Some of you might remember Peter Paul & Mary's #1 hit song in the 60's; Leaving on a Jet Plane... (It was actually originally written by John Denver with the title Babe, I hate to go...) If, like us, you do remember this, you're old enough to also remember that not all planes were jets back then!
We're about 8 ½ months out from your "Beautiful Villages of Provence" Tour... So it's time to start looking for and booking flights! The longer you wait, the less choices there will be.
If you're a frequent traveler, and have lots of experience finding and acquiring your own air tix, you may want to just skip this post... But for any of you that might want a few tips for finding the best flights, we're going to go into some of the things to look for here in this post...
FlightsSo foremost in this preparation, is to decide where you want to fly out of here in the US, and into in France... If you haven't done this yet,
we suggest you start looking. We've heard from some of you that you plan on flying over early and spending a few days in Paris before the Tour... In this case you're obviously looking for flights into Paris, but you'll need to think about where you want to return from. If you're heading home right after the tour, you could do a multi-city, ~ into Paris, return from Marseille.
For any of you that aren't doing this, and are coming just for the Tour, we always suggest flying in at least one day early... That would mean flying out on a Thursday night, and getting into wherever you are flying into France on a Friday morning and spending a night in a hotel... (we are happy to help with hotel recommendations). You certainly don't have to do this, as you won't be able to come to The Villa before 4pm on Saturday... We have had guests fly out Friday night to arrive Saturday morning, but again, we forewarn you of the possibility of flight delays. Also, the extra day gives you a little time to adjust from jet lag and time difference (6 hours).
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| click this pic for a clearer view |
Everyone always asks:
Which airport is closest to The Villa? And the answer to that is
Marseille (MRS) (about an
hour and 15 min drive). There's also Airports in Lyon, Nice, Montpellier and Avignon as well but fewer flights into these.
Marseille will be your best choice if you're just trying to get close to The Villa. And know that prices can sometimes vary dramatically depending on the airport you fly
out of here in the US... Here in the Northeast US, we find that flying out of JFK airport in NY
usually has the best pricing and the most flights, but of course it's a little more of a commitment to get there... We most often now fly out of Newark NJ (EWR) or Philadelphia (PHL) and find that EWR prices are usually 2nd best to JFK... This of you in the South, will likely find the best prices out of Atlanta or Miami...
Flight Tips: We always suggest sticking with a
"legacy" carrier such as United, Delta, American, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France, etc... You can certainly find cheaper flights, but you should be aware that sometimes the
discount airlines, don't have
affiliations/codeshares with other airlines, and if they cancel, they sometimes can't get you on another flight in a reasonable amount of time... We've had guests who scored great priced tix on some of these discount airlines, and then had last minute delays or cancellations and lost a day of their vacations.
Other things to think about as you search: Flight duration and number of stops... Obviously a nonstop flight is quicker with less chance of missing a flight or losing luggage, and if you're flying into Paris, you'll easily find nonstop flights... But if you're trying to fly into Marseille, you'll most likely be on at least a one-stop flight. As most of you are flying out of the Northeast US like ourselves, non-stops to Paris can be found with a flight duration of as little as 7 - 8 hours, whereas one stops into Marseille are often around 10 - 12 hours (including the connection). Also you'll want to keep in mind connection times... On any connection less then 60 - 90 minutes, there's always a chance your checked luggage (and possibly even you) may not make the connection... (especially if your first leg of the flight is delayed).
So, if you haven't bought air tix yet, there's three basic ways to acquire them:
- 1.Go online and buy them your self at an airline's website or online agency.
- 2. Call the airline customer service and buy them over the phone
- 3. Go to a Travel Agent and have them buy tix for you
Buying online Most of our guests over the years just go online and buy their own tix... This method has the obvious advantage of you taking as much time as you need to see all the options; all the airlines, their flight times, stops, total flight duration, and of course price. Pick the flights you want and put in your credit card info. Not a whole lot different than buying a toaster oven on Amazon. (pro tip: clear your cache & history on your computer after each session as they often put cookies on your IP address, and sometimes when their servers see you returning with the same search over and over, the prices can go up).
