Jenvett

We are planning a trip to Italy in June of 2005. We are looking to fly from Chicago to Milan and then return home Florence to Chicago. Could anyone tell me what we should be looking for as a good price for airfare? So far all I have seen has been around $1,300, I am wondering if there is an advantage to booking flights early or waiting until closer to our vacation time.. Thank you in advance for your advise!

DonnaD44

We went to Rome from Boston in May and paid $725 on British Air. My brother is in Rome now and paid $830 on Air France.
The least I've paid is $575 (1998) and the most is $925 (2000).

WillTravel

Here is my suggestion:

Fly to Amsterdam. I don't know exactly what the price will be, but often it is around $500.

Fly Virgin Express to Milan. The total price will be around $75 or less.

Consider flying Basiqair from Pisa or Venice Treviso, for about $50 or less.

You could do a similar itinerary starting in London, and using BMI, Ryanair, and/or EasyJet for the flights to/from London. BMI does LHR-Milan, and Ryanair does Pisa-London Stansted.

WillTravel

Part of your problem is that the best fares for June have not been released. It's likely way too early to buy tickets. The other problem is that you are looking at high season rates.

nytraveler

That fare looks incredibly high. Have you serched all the discount web sites? That;s not something strange - like 2 different arilines - is it? Definitely keep checking.

rex

Fares of under $800 oughtto be possible, if you watch diligently in the period mid-January through March.

Maybe even in the sub $650 range.

Best wishes,

Rex

isabel

This past summer July I flew Boston to Milan and back. I checked the prices on the discount sites every couple of weeks from January till June. In January the price was $1008, by mid February it was down to $843 and then it began creeping back up again till April when the price was back up near $1000. I think it went down again briefly. I was also checking New York to Milan (for the same dates, mid JUly) and in February that price went as low at $468.

So the moral of this story is: check every few weeks, check lots of sites, consider flying out of a different city if that is possible for you.

rhkkmk

its way to early to purchase now...start looking in january when there may be sales for spring tickets....june is pretty high but not $1300...i should think in the neighborhood of +/- $800...you might be able to do it cheaper by flying to another closer city like london and then transferring airports and taking ryan air or some other low cost carrier to milan area....the low cost carriers usually go from less busy airports like stansted in london or hahn near frankfurt...it would take some planning and might not be worth it...depends on your timing and budget sense..

Jenvett

Thank you to all that have replied! This is extremely helpful!

zee123

I booked on Cotinental 2 month ago -Newark direct into Rome at $617 + taxes

ira

Hi Jen,

They offer your flight for $1100 at http://airtravelcenter.com/onetrav.htm

You can also fly RT from Pisa, which is more convenient to Florence, for the same price.

I expect that the cost will drop to about $800 around January.

zola

You probably have your own reasons for flying into one city and out of another, but that can hike your price right away. Roundtrip tickets into and out of the same city are usually cheaper, and there's a greater chance of non-stops. I flew Chicago (O'Hare) to Rome and back last year for $498, non-stop- but I also waited until about 6 weeks before departure. I started looking about 2 1/2 months in advance.

I've seen prices on the average about $50-75 higher this year than last. If you wait 'till about 6-12 weeks before your departure date, you'll probably see a significant decline, and then you may get a bargain about 5 weeks before departure when the airlines try to fill their seats with sales. The posted ticket prices this far in advance, on the other hand, are usually higher, even roundtrips to and from the same place. Of course, there are no guarantees on any of this, but it's generally what I've observed over the past two years.

jeffery

Too early to book that trip. sit tight for quite a while. We are heading to Rome (from San Diego) on Iberia airlines next week for $750.00. Iberia does not seem to show up much on the orbits, expedia's etc. So, check in with them once in a while. We have to fly thru Madrid, but thats OK. We booked about 5 months ago. Good luck

ira

Hi Jen.

>You probably have your own reasons for flying into one city and out of another, but that can hike your price right away.<

"It ain't necessarily so". I have seen open jaw flights for less than round trips.

zola

ira:

You're right again. Open-jaw tickets can be relatively competitve with round trip from the same city. I was specifically looking at the fly-in city of Milan and the fly-out city of Florence. Flying out of a lesser-used hub, in this case Florence, usually hikes the price, and that's what I was thinking when I commented. Even so, you're right again: when I just did a test check, the difference between flying out of Milan as opposed to Florence can be as little as $59. Considering the train or car cost back to Milan from Florence, not to mention the time, it makes an argument for the return flight out of Florence, doesn't it? Oh well . . . mea culpa and deference to you.
At least I know I'm right about waiting to buy the tickets; I would say purchase no sooner than January, and then maybe even longer to grab a sale price.

Gardyloo

Topping to mention that American Airlines' seasonal service to FCO appears now to be on sale for travel in the May/June period. Around $515 RT from JFK, $640 ORD, $670-$690 LAX/SFO/SEA etc. AA.com.

DAJ

Gardyloo,

that price of $630 for ORD to FCO, was that without taxes? I was not able to secure that price with roundtrip or open jaws on a with or w/o tax basis. The best I have found with tax is $795 Chicago to Rome and out of Venice through Brussels or Chicago/FCO and back. They are both the same price. The time frame is May 13 through May 27, 2005. These are the lowest prices I've found for some time. I am compelled to stick with AA.