(EXPIRED) Cheap spring flights to Paris from NY ($281 RT w/o checked bags)

Star Alliance carriers are offering some excellent basic economy-type fares from New York to Paris in the spring time — with fares as low as $281 round trip during April. You won’t get a checked bag, but you those who can travel light can get to Europe for less than the cost of getting a few states away.

The Deal

• Cheap economy class (“basic economy” or “economy light” in most cases) flights from New York to Paris, most widely available in April and May 2019 on Star Alliance carriers (United, Lufthansa, and Swiss)

Quick Thoughts

I’ve never experienced April in Paris, but how many cities have a song written about visiting them in a specific month? It must be great, right?

At $281 round trip, it’s probably worth the gamble. Unfortunately, you won’t find the cheapest prices via Google Flights but will rather have to book via discount online travel agencies listed at airfare metasearch site Mommondo. It’s worth doing your research and deciding whether or not it is worth the risk of dealing with one of these smaller OTAs. I think you’re probably fine in most instances (you have credit card protections if they don’t deliver the ticket), but I wouldn’t count on much customer service support in the event of irregular operations. Stil, the price is right.

Clicking through on those brings you to Crystal Travel, which makes it clear that these fares include no hold luggage.

For a little bit more, you can include a leg on Lufthansa or Brussels or fly entirely on Swiss. The Lufthansa Group started offering “Economy Light” fares this year that include no checked luggage, so I would assume that is the type of fare being sold here.

Again, if you can travel with a carry-on only, that may be less important to you. You can search Google Flights for dates with cheapish fares (some dates are showing around $315) and then plug dates into Momondo to find even cheaper prices. Living on the East Coast, I always struggle to justify using miles to get to Europe as sales like these are so common — though now that we’re traveling with a baby, the prospect of traveling without checked bags is probably out the window for a while, so I won’t be taking advantage of this fare.

H/T: Secret Flying

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