skiingsailor

We are flying to Rome in April, 2012 and spending 14 days traveling from Rome to Milan. We will then be heading to Paris. This is our first trip to Europe, so I need some travel advise as I have the fun part pretty much planned. 1. We will need open jaw ticket to fly from Denver to Rome, Paris to Denver. Any suggestions as to how to get the best price? Any suggestions for best airlines with good service and comfort but in coach? 2. We are thinking of taking the train from Milan to Paris as we have not been to Europe before. Although it is an all-day trip, we thought it would be nice to see the countryside as we travel. A friend suggested the overnight train instead. Any suggestions?

elberko

www.Kayak.com is the site I use to find the best flight prices, including open-jaw. Use the "mult-flight" button.

I don't think it matters much which airline when you're flying coach, which we always do. None of them are "comfortable", and there really isn't "service" these days.

~Liz

Christina

I'd just check the regular websites like kayak or www.itasoftware.com. For that route I'd check Air France's own website as they often have the best fares from Paris (and I'm sure they go to Rome). To be honest, I doubt if you're going to get any special bargains on that route, but it's a long ways off, anyway, I never check airfare that far in advance. I guess you can check just to get an idea for budgeting, it might be comparable to the fares in October.

I don't think you are going to be able to choose amopng that many airlines that you are going to have a lot of choices to pick some special airline for service or whatever. I choose on schedule and price, that's all, as long as it's a regular wellknown airline. YOu can check www.seatguru.com for info on seat size, they are mostly the same but I think some are a bit smaller than others in terms of width or maybe space between seats. I think Aer Lingus is one of the worst in that regard, at least from my recent comparisons. Their seats were about an inch narrower than other regular airlines.

I like Air France for service and food, but I think most are about the same in comfort in coach.

adrienne

If you take the train that goes via Bern and Zurich the scenery should be good. The other route goes up the center of France via Lyon so you're farther from the Alps and won't have as much scenery.

There is one night train (as of now) that has no changes and only four stops. That would be the one to take if you decide on a night train. You want to avoid any early morning train changes.

You can look at schedules at this site:
http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

Book trains using the French rail site 90 days prior to your journey to get the best prices.

skiingsailor

Thanks for all your input...I will begin to search what you have advised. Unfortunately, I know that coach is still cattle car. I was hoping maybe if we flew via British Airways or a European airline it may be nicer. We flew Qantas to Australia and Emirates to New Zealand and I was so surprised by the wonderful service.

spaarne

For the best price I usually start with http://www.kayak.com/. Click the link for a regular update by email. Go to the airline website regularly for the best offers. In cattle car you just suffer the journey. Book the last flight possible so you can sleep on the way over.

Overnight trains are good for saving time and a night in a hotel. See http://tinyurl.com/y57vft for an illustrated introduction. For schedules and train details see http://tinyurl.com/c9jp54.