It required some serious weighing of factors and making trade-offs before I purchased our flights for next May. While not the most expensive we have ever purchased they were close and certainly the most expensive for the distance traveled. We could have purchased much less expensive flights but made a conscious decision not to do so since every alternative required a connecting flight at JFK, ATL, etc. What a sorry state of affairs!
We chose flights from RDU, our feeder, that go direct, non-stop to CDG for reasons you can imagine. We are still a little gun-shy after last May's troubles getting to and from Greece via JFK- it took over two days, we almost didn't make it at all, and nearly lost our luggage. Unfortunately, next year's trip also falls over Memorial Day weekend like our Greece trip this year.
The flights we selected this time don't rely on feeder flights to JFK or ATL, so there are fewer chances of cancellations, connection delays, missed flights, lost luggage, etc.. If we are late getting out of RDU we'll just be late getting into CDG. Also, the total en-route time is shorter by 2 hr or more in both directions.
On the negative side- the fare is much higher, we will have an older business class cabin and seats, and there is only one direct flight out of RDU to CDG per day if our flight gets cancelled.
It is hard enough to find the perfect flights at the right price already, now we must also take into account all the problems with the airline industry.
