Denise

I just called several airlines and some budget travel services and they have either quoted me fares over $1,000 from NYC to Milan in early July or have said to wait till January. If some hotels take reservations way ahead of time, and that is what some of you Fodorites have advised, how do you make rservations if your dates are still vague and dependent on your flight info. <BR> <BR>Thanks <BR>Denise <BR>PS How much should I expect to pay for this fare in July?

Liz

I've had no problem with making lodging reservations before plane reservations. I just make sure of the cancellation policy of the hotel, in case I have to change my plans.

Book Chick

The same here. We're going to Paris in October & I booked our hotel room in May. They stated in the confirmation e-mail to me that they require 3 days' notice for a cancellation that must be faxed or e-mailed in. <BR> <BR>In the meantime, our plane tickets have not been purchased yet (but we'll probably buy them this week) as fares keep dropping..... <BR>BC

ellen

Where are you going to be staying? Unless it is incredibly popular, I don't think you need to make reservations this far ahead of time. You can probably wait until you finalize your flights.

Russell

Denise, <BR>I suspect that the $1,000 fare is reasonably close to what you might have to pay for NYC to Milan next summer, but there are number of places you should check first to be sure the deal makes sense. You should call Travac, which is one of the biggest consolidators. They an 800 number, but you'll have to look that up. They buy up a number of seats in advance from major carriers and resell them at prices below "list". (This helps ensure the carriers that there planes are full.) We just flew on Swissair at about 10% below the standard rate. There's no downside to using them and you can often get frequent flyer mileage. In addition, you should call AutoEurope, which discounts from standard fares. Also, check wwww.hotwire.com and www.orbitz.com to see if there's something on their systems that is of interest. Even so, you can comfortably wait until January to book the airfares and the hotels. Don't wait much later, though. By March, you may have difficulty getting the dates and places you have selected.