San Francisco to Paris and Oakland to London Gatwick with American and British Airways are good summertime fares, if you want to start building a trip now to Paris or London next summer. I don’t think $739 will be the best deal available for July travel from San Francisco to Paris. We will see. The last two years have generally seen short-lived fare sales in the spring with summer fares to Paris around $600 round trip from San Francisco.
Oakland to London LGW with British Airways is an introductory fare for this new route. I will be watching this route closely over the next year for competitive pricing between British Airways and Norwegian. I’d like to see lower British Airways fares rather than a boost for Norwegian Airlines to higher fares for London LGW out of Oakland.
This American Airlines sale is for travel departures from May 11 to August 19, 2017. Many of the fare sales to Europe in October 2016 were low fares for travel up to May 10.
The great thing about locking in a summer airline ticket early is there are often more hotel room choices available for reward nights. I find paid hotel rates are generally lower rates when booking two months to two weeks of travel dates. For popular destinations like Paris and London in summer, I’d book the best lodging deal now that can be canceled and keep watching rates and award availability for better deals over the next eight months.
American Airlines San Francisco – Chicago ORD – Paris CDG – Helsinki HEL – San Francisco SFO
$738.76 round trip Wed July 5 – Thu July 13
Some flight itineraries offer 21 hours overnight in Helsinki as an international transit layover.
I already pieced together several hotel reservations across Europe for July. The sticky point for me is waiting for a Marriott Hotel stay certificate for an auction bid I won a couple weeks ago. I am hoping to book a French Riviera Marriott hotel stay in July around $60 ocean view hotel nights with breakfast included. In my case, I need the Marriott hotel reservation dates before I can book travel arrangements in France. Looking forward to finally making it in person to see Tour de France after many years viewing the event as a cycling TV fan.
British Airways Oakland OAK – London LGW $697 Economy and $1,150 Premium Economy summer fare
British Airways Oakland – London Gatwick LGW nonstop
$696.51 round trip economy class Thu July 20 – Mon July 31
British Airways Oakland – London Gatwick LGW nonstop
$1,150.29 round trip Premium Economy Thu July 20 – Mon July 31
(Note: Google Flights shows fare at $1,151, but after selecting both BA flights, the Google Flights link shows $2,899 at time of publishing.
Click through and BA website price $1,150.29.)
I covered these British Airways fares in a post a couple days ago.
Loyalty Traveler – British Airways Oakland to London LGW $596 March-May, $694 June-Aug (Nov 1)
Loyalty Traveler – Fare Alert British Airways nonstop LAX-LHR London $555 economy, $964 Premium Economy all summer 2017 (Nov 1)
Loyalty Traveler – More BA summer 2017 fare deals $463-$581 Boston, Fort Lauderdale and LAX to London and Paris (Nov 1)
Loyalty Traveler – Fare Alert Summer 2017 AA/BA $520 New York–London June-August all dates (Nov 3)
Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights and Kayak Explore tutorials.
