Next year, my daughter will be going to a college semester in Florence. We'll have a free United FF ticket to a European city that United flies to or a partner airline. It's a bit easier to book FF on United than Luftansa. Anyway, the question is this? Which United city should she choose to fly to-then use Ryan Air or other inexpensive airline to get to Florence or nearest city that can reach Florence by train? It is best to have few transfers because she will be traveling alone.

Most people fly from the US into Paris CDG and then on to other European cities from there.

You can book to Florence with your UAL FF ticket.

We used FF tickets to get to Florence..flew Dulles to Munich on UAL and then Munich to Florence on Lufthansa.

Since Lufthansa is a partner airline it is easy to use one FF ticket to get to Florence.

I did United FF Chicago-Florence last year. It was a United flight into Milan with a change to Lufthansa to Florence. But, she also could fly into Malpensa (Milan), which is one of United's airports. It's a fairly short train ride to Florence.

I believe United's only gate in Italy is Milan. They used to fly to Rome but don't any longer. Agree train from Milan wouldn't be bad.

When we were using United to Europe we flew to London and then on to our destination with other carriers. Lots of options. She should easily find something suitable.

How fortunate she is--Florence is wonderful and I'm sure she will enjoy her stay there.

I would agree that if gb was paying for the flight , it might pay to take a train from Milan.

Since it is a reward ticket, you can book a flight that includes a connection to Florence at no additional cost.

Call United's international award redemption hotline at:

888 674 4680

They can book award flights on United and Lufthansa from there.

Thanks. I thought Milan was one of the cities United discontinued last year. Did they reinstate it? With to Munich, then, Lufthansa-do you need to use a second FF reward for inside Europe. If so, I thought it would be more practical to buy an inexpensive ticket. Maybe Munich to Florence is not too expensive anyway? I have a little time to work on this because she isn't going until second semester next school year. Right now, I almost have enough for a United ticket. And maybe by spring, I'll have enough for a Hilton Honors ticket. Any ideas which is better to use? We live in Denver.

PS. About Munich to Florence on Luftansa. I guess you are permitted one stop or return from a different airport. So, would that make her return more difficult being that she needs two stops (0ne extra each way). And does anyone know what is the maximum amount of time that a return can be scheduled on a FF award? For instance, she will be staying for a school semester. Will I have to use one or two awards for that? I probably should ask United-but in case anyone knows or has done this, I appreciate the help.

If still considering flying with Ryan Air, have in mind that they cheapest flights leave from London, so if nothing else works, get a tkt to London and then get a Ryan Air tkt.

Attention Chiord, that's the way everyone I know goes into Europe from the US. However, I now realize that many others take other routes. I apologize, but I was only trying to give gb an option since no one else had answered her post within a half hour. No need to get nasty.

BTW - If you take a look at trip reports on this board, Paris CDG is the route that most people take.

An FF ticket direct to Florence , with a connection thru Munich or MIlan seems the best way to go.

Why don't you plug the info into the United site and see what you come up with. A lot depends on where you are flying FROM!

We're using United FF miles in 2 weeks to fly Chicago to Florence via Munich. The flight's on Luftansa. If you're using FF miles, call the customer service # instead of using the internet and they will run through all your options. The one bonus is that the leg from Munich to Florence is on Augsburger air which flies into Florence as opposed to Pisa so you're much closer to the city.

gb..

You only need one FF award to get to Florence on UAL with a Lufthansa connecting segment.

We used One award to travel Dulles/Munich Florence and then return Venice/Frankfurt/Dulles.

I'm assuming your daughter will have a fair amount of luggage, which would tend to eliminate the discount airlines for connections. They usually have pretty small luggage allowances, and she'd pay through the nose for excess baggage.

gb: You are correct--United apparently has dropped Milan as a destination. We haven't flown them for several years so hadn't heard. They apparently have no gates in Italy any longer.

I checked their website and to get to Milan they fly to Frankfurt and then Lufthansa to Milan. Obviously then routing Frankfurt direct to Florence makes better sense.