Rhodesone

I will be flying from the US to Rome (most likely) the end of September. While looking at airfare from NYC to Rome, I have noticed that the fees and taxes are almost as much as the ticket on some flights. Is this normal? What would be a reasonable price to pay for two RT tickets? All my other international travel has been booked through a tour company, so I'm not sure what to expect...other than sticker shock! I have fare alerts set up through Skyscanner and Airfarewatchdog.

Kathie

Are you talking about getting ff tickets to Rome? You must be flying on BA - they do price gouging on ff tickets. Fly on American metal instead or try for a different airline.

Rhodesone

This was not for FF tickets, just economy on British Airways. Maybe it was the airline...I will keep checking.

Southam

Since you are not looking at airline surcharges on a frequent flyer ticket, you also do not need to look at how the full-pay tickets break down. You pay the total, period. Any online agency or airline will show you prices for London versus Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt etc. The total price they offer is your price. If you find one that is a bargain, good for you, no matter how the airline chooses to designate its costs of doing business. By the way, some prices from the eastern side of North America for late September and into October look substantially cheaper, right now, than what is currently being offered for late spring and summer.

DRJ

My recent experience is that flying into Milan is usually significantly cheaper.

John

Just booked an open jaw, Montana to Venice and Naples to Montana for middle of September. Price was $1490 down from about $1800. Bought it and never looked back!!

Rhodesone

Thanks for the suggestions. I found fares tonight at $1357 RT for two, on Norwegian Air; the return flight is through CTA (Sicily). Maybe not a bad side trip?

dutyfree

Why not fly nonstop from the states? Alitalia and Delta fly nonstop from JFK? Keep in mind that it is still high season for Rome so prices will still be high.

kybourbon

>>>This was not for FF tickets, just economy on British Airways. Maybe it was the airline...I will keep checking.<<<

Probably a combo. BA is know for high taxes (especially flights that go to London).

>>>the return flight is through CTA (Sicily). Maybe not a bad side trip?<<<

Depends on how much time you have for your trip and whether it leaves you enough time to see every thing on your original itinerary.

Gardyloo

For paid tickets the relevant fees and taxes are built into the cash price. For mileage tickets, you may the fees/taxes out of pocket in addition to the miles. Some airlines, such as BA, add extortionate surcharges (formerly "fuel" surcharges but they don't call it that anymore after getting whacked with a giant lawsuit) and any flight that originates from the UK (except on simple transfers of less than 24h) gets hit with the UK's ridiculous "air passenger duty" departure tax, which is also passed on by the airlines. But for <i>bought</i> tickets, this is all in the background.

Betsy

Whatever you do, avoid going through Heathrow due to the extortionate surcharges that Gardylook mentions above.

Gardyloo

To be clear, the surcharges are simply profit to British Airways. The Air Passenger Duty is a British tax. You can avoid the surcharges by avoiding British Airways; you can avoid the APD by not spending more than 24h in the UK in transit, or skipping the UK altogether. There are still UK airport taxes (nothing to sneeze at) even if you don't pay the APD.

Rhodesone

Our itinerary is fairly flexible and we don't mind a bit of rail travel, if needed. We are trying to balance not overspending on airfare with flying a reputable airline. I just found a direct flight into Milan on Emirates that is reasonable, so may go that route. Thanks for all the suggestions.

kybourbon

>>>we don't mind a bit of rail travel,<<<

If you book inconvenient flights to save a few bucks, you often lose the value in time (backtracking if you don't book an open jaw can cost you a day off your vacation) or money (train tickets aren't free).