So then how is it that Norwegian is able to offer nonstop NYC-Paris trips starting at $140 each way? “One of the main reasons why Norwegian chose to launch service from New York to Paris back in July of 2016 was that we believed it was an overpriced market where we could compete with our low-fare, high-quality approach,” says Anders Lindström, the director of communications for Norwegian in North America.
“Norwegian has one of the world’s youngest, and thereby also most fuel-efficient aircraft fleets, which is a major fact in keeping costs down,” he explains. But of course, on a budget airline, the cost of meals and luggage check-in aren’t built into your ticket, which means you may have to cough up for them later.
The sustainability of the low-cost airline business model remains to be seen: Wow Air and other budget lines have gone belly up in the last few years.
Business travelers are always willing to pay
How is it possible that more New Yorkers are flying to Paris than all of China in a given month? While Paris is a wonderful tourism destination, it’s also one of Europe’s great centers for business, and many on that flight path are actually traveling for work. “When you have flights with a lot of frequency, they’re not geared toward leisure travelers—those spots are being paid for mostly by business travelers,” says Ma. “In terms of business demand between New York and Europe, the top routes are NYC-London, one of the few billion dollar routes in the world, and then NYC-Paris.”
Amelie Derrieux-Sable, the marketing director of wine company Maisons & Domaines Henriot, travels between New York and Paris throughout the year and actually thinks business prices are getting worse. “It seems to keep on going up as of recently,” she says of the route. “For some reason, round-trips Paris-New York are less expensive than New York-Paris.”
She has a few tricks to game the system, though. “The earlier you book your flights, the better—booking opens 10 or 11 month in advance,” Derrieux-Sable says. “Flights seem to be less expensive when booked on Wednesdays. Better to fly Tuesday to Thursday and spend seven nights on site to get best pricing.”
Increasingly, though, she’s choosing another new-ish rival for her business flights. “[The high price] is how I ended up flying La Compagnie,” Derrieux-Sable says of the boutique airline that flies only business-class flights between New York/Newark and Paris. (It merged with XL Airways in 2016.)
Mario Carta, a chef who has been flying back and forth from NYC to Paris to open a new restaurant called Coco J’Adore in New York this summer, agrees. “I tend to stick with [La Compagnie] as the service is consistent, and I prefer to fly business class so I hit the ground running when I get there.”
How to spot a good deal
If La Compagnie is out of your price range, there are other ways customers can save when purchasing this common (and commonly expensive) path. The first is to keep an obsessive eye on prices, because these days they can change every hour, says Ma. He advises setting alerts for desired travel days on sites like Google Flights or Kayak. When “all of a sudden it drops to $400? Guess what, you should buy,” he says.
Hesitating after seeing a great price is a typical mistake Ma sees among his users, as any flight in the U.S. can legally be canceled within 24 hours anyway. Other rules of thumb: trips under a week are more expensive, and summer is the costliest time to fly to Europe, and winter the cheapest, according to Seaney, which was likely the reason I couldn’t find a good direct Paris flight for June. Also, a connection will save you as well: “In addition to Icelandair and TAP, airlines between North America and Europe that offer free stopovers—a stopover is more than 24 hours, while a layover is less than 24 hours—include Air Canada and Finnair,” Ma says.
In general, any flight between the U.S. and Europe for under $400 is a solid deal, our experts say. Even if your company isn’t the one picking up the check.
