Airfares from the US West Coast to Italy: Book now, or wait till fall?
Jul 27th, 2012, 12:01 PM
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Airfares from the US West Coast to Italy: Book now, or wait till fall?
I need an open-jaw ticket from Sacramento (or San Francisco) to Rome, in mid-November; returning home from Florence, in early December. I have price alerts set on ITA and Kayak (probably redundant!) and for the past three months, prices have ranged from $850 to $1,100. I keep hesitating at $850, thinking fares might go lower in the fall --and there are still a lot of available seats on the flights --but, I'm wondering what other travellers might recommend ... ?
Thanks for any insights.
Thanks for any insights.
Jul 27th, 2012, 02:00 PM
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I was also thinking that $850 was pretty good ... but ... I am literally looking at Kayak, this very minute, which is showing a price of $713, including tax, via the AA website. I would book this in a heartbeat, except there is only 65 minutes between arriving at LHR (AA flight) and leaving for FCO (BA flight). Madness!
Nah ... I'm going to book it, now! I think ... aargh, the pressure ...
Nah ... I'm going to book it, now! I think ... aargh, the pressure ...
Jul 27th, 2012, 02:58 PM
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I hope you booked the flight because that fare is amazingly low. Keep in mind, if you miss your connection in London then they will find the next flight for you. We fly SLC to CDG and the Florence 4 times a year. The connection at Paris is about an hour and we have only missed it once due to fog in Paris. The airline put us up overnight and we had a very relaxing night by the airport.
Jul 27th, 2012, 03:54 PM
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In my experience, I have found that if I do not book the airline tickets because I am waiting for the perfect price, then I can not do the rest of the planning and reservations -- because I simply do not know the dates.
Assuming you will be booking hotels/apartments, perhaps consider all the choices you will have available to you now rather then two months from now if you wait. You might spend that "possible" savings on higher priced accommodations - as the most desirable ones are booked. You might also feel sick if the price never comes down.
Assuming you will be booking hotels/apartments, perhaps consider all the choices you will have available to you now rather then two months from now if you wait. You might spend that "possible" savings on higher priced accommodations - as the most desirable ones are booked. You might also feel sick if the price never comes down.
Jul 28th, 2012, 09:34 AM
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Thanks for the virtual shove! I jumped on that moment, yesterday afternoon, when Kayak showed a great fare through American. I'm now the happy owner of tickets from Sacramento to Rome, then Pisa back to Sacto, for $714 each. This morning, the exact same flight is nearly $1,000.
Davispeets: point taken, but I had already booked apartments in Rome and Florence, so my dates were not flexible.
(Now, back to the train-or-car rental decision for getting a group of five from Rome to Ancona, and back to Florence!)
Davispeets: point taken, but I had already booked apartments in Rome and Florence, so my dates were not flexible.
(Now, back to the train-or-car rental decision for getting a group of five from Rome to Ancona, and back to Florence!)
Jul 28th, 2012, 01:17 PM
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Wonderful! You must have been over the moon when you saw $1,000 this morning. If you go the car rental route - check out Kemwel. I booked yesterday after a tip from Zoecat - it was less expensive than Autoeurope with no deductible.
