price – but more than I can swing right now. </p>
<p>I subscribed to a couple of sites and I am hoping for a decent price in the next month or so.</p>
<p>thanks for all the info – it is really helpful. We will be firming up plans in the next month or so.</p>
<p>roshke, yes they are one way prices…summer time is expensive.</p>
<p>It will also depend on what city in the U.S. you’re flying from. I went to England three times last year. The cheapest from Detroit, and most convenient, was NWA to Gatwick. I stayed very near Cambridge and the train was very easy and convenient to use. We also flew British Airways but had to connect through Amsterdam. The flight from Detroit to Gatwick was non stop. I would recommend you try all the airports near London often. Also, try the airline site itself. BA lets you see which days are cheaper.</p>
<p>The last time I flew, the flight actually went to $393 (in January) for two days before it went back to over $1,000.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad: whenever i’ve taken the chunnel and we reach Calais I’m always thinking “Who gets off here? Let’s just get to Paris already!” LOL</p>
<p>mememe245:
Yeah - it was weird. The few people who departed there seemed to be locals. Within a fe minutes the terminal was empty. There was no attendant at the rental car place. The couple of people at the Eurostar promptly closed their windows and did what they could to completely ignore me. Finally I called Avis and found that the keys were in a pouch at the Eurostar counter. I finally convinced someone to at least listen to me and they found the pouch with the keys. </p>
<p>From Calais we immediately drove to Belgium and stayed in Brugges - a very nice place. From there we continued into Holland, Germany, etc. We didn’t hit Paris till the way back.</p>
<p>Studentuniverse - I just got Apr 15 to June 15 RT nonstop from DC to LHR - $548. </p>
<p>On BMI and Ryanair - the luggage over-weight fees will hurt. My son went on a multi-leg journey last summer from IAD to Rome Ciampino to Durham to Edinburgh, back to IAD through Heathrow. Two of these trips were on the above airlines and he paid a bundle for his five-weeks-worth stuffed suitcase.</p>
<p>thanks for the info on the fees for overweight baggage – luckily my son is a light packer (his limit was 40# for six week in Egypt) but we will make sure to double check this time.</p>
<p>all the good fares I am finding are for travel before mid June – seems like my son will be doing his travel during the prime tourist time, thus the most expensive tickets. </p>
<p>He has applied to study abroad next year and will hear back beginning to mid-april, so that might make a difference as to when he flies back. Plus, money will be a bit more available in mid-april – so we will continue looking for deals and plan to buy mid april.</p>
<p>Once my son gets home for spring break, we will figure out where he wants to go and what he wants to do – and then I will be looking for info again!</p>
<p>Last year I asked parents for info on touring NYC – and he had a great time, the info we got really made a difference!!</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone mentioned this yet - If you are booking a Eurostar trip, book early, because certain times fill quickly and prices change as you get closer to the departure date.</p>
<p>Note that you can often view the seating on flights of interest (from airline web sites) to see how full the flight is already. Some flights are almost half full now for the end of June.</p>
<p>So, if you are thinking of taking a particular flight, you might want to take a look, as if it is well on its way to being full, it is unlikely that the prices will get lower.</p>
<p>He can be flexible with dates and times – which will hopefully help! Unfortunately, I don’t have the money to buy the ticket today – but he is thinking of asking the grandparents to help out. They travel internationally often and they can afford it and probably know the best way to get a good ticket. </p>
<p>We ordered him the DK eyewitness guides to London and England yesterday. He is thinking the cheapest option would be for him to just explore London and England and not travel over to any other place in western Europe – he could maybe do that another time.</p>