I want to book a flight for the mid of October. I am hoping to see something less than 926.00 leaving Fll to FCO and VCE to Fll. Delta said the fares will most likely not go down and that is not unusual fares for that time of year to Italy.

What would be the difference in the weather between leaving October 18 vs. November 1. We would save 600.00 in airfare alone if I booked today.

Does anyone want to lend me their crystal ball?

You could look at the historical stats on weather.com for an idea.... and also do a search here for "November" and select "Italy".

Normally the fare goes down after October 15..Is too early to worry about buying a ticket for October anyway.

Kismet, when would be a good time to purchase a ticket for October trip? I have not traveled outside of the country since 1990 and I truthfully have not a clue.
I will need to be sure I get an isle seat as i am claustrophobic and need the space so I am a bit nervous about the flight.

I normally go to Europe in the summer months and start looking in the internet by the end of february.
To give you an idea, I bought this past summer an open jaw ticket from SAT(Texas) to FCO(ROME) and from CDG to SAT for 700 dollars.
In October you should not pay more than 600 dollars..Are you flying from Florida?
The best ways is to keep searching as often that you can ,the internet.Sometimes the Airlines have few minutes specials..

i disagree about it being too early. Because I started my search early, I got in on the now-famous Alitalia sale and got my mid-September tix already for significantly less than they had been priced. True ... historically.. it is too early to find good fares fo rthat time of year, but you never know when a fluke sale will come along! I say track the prices now and when you see a good fare, jump on it!

Snce the Alitalia sale has come and gone, I would advise keeping your eyes continuously peeled from now until the end of May. From FLL (the lowercase "l"s were confusing to me!), I bet you can find under $700, maybe even under $600.

Best wishes,

Rex

Where the heck is FLL??? I have a request...can people please type cities instead of airport codes? For example, I fly from New Orleans...how many know that MSY=New Orleans? Some are obvious, many others are not!

Off my soapbox...I am finally starting to see fares drop a bit for September. I have my FF tickets, but others on the trip have to buy. I'm just going to keep watching the sales. Missed the Alitalia fare (actually, couldn't find anything great from New Orleans anyway!)

Anne

Anne-
FLL is Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Here's a website where you can find out about airport codes:
http://www.mapping.com/airportcodes.html

It is too early normally, but I also got in on that infamous Alitalia sale, going from NYC to Rome and back from Venice in mid September. Fares had been around 860, but dropped a couple of weekends ago to under 500. You just have to keep looking every day just in case they drop again--I have found that Orbitz generally has the best fares. Just keep checking, and when you find something you're comfortable with, grab it.

Gee, I thought EVERYBODY knew that "Moy-sey" Field (actually Moisant Field - - and I realize that nobody ever pronounced it that way - - I just remember it that way) was built on the site of the

Moisant
Stock
Yards

thus, giving those three initials to what is now New Orleans International Airport! (actually, its official name is the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, right?)

It is way to early to book right now.
The prices will go down a 2 to 3 months before your travel date. just keep checking. Try Orbitz.com to compare prices.

Generally sales hit 2 or 3 months before departure dates. But you need to keep your eyes peeled for special sales as you never know what might pop up earlier.

I too was fortunate enough to get my tickets during the Alitalia sale. A suggestion on this forum couple of weeks ago helped me with my search. Go to smarterliving.com - scroll down to the "Booking Buddy". You will need to input your dates, departing and arriving airports once. Then save that site to your favorites, and when you open that site you will have all the discount sites plus airlines right there. Just keep on checking and checking every day, sometimes 2 to 3 times a day. You will be able to see all the different deals these companies have to offer. We are going to Rome from Newark in May - and I purchased our tickets thru Orbitz - for $459. You should be able to do better than $900+. Good luck with your search.

I am still sad that I missed the Alitalia sale.

Helen: I don't see "Booking Buddy" on the smarterliving home page. There is "Booking Guide" -- is that what you mean? I'm a little confused by your instructions.

I also missed the sale. I checked that Sunday night and they gave me a price of 455.00 and when i went to book it-gone! Now they want on British Air 712.00 which is probably a good deal. I keep wanting the 455 since the euro is so bad. Im going in June from Boston so I think I will keep checking and see if I get lucky! I believe booking guide is booking buddy.

This is being rather philosophcal, but I think we actually want it that way. Lets say that on a particular route, on a particular date, a walk-up, fully refundable coach fare is $1400.

All of these numbers are arbitrarily made-up, and supposed to be representative, or based on actual facts or research.

5-10% of the seats go unsold at that (or any) price (I suspect) - - taking the year-round average. Lowering the $1400 to $1300 would not help to fill those seats if they have not already been sold by the day (or week) before.

10% of the travelers pay this $1400.

40% get some mildly discounted fare - - say $950 to $1399, because they agree to some condition - - purchase x days in advance, or stay over a Saturday night, or minimal refund privilege.

40% get more sharply discounted fares - - say, $700 to $950. They are "typical savvy Fodorites" and they agree to even more stringent restrictions: non-refundable, 21 days advance purchase, etc.

5% are flying free by virtue of FF or some other reason.

And 5% are flying at those very, very sharply discounted fares, maybe under $600; maybe under $300. Two of the five percent were just flat out lucky, stumbling into a good deal because they simply happened to look at the right time. The other three percent is oddly enough, a group of travelers that the airlines actually fight over - - they are so bargain-focused, impulsive, clever, checking all the time (or some combination), that it is either offer them these rock-bottom fares or lose their business altogether.

I think that "we" aspire to be in that tiny fraction, and that we want the fares "they" get to be really, really low, and (thus, as a corollary) inherently very, very limited.

It's a little bit like the lottery. Nobody much cares about those scratch off $1000 winners - - of which there are legions; it's the millions of dollars that somehow get attention and are even considered "worthwhile", to sell more lottery tickets (and fill those coffers for the schools, or whatever you believe they use the lottery profits for).

So, I don't cry over who missed what sale. It's part of keeping those sale fares - - those really, really low ones - - way down there, and thus, very limited.

Like you, I believe that I am capable of getting myself into that 3%.

Also, I don't think you will necessarily get a better pick of seats by booking early. There was a thread a few weeks ago about how some airlines will not assign seats until you check-in. I booked a March flight to London in November, and even though I was allowed to pick my seats when I booked on line, when I called to confirm I was told I don't have the seats I picked!

Message to Sera: Sorry that I wasn't that clear this morning - not enough coffee. Anyway, go to the smarterliving.com site; click on "Air" . On the left hand side there will be another menu - scroll to "Travel Tools" - then click on "Compare Fares". You will find your "Booking Buddy" there. Hope this works.

Helen