Honeymoon in Italy Budget

Old Sep 6th, 2015, 07:30 PM
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Honeymoon in Italy Budget

So let me preface my question with the understanding that obviously this is a little unanswerable so of course I am not looking for exact answers as much as asking if this sounds like something reasonable.

We are planning to fly into Rome to begin our honeymoon and flying out of Milan and using NYC as the starting point (short train ride from DC and seems like there are more options at the prices we are looking for). Also, not above a train ride back to Rome and doing a round trip instead of open jaw or a train ride in the beginning flying into Milan and doing roundtrip from there. The other two stops on the trip will be Florence and Venice.

All that is to ask if in mid-October it is reasonable to get flights for around $900. Trying to plan the savings budget for the honey and this is the biggest expense but also the hardest to nail down especially at this point. So is that a reasonable price?
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Old Sep 6th, 2015, 11:33 PM
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You can do searches now for what mid-October prices are for this year. Many many things affect ticket prices, so if the trip is next year or further out, you could be facing higher costs when you actually travel (including the exchange rate once you get into Italy), or you might luck out with falling prices or sales.

If you are looking for non-stop flights NYC to Rome, they are often the most expensive. Milan is usually cheapest for non-stop flights, in particular flying Emirates as of late. But you can often significantly reduce the cost of flying by booking flights with a change of planes in Europe, and then on to a smaller airport like Bologna or Florence or Verona.

If you and your fiancee are really determined to get a good price, it might be worth it to ask for help on the Flyer Talk forums, where frequent flyers exchange tips about sales and routings that are cheaper. It's possible that taking the train to NYC does not get you the best savings.
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Old Sep 7th, 2015, 04:18 AM
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I think you will have trouble getting that fare - and you need to look NOW - assuming you mean this year. And there is no way I would trek from DC on the same day as flying in or out of NYC - which will add at least $100 to your travel cost plus at least 5 hours of travel time - and even greater cost if you spend a night in NYC in both directions.

If you mean next year - who knows what prices will be?
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Old Sep 7th, 2015, 05:16 AM
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A few suggestions:

Expand your search of airports. You mentioned flying out of "NYC." Does that mean Newark? Tale a look at options out of some other airports within driving/train distance. You might find unexpected deals.

Take a look at multi-stop flights. Once in a while, you'll find a deal on a flight that, for instance, flies Newark to Chicago to Europe. Yes, it's a PITA, but you have to decide how much of a PITA you can tolerate to stay within your budget.

You have four cities listed on your itinerary. Have you looked into the all the possible options for flying into/out of any of them, instead of being locked into Rome or Milan? You might have to adjust your itinerary, but so what?

Good luck.
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Old Sep 7th, 2015, 05:26 AM
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Assuming you mean this year Delta has flights in and out of Rome for about $1200. If you want flights in the $800s there are several listed (but I don't know your dates) if you want to change in Istanbul - but IMHO this is a nonsense. There is also one flight with a change in Dublin, which is less onerous.

But you need to look NOW at all of your options from the various airports and balance cost versus the wasted time of extra stops and not flying into/out of the most convenient airports.

(We only do non-stops and fly exactly where we want - since you lose enough vacation time just in the flights never mind trekking all over the place before getting to where you want to be. Your time has value too.)
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Old Sep 7th, 2015, 07:22 AM
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For this year from JFK, people have been reporting significantly lower fares to/from MXP so much so that even with backtracking, it is cheaper overall. Whether AA or Delta from JFK, or UA from EWR, they arrive in the morning in Milan, so it is easy to get to Florence upon arrival. I see fares well below your target using MXP.
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Old Sep 7th, 2015, 07:28 AM
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We flew this summer from Dulles to Milan through Icelandic Air and our flights were just under $1000, with the added bonus that we got to explore Iceland on our layover. Check them out - when we were looking at flights, they were much more reasonable than a lot of the other major int'l air companies (Delta, AirCanada, Lufthansa, AirFrance, AiItalia, etc). We also saw good flight deals from Turkish Airlines and Aeroflot but we were nervous about using them (read some bad reviews that the planes were old and uncomfortable).
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Old Sep 7th, 2015, 07:40 AM
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Oh my apologies. I am looking at next year which is why it is basically impossible to know what the flight will be with no way to tell what might happen in the next year to affect the price of flights. That however does not change the fact of needing to plan a budget in advance while also budgeting for the wedding (we are paying for pretty much everything and using the registry to offset the cost of the honeymoon).

