Hi everyone, my first time on this board, was hanging out on the Asia board before, but need to start planning for our first European trip next May. Will be spending two weeks in Italy. We're flying from Western Canada to Rome, and I don't have any prices yet for May 2005, but found some prices for Oct 2004 just to get an idea. It seems there is about C$800 difference between flying to London vs flying to Rome. And since our flight to Rome will probably connect in London anyway, I thought to make a few day stopover out of it. If this is the case, should we try flying to Rome from London on Ryanair to save some $? I did read the horror stories.

Generally, airline computer systems will allow you to purchase tickets 330 days prior to the departure date which means you should be able to get some better price ideas fairly soon.

My only suggestion re using a low-cost carrier from London, or anywhere else, onward, is to be aware of bagge weight restrictions which are in effect and often very rigidly enforced.

The price you pay to London is going to be based on the amount of competition your airline has on that route (or in the "market" as the airlines like to call it). The less competition, the higher the prices.

I think if you are going to stopover in London anyway you should definitely check out low-cost alternatives for the remaining segment(s). You can also check on low cost carriers at the website whichbudget.com.

Have a great trip.

Yes, there really is a huge difference in price between Western Canada - London vs. Western Canada - Rome. I have looked at this a lot.

EasyJet is also a good option for flying to Rome. Even BA to Rome is likely to be cheaper than paying for a single ticket.

If you want to go to Venice (why not), note that you can get a pretty cheap BMI flight from Heathrow. You can also get a cheap flight on BMI from Heathrow to Milan. Not to mention Amsterdam also.

Just allow plenty of time, like at least an overnight for the connections. One exception might be if you arrive early in the morning at Heathrow and your BMI flight departs in the afternoon.

My wife and I are traveling to Italy next week. From PDX to any city in Italy was very expensive. We bought tickets to LHR on Air Canada via Vancouver on one ticket. I then bought tickets from LHR to Milan on Alitalia. We saved $750 total doing this. We have a 4 hour layover in London on the way there, and a 7 day layover on the way home. The only mystery to me is, will Air Canada check my luggage all the way through?

thank you for all your replies, I will definitely consider purchasing the segments separately, I should be able to save a lot. Of course the only thing is the hassle factor and whether we want to bother, especially on the return trip when we may have more luggage. Ryanblonien, do you mind telling me how much your flights cost? Will you let me know how your connections all work out after you get back? I would really appreciate that. Hope you have a great trip.

Forgot to post one other question. Will this work if we want open jaw? Into Rome and Out of Venice, or vice versa?

Weirdly enough, Air Canada usually or at least often charges less for SEA-LHR and LAX-LHR (and probably PDX-LHR) than it does for YVR-LHR, even though all of those have a YVR-LHR leg. Just one of those oddities of airfares.

I've never heard of BMI before, and was reading up on some of the older posts on it. People have mentioned flying from LHR to Rome, does BMI not fly to Rome anymore?

So far as I can see from their web site, BMI doesn't fly to Rome.

Have you checked out any of the charter services out of Toronto? I know that Alba tours uses Skyservice and has open jaw charters for as little as 749CAD. You could maybe get a cheap West Jet flight to Toronto to connect. I am trying Skyservice this fall and we got open jaw for 849 CAD from Toronto (flying into Pescara and out of Rome) as opposed to Alitalia at 1300 CAD

Mitmap, I bought my tickets in late January, and paid about $1300 for two tickets with taxes, fees, and bribes included.

I also bought tickets the way you did. I am flying from San Francisco to Rome. But I am flying Air Canada through Vancouver to London, then Alitalia to Rome on a seperate ticket. I paid $515 (US) for the AC ticket and $175 (US) for the Alitalia ticket. I saved $1500 on 4 tickets for my family.
I had the same the question about checking the luggage all the way through, but no one has answered your question. Do we have to clear customs with our bags in London, then re-check everything in at the other terminal at Heathrow? I have allowed 4 hours between flights because I was worried about this. Any one know the drill on this?

Have any of you folks tried justfares.com?

Thanks cruzingypsy, I'll take a look at Skyservice. And ryanblonien, I can't believe you paid so little for your tickets. I was checking Air Canada prices from Calgary to LHR, it's about CAD$1000 per person. I'll never understand how you can travel cheaper from US on Air Canada than flying from Canada! Thanks for all the tips so far, I'll just have to be creative.

bookchick, I don't believe justfares.com has any fares originating from Canada. But I could be wrong.

Mitmap, you can often get great deals from Calgary with these sites:

http://www.flyzoom.com (to London or Glasgow) - scheduled service
http://www.canadianaffair.com (to London or Glasgow) - these are Thomas Cook flights
http://www.airtransat.com (I believe you can go to London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, or Frankfurt)

Note you can get low-cost fares to Italy from Amsterdam also. You can also do open-jaw flights with these.

This year I did get cheaper fares on Air Canada from YVR to London than through one of these, but that was a fluke. I've saved many hundreds of dollars with Air Transat previously.

WillTravel, thanks for all your great sites, I'll take a look at them. I was also on the BA website, it seems they charge more for a Vancouver to Rome ticket, connecting in LHR; than two separate segments Vancouver to LHR, then LHR to Rome. Why is this?

I'm not sure of all of the airlines' reasons, but one thing to keep in mind is that BA is guaranteeing a one-ticket itinerary all the way through. So if for some reason you didn't make the Rome segment, they would have to get you on the next plane. If you have two separate tickets on BA, then BA is not responsible if you show up late for the Rome segment (or on the return, the London segment).

Nonetheless, I've seen such fares cost as much as $1000 or so more than the two-ticket method, and that extra assurance is not worth the extra cost to me.

I also noticed that a lot of the low-cost tips are for charter flights which are usually only available from Jun to Sep. I had originally planned to travel in May because it's not the high season summer month. Now I'm wondering if I should go in June instead because of more flight options?

Flyzoom and CanadianAffair have cheaper prices in May, or at least they did this year. I wasn't able to go then, though.