Calling the Airline Having good results with calling the Airline and buying them from their customer service agents has a whole lot to do with the actual agent that you end up speaking to. Just like any other industry, some service agents are much better and more helpful than others... To accomplish this with the most ease, we suggest getting up and calling early in the morning as wait times will be significantly shorter... Mid-day and early evening wait times of 1 to 2 hours or more are not unusual. Be sure to tell them what's most important to you. (price, # of stops, or flight duration). Also, being very polite (they deal with a lot of nasty people) and perhaps saying something sincere like; "I really need your help, I tried to do this online myself but I'm just not comfortable..." If you get an unhelpful or unpleasant agent, just say thank you, and call back at a later time... (Tip: When dealing with customer service agents on the phone, write down their name when they first introduce themselves, and use it throughout the conversation; "Thanks so much Nancy, I really appreciate your help". It's proven to get better results.
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| if you look closely, that's us- just over the wing |
Travel Agent Travel Agents are professionals and not unlike airline customer service agents, some are much better, much more experienced, and more helpful than others. If you already have have a good travel agent, you can by all means use them, but be aware that these days Travel Agents usually don't make commissions on Airline tix, so they'll charge you a fee to do this for you... especially if that's all you're buying from them. (usually this is between $25 -$50 per tix). You might also sense some resentment that you didn't come to them for your vacation plans...
Things to keep in mind when shopping for tix:
- Look for refundable or no change fee tix
- Often, the most basic of economy tix won't include checked luggage fees (read carefully)
- Allow extra time between flights if your flight includes a connection (90 minutes minimum recommended)
- Keep in mind that the more connections you have, the more chances of you or your luggage missing a connection.
- Discount airlines vs legacy carriers: be careful with the discount airlines... sometimes they only have a couple flights a week on a given route and they may not have "codeshares" with other airlines (so if your flight is cancelled or delayed for some reason, it could be difficult to get on another flight).
- We always suggest the larger legacy carriers... examples: United, Delta, American, Lufthansa, British Airways, Emirates, Air France, etc.
- While some guests arrange their flights to arrive the first day of the Tour (Saturday), we usually suggest flying over at least one day earlier and staying in your arrival city in a hotel for at least one night just to be safe in case of cancelled or delayed flights. (this is of course totally your choice)
- If you're thinking of flying home on the Saturday immediately after your Provence Tour, be careful concerning how early your flight leaves (you'll need to drive to the airport, return your car, get a shuttle from the car return lot to the terminal, and check-in a few hours before your flight departure... all of that can be pretty tough to do if you have a 10am flight... you may want to consider an afternoon or next day flight.
- Lastly, we suggest you spend some time researching before you pull the trigger on buying tix... (watch prices for a few days to a few weeks). Prices vary daily...
For long term planning, we usually suggest a budget of around $1000 -$1500 per person for roundtrip economy tixs... Tickets are easy to purchase directly on line... Right now, we're seeing roundtrip
basic economy tix into/out-of Paris
on budget airlines for as little as $700... And on the other end of the scale, Multi-City
standard economy tix (into Paris/out of Marseille)
on legacy carriers in and around the $1300 range....
Everyone has their own strategies, but we always start our flight research at a site like
www.kayak.com, or Google flights and once we find the flights we want, we personally buy them directly from the airline's website... If you're uncomfortable doing this by yourself, give us a call; we are Tour Operators
not Travel Agents, but we'll be happy to
try to help ... And lastly of course, you could use a travel agent to purchase tix for you. They'll usually charge in the neighborhood of $25 - $50 per tix.
Passports
Make sure your passport is valid until at least 6 months after your return date... This is mandated by French law... If you don't have a passport yet, you will of course need one... and while historically they were usually pretty fast... ever since the pandemic, they have been running way behind... they could take up to several months to arrive... And trust us on this; if you don't have a valid passport, they will not under any circumstance, allow you on the plane! Just this last year, we had a guest wait 7 months for his passport renewal and it still didn't come... He got desperate a week before his departure and contacted a congressman who helped him out and luckily got it two days before his departure! If you need a new passport, we suggest you start working on it now and pay the extra few dollars for both expedited service & expedited shipping!
As always if you have questions, or need help, reach out to us! We're always happy to help! Start getting excited... Your adventure to France is just 8 months away! You're gonna have a Blast!
Need a little blast from the past? Here's Peter Paul & Mary singing it for their 25th Anniversary Concert in 1986!
(click here)
