Benzene desorption from palladium (111) is investigated at low coverages (theta congruent to 0.026 and 0.050, where theta is the fractional coverage of benzene molecules to palladium surface atoms). Desorption occurs at rates that can be readily monitored using laser-induced thermal desorption with Fourier transform mass spectrometry between 430 and 490 K. Other researchers have concluded that, at these coverages, all benzene is flat-lying, i.e., adsorbed with the molecular plane nearly parallel to the surface. The desorption kinetics are adequately described by a first-order rate law and the Arrhenius plots are linear. The data indicate that competitive decomposition reactions are not significant at these temperatures and coverages. The activation energy (E-a) and the preexponential factor (A) are determined at two different coverages and no coverage dependence is observed. At the 95% confidence level (N = 9 and 6, respectively), the kinetic parameters are E-d = 169 +/- 9 kJ/mol and log A(d) = 17.3 +/- 1.1 s(-1) for theta congruent to 0.05, and E-d = 170 +/- 7 kJ/mol and log A(d) = 16.9 +/- 0.8 s(-1) for theta congruent to 0.026. The high values for the preexponential factors indicate a significant gain in entropy between the adsorbed state and the transition state for desorption.