I have been searching for months for tickets for a group of 12 going to Rome in October. Today I was in the process of booking half of the tickets at $947 with two nights in a hotel in Rome included when suddenly the price increased by $400 before I could finalize.
Is this just a come on or do you know what happened?
Is anyone having luck finding tickets for less than $1000.

Well,where are you coming from? As you might imagine, that could make a world of difference. Are you flying from the USA? East Coast? West Coast? Some obscure airport in the Midwest? Australia? India? Ireland? Latvia?

Assuming it's somewhere in the USA, I would imagine you could get that fare down to about $800 no matter where you're flying from, but add in taxes and fees and you're up to $1,000 generally. It also depends on what time of year you're traveling. So you really haven't provided enough information for anyone to answer you with any authority.

Also, as you were advised in earlier posts, almost every airline will give a group rate for 8 people or more.

Poster says in their head that they are flying from DC and also states they are going in Oct. $1000 seems high off season and from the east coast.

Oh. I'm from DC too and would never pay that price, given what I've seen online recently, especially for a group rate, which I think they could get.Air France has been sending me fares of about $300 each way to Italy for the past couple of months, for example, from DC to various Italian cities.

jan, I hope you are able to find some kind of discount for a group out of Dulles. I've been watching tickets BWI/DC to Rome since October for our May trip and haven't seen any downward movement in the price. We booked last month for $980 per ticket--the most I've ever paid for a trip to Europe out of BWI.

Hopefully, October is more of a shoulder month so one would think airfare should be less at that time. Good luck, Deborah

Im holding out for this summer, I dont believe they have sold many tix at these prices. So if you are hunting for Oct, I would definately wait. You should see sub 800 for sure...maybe sub 600

Have St Cirq book your tickets at the $300 each way fare!!!!

I just looked at the month-long view for October Washington area airports to Rome...
the low price was around $800 and the high was $959 if you book NOW.

No indication as to how much reduction for a group but there may be one available.

Meant to say using www.itasoftware.com

Thanks for the tips. I have talked to a group spokesperson but she said there are no discounts for groups because the airlines have cut back on flights. I will try speaking to others but I don't think I have the guts to wait until summer to book for this highly anticipated family adventure.
Well, I'm snowed in for the weekend so at least I have lots of time...thanks everyone

1. You probably need a Travel Agent. Because what you need to know is HOW many seats are left at a given level. And most of us can't see that.

2. I think you are too early for October. Take your hands off the keyboard. It will probably go down between now and then. I don't think it's going to go up more and your family will probably whine more when they discovered they overpaid!

3. The reason your "jump" may have occured is the 12 issue. If they have 6 seats at the low fare and you ask for 12, they just send you to the next "option" that has 12 seats. They don't tell you "you can only have 6 seats at that price" (see #1`)

Thanks! I think I should try an agent again...I gave all my info to an agent over a month ago but she never go back to me.

I have worked in the past with a very good agent at Fare Deals in Owings, MD. It's a consolidator and they can sometimes get me better rates than I can myself (not always). I imagine with a group that big you might do better with an agent of some kind. You might consider splitting the group up on two flights, too.

I also would wait, though. Fares are probably going to come down for October travel.

OK, I guess I was stressing and maybe need to just take it slow for awhile. And I will try the Fare Deals folks, do you have a website?

janinva: you wrote "Thanks for the tips. I have talked to a group spokesperson but she said there are no discounts for groups because the airlines have cut back on flights."

How the heck is she a "group spokesperson" if there are no discounts for groups? What's her job? Which airline?

I might get on the phone with each airline, and hope for an intelligent agent who can see how many seats you can get at which fares.

Are you committed to certain dates?

One issue with a group is that often, if there are cheap tickets, there are only 1 or 2 of these available per flight. So while 1 person might be able to get a great deal, the odds of 8 people getting the same great deal is much lower. Like mentioned above, this may indeed be one case where a travel agent can help, as he or she could say, there is 1 ticket available at the lowest price, 2 at the next lowest, etc.

She was a representative of Expedia and I had to call because you cannot book that many seats over the internet. She told me that she could see whether there were enough seats on the flight I wanted for all of us but that there were no discounts for having our size group. When I told her the exact flight and even a hotel for a package deal that I liked as we talked she said the package price had gone up over $400. I don't get it!

FWIW, I book direct on United to FCO from IAD for $750 last July for trip on November 2. That didn't any hotel rooms as you noted you were able to do in your original post.

If you want a group rate you have to contact the airline group desk. Each airline website has group contact info.

http://www.delta.com/planning_reserv...ales/index.jsp

http://www.aa.com/i18n/businessProgr...horEvent=false