New Low-Fare Flights to Europe

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

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Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

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Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

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XL Airways, an independent French low-fare airline, announced summer season nonstops to Paris from Las Vegas, New York, and San Francisco. XL says flights will begin May 26, but that schedules and fares will be available on its website “shortly.” Although we don’t have the details yet, we can still guess that flights from each city will probably be fewer than daily—maybe even just two or three a week.

One fact isn’t a guess: The A330s XL uses are total cattle cars, with nine-across seats in economy rather than the standard eight-across. Unless the fare is a lot less than on competing lines, you really don’t want to spend seven to 12 hours in one of the narrowest seats in the sky.

XL also offers a few premium class seats on its A330s, which might be OK if they aren’t overpriced. That, too, remains to be seen.

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