DC to Rome airfare - help!
 

I'm at the very early stages of planning a January trip from DC to Italy for me and my father. From all the reading I've done on this forum so far, it seems like we should be able to find a decent airfare for that time of year (I'm hoping for under $700, taxes included). However, I'm mostly finding fares in the $700-800+ range or with ghastly layovers (I'm looking at you, Delta), which seems high to me for January. The best I've found is on USAir for roughly $600 per person (DCA to PHL to FCO). If that's the best I can get, I'm happy to jump on it.

Here are the details:
* dates are somewhat flexible in the first two weeks of January 2007
* stay for 7-10 days
* visiting Rome and Florence, order is flexible
* any DC-area airport is okay

Any suggestions? Is USAir a reliable choice at this point? If so, how much time do you suggest between flights in Philadelphia?

Thanks!

I hope you have checked a variety of sites including aggregators such as Itasoftware and consolidators such as onetravel.com (although lately, I've found that individual airline sites are offering better fares in some cases than onetravel).

I'm sorry, but all the reading here is sometime speculation and based on previous experiences with airfares which aren't very valuable when you plug in a specific date as you undoubtedly have)....unless there is a sale then what you see is what you have to pay.

As to the Philadelphia connection...there have been horror stories galore here but in my own personal exprrience returning from Gatwick and also Paris, two-three hours was plenty of time but again, my previous experience may not be indicative of your own.

I just searched on kayak.com for IAD to FCO departing Jan 8 and returning Jan 18 with 2.5 hr layovers each way for $569. I wouldn't expect it to get much lower than that.

Alternately...do a search on kayak for multi-city trips. Found a ticket on Air France for travel to Rome on Jan 8 and return from Florence on Jan 18 for $652. If you're planning on seeing both cities, an open jaw/multi-city trip would be the easiest.

bean,

I'm in DC also. I strongly suggest you simply DRIVE to PHL airport - it's only a little over two hours from the intersection of I-95 and the Beltway. You can get a non-stop right now for as little as $599 - Tuesday departures(includes all taxes and fees). Thursday, Sat, or Sun departures are $624.

You actually SAVE time even though the airport is further because it's non-stop.

I've done the DC-PHL-Rome trip on USAir several times and there's no reason to avoid PHL now that they have improved international arrival operations (especially considering possible complications using JFK, London or Paris for connections). Allow atleast 2 hours between flights, though a shorter connection on the oubound trip will probably be fine. There are so many flights between DC and Phila that you can select those that have exactly the connection times you want. When my Rome-Phila flight was several hours late this winter, USAir gave me the boarding pass for a later PHL-DCA flight when I checked in at FCO.

As for fares, this year there was brief USAir sale in early Jan for Jan-Feb travel at just under $500. I had bought my ticket for Feb in Dec at about $550. I think for January travel, you'd be safe waiting to see what promotions are offered in the fall, but watch the Web and be ready to pounce when you see fare that's acceptable to you. And remember that fule prices are a lot higher this year.

Good idea, bardo, but returning to a car under a foot of snow is not something I'd want to risk. At other times of year, maybe, but not in snow season.

Thanks for all of the advice! I thought of taking Amtrak to Phila, but that's at least $100 and would be more of a hassle than it's worth. Driving is another idea - but I assume the cost of parking would outweigh any money saved on airfare. Will check on it, though.

<<Amtrak...would be more of a hassle than it's worth>>

You bet it would - you would have to take it all the way to downtown Philadelphia and then double back all the way to the airport by other means.

Hello,
Try airgorilla.com I just did a quick search from IAD to FCO on Jan 3- Jan 11 and it was 498.53. That's not a bad fare and if you are finding fares for 6 or 7 hundred, this could be the way to go.

As for between flight times, I try to do at least 1.5 hours. This gives me a chance to get to the gate, thru security, check in, get a bite to eat or drink..... I don't feel rushed that way.

Hope this helps, Donna

If $500 includes all fees and taxes, it is a great price, $500 plus taxes could put you in $700 territory. The fares I quoted above for USAir in Jan-Feb 2006 were inslucive of all fees and taxes.

I looked at airgorilla for 1/9-1/16 and found IAD to ROM for $74 less ...$424!!

After taxes/fees it's $690 :(