Has anyone done this recently? The flight I want from Paris to Florence is $1900 oneway for 349 for a round trip??!!!! That's crazy. I got my reward first class US to Europe but now finding oneway flights within Europe are astromonical. Help? Thanks

As long as the one way flight is the outbound flight only and it's not part of the US-Europe ticket, you will be fine.

That said, check out www.whichbudget.com for cheap flights. Just pay attention to the airports, airlines and their check in and luggage rules.

Yes you can - but only for the outward leg. If you don't take the outward leg then the remainder of the ticket is automatically cancelled

As for the price difference - it's the difference between having to travel on a specific flight with no or expensive means of changing the ticket and no refund and having a fullt refundable, fully changeable ticket

Alternatively you may have put Florence South Carolina in.

But why haven't you considered Easyjet to Pisa? Pisa Airport has it's own station with direct trains to Florence

I am getting wonderful advice from this thread & also where I posted on the Europe forum. I had not considered, nor knew, about Easyjet, so all this info has been very helpful. My open jaws LAX-CDG returning FLR-LAX is confirmed and using FF miles,so the internal flight CDG-FLR is what I was looking for and yes on a specific date since I have booked hotels. But there are more options than I thought, thanks to everyone's input. Thank you!

Be careful in using the low cost carriers such as easy jet. Their free baggage limitations are relatively low, and exceeding those limitations can cost more than your actual fare. When I was checking this, it appeared that easyjet flies to Milan, not Pisa, and I would guess not to the main airport in Milan.

You might look into taking a train.

<i>You might look into taking a train.</i>,

unfortunately the train takes about 10-12 hours.


It looks like EasyJet flies from Paris Orly (not too bad of an airport transfer as airport transfers go), but give yourself some extra time. EasyJet has very strict rules about check in. You have to be checked in no later than 45 minutes before the flight or you are out of luck. Also do read their policy about baggage but even with the cost of the transfer and luggage charge the total should be a lot less than $349 fare that you found.

RyanAir flies from Paris Beauvais to Pisa but that is more of a transfer hassle. Probably not worth your consideration.

When is your trip?

Out trip is in May 2010 so I do have some time, I was just surprised that getting from Paris to Florence would be so complicated. I was going to ask about other airports in Paris since I am only familiar with CGD. May 18 would be the date we would like to fly & be able to pick up a car in Florence & drive to Cortona. I really appreciate everyone's responses!

<i>I was just surprised that getting from Paris to Florence would be so complicated.</i>

There is a good reason for it. You are crossing the Alps. That kinda, sorta takes the train option out, unless you have the time.

Pisa/Florence is not a high demand destination so the airlines treat it as a secondary market and knowing that trains are not an option for many on this route, they price the route accordingly.

Your other option besides the $349 fare or EasyJet or RyanAir that involves airport transfers, is renting a car in Paris and driving yourself. That will probably be the cheapest option if there are at least 2 or more traveling.

The drive is about 1200km.

There is one little question I have. Are you staying in Paris for few days? If that's the case then you can consider any other airport. If you are just flying into Paris on your award ticket just to connect then why not ammend it to get you to Florence?

AAFrequent Flyer, Yes we are staying for 5 days in Paris. I should have done better research before I booked the tickets but I think with everyone's help we have it figured out. We will fly from Paris Orly to Rome & rent a car (we've been to Rome and this trip really want to stay mostly in the conryside with day trips to explore), our first city is Allerona for 3 days at I CASALI DI MONTICCHIO which is actually closer to Rome than Florence and we won't have to backtrack. Then on to Cortona for 6 nights at Villa Marsili, then drive into Florence, return the car & spend the night somewhere convenient to getting to the airport the next day for return flight (Lufthansa via Frankfurt) to LAX. What do you think?

Sounds like a plan. Have a wonderful trip!

Thank to you all for helping with suggestions and general info I needed to put the pieces of the vacation puzzle together! All is well and the fodorites do it again.