The only rules I follow are that if I like the price then I buy, then never look at the current price of the flight ever again

AlanRow is right. buy the ticket when your happy with the price and Never Look Back. On the other hand I have found some great deals by shopping late at night.

I am like Alan. I see I buy.

First I would sign up with Kayak and other travel sites and track the fares thru the alerts they will send u. Do this so that you have an idea of the fares and know what is a good fare as well as being alerted to a fare drop. Make sure u get emails from Air France as they will send notices of their sales. If u see a fare u r comfortable with grab it.
I was watching fares from IAD to Paris for a trip this winter. I tracked fares for months and months. Fares kept going up. I was 2 months out from departure, getting neevoice and finally the fares dropped about $75 so I purchased seats. A day later fares went back up and I patted myself on the back for grabbing a lower fare. Less than two weeks later they dropped again another $75. They currently r about $ 25 lower than I paid. all this activity during a month's time frame. airfares are like playing roulette. Good luck!

I don't think you'd have anything to worry about if you left it until six months prior to departure date. You have a choice of carriers and aren't restricted to either Air France or Delta. Other carriers flying the same route are:

- US Airways which flies via Philadelphia (PHL).
- Lufthansa with the outbound leg operated by United Airlines via Washington DC and return via Frankfurt.
- Air Canada via Toronto and return with Lufthansa via Frankfurt.
- Alitalia via Rome.
- Swiss via Zurich.

It's often cheaper to fly via an alternative airline's hub rather than taking a direct flight which all of the above do.

>>>Air France is the only carrier that flies nonstop to Paris from Miami and we want nonstop.<<<

I'm not sure that is correct. I think AA has the most non-stops MIA/CDG.

Last July, there was a sale for fall flights on Delta when prices dropped into the $750-800 range. I wouldn't want to wait that long to book, but I would at least wait until January and see if any specials are offered.

vssinfl - When you check flights on Kayak, also check how many seats are still available; that might help you decide when to buy tickets. Two years ago I watched the fares for a September trip into Frankfurt and out of Madrid go up and down for a month or two, with seat availability pretty much staying the same. Then, when some seats seemed to be disappearing, the fares went down to a reasonable level, and I bought my tickets.

>>>vssinfl - When you check flights on Kayak, also check how many seats are still available; that might help you decide when to buy tickets<<<

That isn't accurate on such sites as Kayak. Sometimes there are seats blocked out that get released later. I think the only way to get a more accurate load count is signing up for a paid service such as ExpertFlyer which will show actual seat load. It's really not practical unless you fly a lot, but this article explains the service.

http://thepointsguy.com/2011/04/how-to-use-expertflyer-flight-availability-tool/

You can also call the airlines and ask how full the flight is and they will give you a good indication.

I watched fares last December for flights to Nice and home from Paris for trip in Sept/Oct of this year. I watched for 3 months, no real movement in either direction. Then they started to move up a bit, then down a bit. DH read about rising fuel prices expected so I bit the bullet and bought. I didn't look back until I saw mention of big airfare sale on Fodors in mid July. Prices had dropped by almost 1/3!! Couldn't do a thing about it, just ate at me, but what are you going to do?

Don't know how much the past is a predictor of the future, will it happen again? Wish I knew. I wouldn't book this early. I would wait until spring, keeping a watchful eye and determining what price point would be the factor to buy [either going UP or DOWN]

Hi,

This is best and lowest fare in American and air france. there is no lower then this. If there would be any promotion then only this could be possible for lower then this otherwise this is lowest fare. So book your ticket ASAP.

Regards,
Ram