Buy Miles. All US carriers sell them and with those three redemption is possible on all three large alliances. Buy during a campaign period and you pay 1/2-2/3 of the regular price. First tep, sign up with UA, AA (and US separately for now), and DL and then monitor mileage purchase offers. There many many such offers each year.
I have had the best luck with Air France in terms of availability. The issue even with miles will be availability and finding a route that is not crazy. This late in the game I would probably be prepared to suck it up and fly coach or pay major $$
You could also look at finding someone with System wide upgrades they are offered here on commerce corner and on Flyertalk.com.
Consider AF’s premium economy. If they have unfilled business seats, they often will sell some at the last minute at a discount (other airlines do this, as well). If there’s no availability, their premium economy is very nice–at least it was on the A-380 we took from CDG to IAD in September.
We went to France last summer on AF’s premium economy. Very nice. Much more comfortable way to go and not that much more than regular economy. Way better than United’s economy plus.
I agree with George. Finding an award seat especially on a specific day, time or route will be difficult if not impossible for mid June for one person let alone two.
Don’t buy miles unless you know the award seats are avail., and most definitely won’t be at off peak saver rates.
Yup, total generalization, but I’m assuming Dr. Weinberg wants a direct or very minimal layover LAX → CDG, CDG → LAX on specific days since his schedule isn’t super flexible as a physician. That route is difficult.
What’s the departure airport? On Flyertalk I’m seeing the spring sales start and it looks like fares from the west coast to CDG are dropping (YMMV depending on your specific days of travel).
Completely agree on this. If you are flying out of NYC area (or can get there from another part of the US cheaply using miles), this was a fantastic flying experience. I would almost consider it luxurious. Check out the Open Skies website and the videos and photos on these flights. Seats fully recline into a bed like state. I am not the most well seasoned business/first class traveler, but this far exceeded my expectations for the cost. I flew off season and paid $3,500 for 2 seats in biz bed last year.