cynstalker

This is a 2-part question; here's the background: My sister, BIL, SO and I are going to Italy in March (dates flexible at this point) for 2 weeks. They will be flying out of Florida - they can use TPA or MCO, (or others in that area?) paid flights. We will be flying out of BDL, BOS or JFK if necessary, using AA miles. This will be a multi-segment flight, as we will be visiting Tuscany (1 week, must be here beginning on a Saturday), Venice (3 nights) and Rome (4 nights). The order doesn't matter, so we can fly in/out of any city in those areas. I'm not looking for flights within Italy - just need to get us to/from, flying economy.

So - suggestions for flights for my sister & BIL to/from FLorida? This will be their first international flight experience, and I'm hoping to make the travel as stress-free as possible, so a minimum of connections is important.

And, using AA miles, in the past I've flown business on a one-world flight; is there such a thing for economy? What would the mileage savings be? I really need to use as few miles as I can on this trip, as in 2011 I'm going to be "**trying**" to book 4-business class flights to Botswana - I'll be looking for LOTS of help when I get closer to that time!

As I'm thinking about this, I'm now wondering if there's a way to get us on the same flight across the pond - both meet in Atlanta or some such? Wow - can I make this any more complicated???

Thanks for any help you can give!

Cyn

yk

Cyn, for your AA flight, since you're going in March, you can get to Europe and back for only 40k miles flying economy. This is their off-peak milesAAver "fare". IMO, that's the best deal ever and I've taken advantage of it twice in the last 2 years.

AA flies nonstop from JFK to FCO 4x/week. However, if you want to fly into or out of Venice, you need to fly on one of AA's OneWorld partners. To book Award flights on partner airlines, you have to call AA to have them book it for you.

If you want your sis & BIL meet up with you, then you can have them fly from FL up to JFK and then fly over to FCO together.

cynstalker

Thanks for the input, yk; I appreciate you taking the time to help.

Does anyone have suggestions on which airport will work best in Florida for my sister & bil? Airline is not a consideration, as they have no loyalty affiliations - just looking for guidance on the cheapest and easiest way to get them to Italy - and again, which city to fly into - Rome, Florence? Would Bologna make any sense? Is there a way to economically get us on the same flight across the Atlantic?

And, are there one-world flights for economy that will save miles? When I flew the one-world business class to France in April, it "only" cost me 80,000 miles per ticket versus 90,000 miles for the milesaver.

For routing, we could also fly out of Albany, NY - which has never had any flights that would work in the past, but things change all the time.

I'll be calling AA soon to get this going, but it always works so much better when I know what my options truly are.

Thanks-

Cyn

yk

The OneWorld award goes by mileage. For Total Countable Trip Miles = 4,001 - 9,000

Economy: costs 60,000 AA miles
Business: costs 80,000 AA miles
First: costs 100,000 AA miles

You can't beat the OFF-PEAK AA MileSAAver deal for only 40K r/t.

cynstalker

Ah, ok. That helps simplify things. Now it raises the question - do I just pay for our flights too, and get the platinum AA bonus miles?

Thanks yk!

Cyn

laurie_ann

If you haven't used www.kayak.com, try it. It can help you consider options and prices. A quick input of MCO/Rome for random dates in March gave me cheapest price on AA through JFK. Also, it has a feature of "nearby airports" or something like that which can widen your search.

yk

Cyn, yes, that is a dilemma as always.

For me, it was an easy decision earlier this year. My ticket would have cost me close to $1000 to fly into Vienna and back from Budapest. There's no way I would pay that much for a ticket to Europe.

surfmom

cyn, as to which airport in Fl... do they live closer to one or the other ? I've flown into both -

we actually prefer to fly into TPA rather than MCO. MCO has more screaming kids and flights are usually more expensive - those spring breakers heading to Disney.

there are many variables to consider, but since you are looking at conserving miles, that time of year, you can usually do pretty well with $$$. Why not consider buying the ticket out of pocket then you are also accruing miles for your future flight.

If you are concerned about them flying, I would have them fly into JFK or BOS and meet you and you go together from there. If you have any flexibility at all with regard to days, why not have them come a day earlier to spend with you and then travel to the airport together eliminating any flight delay variable ?

cynstalker

Thanks for the kayak website suggestion, laurie-ann; I've used it in the past and checked for these flights. There's another one that starts with an "I" that is very helpful as well, but I'll be darned if I can remember it. I just saw it recently in another post. Anyone know which one I'm thinking of? I'll be sure to bookmark it this time!

yk - I always get lost in the calculation - there's some formula - don't use miles if it's less than what - $.04/mile conversion?

surfmom- they live in Bradenton, so there is a variety of airports they could choose. I'm surprised that you've found mco to be more expensive - for some reason, I though that was the cheapest option. They'll be coming over to visit on Monday before they head south, so I'm hopig to get some concrete ideas in place for them. I don't want to treat them like children, but I suspect that for a first time international flight, they would be a bit more comfortable if they could fly with me. Getting us all on the same flight seems like it may be a challenge, though; and I don't know that they will want to add "legs" to this trip - they may just want to get to Italy as quickly as possible. Coming to visit me before wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, as I live so far from any airport. (In my next life, I'm living near a major airport!!! )

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!

Cyn