Traveling to France June 7th-28th

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Hello,

I am looking for flights from Traverse City, MI to Paris, France in June. I have flexibility and have used name your own price at priceline for previous flights. I have never gone international though. My bid was countered at a price, but it would include 2 connections. I cannot determine how long these layovers may be, unlike the domestic flights they have no outer limits, is that correct? It wouldn't be worth it to take the flight and be flying for 20 hrs. What are the chances of being screwed into long layovers or is it just a gamble? Thanks!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please start by reading your messages.

See this grid for average and maximum connection times based upon destination: Priceline Airfare Layover Times

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Let us know how your bidding goes.

[Romelle]

For comparison purposes, I can see a $1388 single connection American fare in June, but a number of other carriers have $1392 rates with two connections. (I used matrix.itasoftware.com).

I assume Traverse doesn't have any direct international flights. With regular tickets, you'll have to do one connection anyway coming out of Traverse, and it will be domestic. Most of the routings just connected in Chicago (ORD) or Detroit (DTW). When there was a second connection, the most frequent one I saw was Toronto (YYZ), but a European connection is possible (London, Amsterdam, etc.).

The second connection could be another US connection, a Canadian connection, or a European connection.

Copied from Priceline - "Connection times for domestic travel can be up to 3 hours, depending on the best available routing. Keep in mind that 80% of domestic connections are 2 hours or less."

There is a table in the Priceline Help area with their average and maximum international connections.

Destination region Avg.* connection times booked by priceline (hours) Longest* connection times booked by priceline(hours)

Canada 1.5 4

Europe 2.3 6

So - normal case on the second connection would be anywhere from another 1.5 hours (Canadian connection) to 2.3 hours (European connection). Worst case would be a European connection at 6 hours.

It is a bit of a gamble, but you have to decide what about 7 hours of your time is worth to you (an extra 1 hour on a worst case first domestic connection and 6 hours on the worst case European connection).

Romelle

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Thank you for that informative post Romelle! It clarifies pretty much everything I was wondering, and it's good to get another opinion when spending that kind of money. Good Day!

[Romelle]

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You are very welcome. I'd had a similar question, and thought I'd share the results of my research.

If you bid via Priceline, I hope you will use the links thereuare noted in his post. That is what keeps this site in business.

And then if you post your results, other members will appreciate that information.

Romelle