As for where I am flying from, I have been searching all NYC and WAS airports for Rome and Milan. I am really open to whatever is most affordable with the best quality I can afford especially since we are far enough in advice our plans are still pretty open. It seems there are more quality airlines flying out of NYC for Italy than WAS which is why I am looking there. Personally I would rather spend an extra hundred dollars each way for a better airline. Also we are planning to fly out on a Monday (day after our wedding) with the only thing in the plans being to get up, say goodbye to family and at some point in the day go to the airport.

Currently roundtrip NYC to MXP is about $700pp in May next year and Oct this year which is why I was here to ask my original question. Thank you everyone for your advice so far and hope this clears things up a bit about where we are in our planning.
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Old Sep 7th, 2015, 08:14 AM
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Oh and my partner, because of security clearance, may not be able to fly through Istanbul. This makes what seems to be the best affordable option from DC not possible.
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Old Sep 8th, 2015, 06:37 AM
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I have no idea why a security clearance would preclude one from flying through Istanbul, and I am married to a fed.
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Old Sep 8th, 2015, 03:19 PM
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I don't know what websites you are using to check fares, but one I find extremely convenient and good is ITA at http://matrix.itasoftware.com/.

They list about every fare and airline combination possible with the exception of some of the low-budget airlines. They are essentially an arm of the system that provides schedule/fare info for many airlines. You cannot actually buy a ticket from them, but they give you the info that allows it. I always also check some of the many others sites like Kayak, Orbitz, etc., but usually I find the way to the best prices through them.
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Old Sep 8th, 2015, 03:29 PM
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PS
I just checked ITA for mid May 2016 (I guessed May would have a demand sort of perhaps somewhat similar to Oct.), NYC to Rome, returning from Milan.

I found fares on 17 airlines varying between $1,037 and $1,200 with the cheapest being Air Berlin. for the range of dates I chose ... I'm sure it would vary somewhat on different dates.
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Old Sep 8th, 2015, 06:37 PM
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My husband and I are flying this October to Milan from NYC (round trip). I bought our tickets in April for $680 each. We are flying Delta. Of course as others have pointed out who knows what the cost will be next year. For us to fly RT to Rome was about $1,200 each. So you can see how much money we saved. We are visiting Rome, Florence and Milan. If you book train tickets (high speed trains) in advance you'll be sure to get the best prices. For the high speed trains you can book 90 days in advance of travel.

Travel time from Milan (city) to Florence is about 1.5 hours and Rome to Milan is about 3 hours. You need to get from MXP to Milano Centrale to catch the high speed train (that is one option).
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Old Sep 8th, 2015, 07:42 PM
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Since you don't mind a train ride, take a look at PHL, especially to Venice. We have done well flying in and out of PHL to Venice. You may get as good a price for Venice as for Milan.
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Old Sep 9th, 2015, 11:21 AM
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The security clearance issue is that all his overseas travel has to be cleared with in agency and right now they are denying travel to Turkey due to something with the issues with Isis. It might vary from agency to agency as well, he works at the headquarters of one of the DHS agencies. I can't tell you more than that because he can't tell me more than that.
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Old Sep 9th, 2015, 11:43 AM
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And thanks everyone for your recommendations, this is really helpful. Like the site your recommended!
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Old Sep 9th, 2015, 12:16 PM
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Gotcha--understood.
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Old Sep 9th, 2015, 07:24 PM
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you can also compare flights with Google air.

no matter the savings I would never fly to a city beyond my destination.. too inconvenient and too much wasted time traveling.

Delta code shares with Alitalia. I prefer to fly non-stop, but changing planes in Europe is ok if need be.

The problem with taking the train to NYC is that it doesn't actually get you to the airport, unless you are going to Newark. Otherwise you have to travel from Penn Station to JFK, which will add even more time to your travels. And given the problems with Amtrak, and the rail lines between DC and NYC, you can experience really bad delays, or no service at all. Its not likely to improve a great deal in the next year.
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Old Oct 13th, 2015, 10:26 PM
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It sounds like Istanbul is out in this case, but for the benefit of others, Turkish often offers free stopover. So it could be worth it.
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Old Oct 14th, 2015, 05:35 AM
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>>It seems there are more quality airlines flying out of NYC for Italy than WAS which is why I am looking there.
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