In regards to purchasing the ticket from Delta for all legs, the price would be about $1200/ticket on Delta.com vs about $1090 on Orbitz taking Delta over there and other carriers back. I might try to call Delta directly to see if they can do anything for me. Any other advice out there?? Thanks everybody for the great input!!!

I didn't realize this ticket wasn't all with Delta. Your first sentence on your original post says it is. But I suppose it couldn't hurt to find out whether Delta can do something similar.

The strange thing is that on itasoftware.com, it says the the Delta Song flight (from Seattle to JFK) and the other Delta flight (to Rome-not a codeshare flight) aren't in the same terminal???, which is contradictory to what Delta customer service says. Who the heck can you trust???

- Song flight uses Terminal 2. Delta flight uses Terminals 2 & 3.

- 2 & 3 are connected in the airside. You don't have to reclear security to go between the two.

- By April 1 when the OP travels, there won't be Song. It's being fold back into DL.

What does "OP" mean? If I book the Delta "Song" flight on April 1st, you don't anticipate a schedule change do you? I'm contemplating booking NW over and then Alitalia-United Back (about $1180/ticket) vs Delta over and Alitalia/United back for $1090/ticket on Orbitz. The 2nd option is a little cheaper, gets to Rome earlier, but am comfortable flying NW seattle to Amsterdam. (we have frequent flyer miles on NW and Alaska)

Oh, let me take this back. Song will be folded back into Delta by May 2006. It's somewhat complicated as your flight on 4/1 will show it's "Song 2029, operated by Delta".

Now, the issue is this. Song flights do not earn NW Worldperks miles, like DL flights do. So, it's unclear to me whether you'll get your 2,421 miles for SEA-JFK. [Granted, 2,400 miles isn't really worth $90.] You may want to post this question on the Northwest Worldperks board on flyertalk.com, or do a search there for answers.

BTW, are you sure you can't get a decent price for taking NW/KL/DL/CO/AZ back from Naples? It's a lot of miles that you won't be getting into your Worldperks account by flying UA.

Unfortunately, Song flights don't earn NW miles, but I can credit them to my Alaska account. I've checked, and unless I want to pay at least $90-120/ticket more, the flight that goes alitalia/alitali/united (from ROM to SEA) has the best fare. I really appreciate all of your advice-if there is anything I am missing, please let me know.

OP = original poster, i.e. you--the person who started this thread

good luck with your choice