I'm contemplating a trip back to Italy. I can fly home out of Pisa or Milan for roughly the same price - except I can get a more convenient, later (13:25) flight departing from Pisa than from Milan, to the point where I may be able to train in from somewhere else besides Pisa before departing. (My itinerary is still in flux.)

Anything I should know about the Pisa airport? I know easyJet and budget airlines tend to fly out of there - is it a decent airport or a mob scene? (I'd be on Delta not easyJet though.) I could do Milan instead but it would be more challenging to make the (earlier) flight.

Go to Pisa...the runways work, it is a lot easier to reach directly than Malpensa, and it will never be as "mobbed" as Gatwick!!!

Pisa is an easy airport, at least it was a few years ago, the last time I flew from there.

Pisa is a lovely small airport, with its own train station.

I'm not sure Delta (PSA/JFK if that's the flight) runs that flight every day. You might want to ask on the airline board what days and if it's seasonal.

Well, Delta runs it for sure on the day I've been checking. Great Delta/NW fare to Italy from Portland: under $700 R/T in September (into Venice or Milan, out of Pisa). Very, very tempting...

Andrew, that's a great price. We're booked on Lufthansa in September from Orlando-Munich, then Frankfurt-Orlando, and we paid $801.

Pisa for sure--good flight time and direct to JFK--go for it.

MXP is an awful airport, big, unorderly (what do you expect in Italy) and far from the city center (it's about an hour by road). I haven't been to Pisa but the larger airports I have been to Italy are all in need of major imporvements.

I haven't booked anything yet - still in the planning stage (for me, this is EARLY for a Sep-Oct trip to Italy, LOL!). Unfortunately, the Pisa flight out in early October seems to have been nixed by Delta; somehow they changed the times a bit and now they won't sell a flight from PSA-JFK/JFK-PDX, I guess because the layover time isn't enough. Funny - both flights still go through like Oct 2 but then after that, the times change and no more connection, even though technically there is time between flights. But you have to go through customs, and it IS JFK...

So if I go, most likely I'll be flying out of MXP - bummer! I was sort of looking forward to flying out of Pisa.

I believe the Pisa flight has been seasonal in past years and only operates certain days of the week. You might be able to get it on a different date. Have you tried a return flight from FCO? I prefer departing there over MXP (easier to get to).

ITA lets you search within x amount of miles radius. You might find a deal by entering PSA and searching a mile radius. I've seen some good prices from BLQ.

Well, I don't want to depart out of FCO - I'm not planning to head down that far south.

I've spent considerable time in the last few weeks checking these flights. For several days the PSA-JFK/JFK-PDX option was there on Oct 4...then flight times changed and it was no longer available with that routing, even though the individual flights were still going, just at different times. Doesn't matter what day in October - it's just a Delta schedule change thing I'm pretty sure.

There's still a decent flight from MXP through JFK if I want it (leaves MXP at noon) so it doesn't ruin my plans exactly.

I've been searching Italy flights also (for Sept) and was surprised that some of my cheapest options are out of LIN which is easier to get to than MXP. You might try checking it also. I think it involved a change at CDG which you might not care for (I don't), but might have a good connection to PDX.

Thanks for the suggestion - but you're right, a change at CDG is not desirable. There are no direct flights from CDG to PDX. I'm really hoping to have only one connection. Ideal would be taking the Delta/NWA direct flight from AMS to PDX, though that requires catching a very early flight out of MXP to AMS!! Currently, that's the only remaining direct flight between PDX and Europe.

More likely, I'll take a connection through JFK or ATL on Delta, even if it makes for a longer day of flying.

Hello Andrew, you probably know, but just in case..

Here is the website for the Malpensa Shuttle bus that runs between the Milan Central Train Station and Malpensa. You could, if it works out with your itinerary, go to Milan the day before, it is an interesting and vibrant city and take the shuttle the next morning to Malpensa.

http://www.malpensashuttle.it/e-default.htm

I hope you can work out your trip to Italy!

What about overnighting in AMS? This, or the early flight would get my vote. And you could still fly from PSA.

Strike that. KLM doesn't fly from PSA, so you may not be able to fly PSA-AMS-PDX.

Odd. ITA which shows major airlines, not budget, shows no flights at all (not just Delta) for PSA on Oct. 11,12,13. Perhaps a strike?

I think there has been a glitch in the system of entering some of this flight info. ITA provides service for the airlines/booking engines similar to Sabre. It seems something hasn't been entered for those few dates for Oct. when you search PDX. You can search other cities with results.

Ah! Delta seems to have fixed whatever problem they had - the PSA-PDX via JFK is back! Whatever "glitch" it was, was there for several days.

Now I've actually got to go ahead and commit to it and book it, LOL!!!