susanboston

does anyone know what would be considered a "good" air fare for april 15-26, 2009? flying out of boston and into venice, then out of rome back to boston. thx. - susan

Viajero2

IF (big IF) you were flexible you could fly to Italy from Boston in April 2009 for less than $600. HOWEVER, since you are flying OPEN jaw and have very specific dates (15-26; weekend rtrn) then you should be ready to pay $900-950/pp if you can find a seat out of Venice on those dates... .

travelgourmet

Tough to say. Flights to Italy tend to price out higher than much of the rest of Europe. And you rarely see the kind of rock-bottom deals that you see to London. For now, the cheapest I see is around $1200, which seems high for April, even for Italy. Even trying to do a simple roundtrip to Rome prices out over $1000, except for an Iberia itinerary that has a downright silly return connection.

Contrast these prices to sub-$600 fares to London, and you see what I mean about Italy being expensive.

My guess, and it is <b>only a guess</b>, since I don't follow US-Italy flights that much, would be that you would be lucky to see something in the $850-range for an open-jaw itinerary into Italy. More likely, I would think you should prepare yourself to end up spending at least $1000.

The good news, though, is that I think the current prices are high enough that you don't need to rush. I would think you can safely hold off until at least the middle of February waiting for a deal, without too much risk of paying much more than the $1200-ish prices you see today.

susanboston

thanks for your thoughts. okay, i can stay in rome for one extra day and put us flying back to boston on a monday, the 27th of april. i have found a rate of $809 for these fligths (boston to venice and then rome to boston).... on flycheapabroad.com . i also have the option of flying into london and immediately out to venice, but spending the 26th in london on the way home....do you think that makes any sense? it comes in at about $800 pp even w/ the hotel for the 26th in the center of london. i just don't want to buy tix for $800 and then see them drop to $600....which is signicant when buying 3 tickets.... the child fairs are lame, the taxes and fees are the same, and it seems like you get about $150 off the kids ticket.

WillTravel

I think it would be great to have the last day in London - my bias, of course. It sounds like a good deal to me. No one can predict if you might do better, but you could certainly do worse. Getting any discount at all for the child fares is quite lucky - that's not always the case.

yk

Which airline are these flights you find on flycheapabroad?

Did you try pricing the tickets on the airline's website?

I think $800 is a good price for Italy, but I personally prefer booking directly with the airline.

Airlines change schedules all the time these days, and I've read many &quot;horror&quot; stories of people booking their tickets via a 3rd-party website. If any issue comes up, one has to deal with the 3rd-party agent and it can translate to many hours on the phone with someone who don't really know much about airlines.

WillTravel

That could happen, but you can avoid the problem to a large extent by keeping tabs on the schedule. Many airlines do not do a very good job of informing people of changes either. At any given point, you can check to ensure your tickets and schedule are valid according to the airline.

I would also look at www.lessno.com to see if a good fare is available there.

susanboston

thx willtravel, i checked lessno, still almost $1000 higher for the three tickets. the airline i'm getting through flycheapabroad is british airways... it is $120 cheaper to spend the night in London on that Sunday night, which I think could be fun. The price for the three tickets is $2423. i checked the airline's site, and the same tickets are $3351. There are tickets on another airline at lessno for $3148 for all three. I cannot believe the difference! i find it unlikely, at this point, that tickets will drop so much as $1000 before February, and I'd be frightened they'll go up. Our family has used flycheapabroad before with no difficulties... i suppose i should do a quick web search to see what people are saying these days... any more thoughts??

Viajero2

susan-- you have an open jaw and specific dates; you will NOT see the $600 fares for your travel. I'll say you are doing pretty good if you found exactly what you were looking for around $800...!! The only improvement is always, always buy directly from the airline if they can offer the same or even slightly higher fare.