Jill

Hi everyone:<BR><BR>I am in the early planning stages for a trip to Europe in September of next year and have a couple of questions for all you travel pros! <BR><BR>1) How much can I expect to pay for an open-jaw (into London, out of Rome) from a major city (Dallas) coach airline ticket? My budget is $600-$700. Is this realistic?<BR><BR>2) When should I start reserving hotel rooms for this trip? I have heard/read everything from 9 months to 2 weeks. The hotels I'm interested in tend to be smaller, budget-type places with few rooms and I'm assuming they will book up pretty early. Would it be inappropriate to start booking in Jan/Feb? I'm going with several of my college friends and we'd like to stay in the same place and thought it would be easier to get several rooms together if we book early. Is this the right idea? The cities we'll be booking hotel rooms in are London, Paris, and Venice (staying with friends in Rome and Amsterdam).<BR><BR>That's it for now!<BR><BR>Thanks!<BR>Jill

Mina

Hi Jill:<BR><BR>I went to Europe two Septembers ago. From LAX to London, back home from Paris. My ticket, through a consolidator (Save On Travel) was $514 on Virgin/Continental. If you look hard, you might find something in your price range, although my guess would be it would be more expensive coming out of Rome instead of Paris like I did.<BR><BR>I booked my hotels 6 months in advance, and reconfirmed a couple weeks before. I was looking into popular hotels, so that's why I booked so far in advance. I think booking months ahead is probably a wise choice in your situation. Good budget choices fill up fast.<BR><BR>Hope that helps a bit.

Kate

Hi Jill I used to work for American Airlines. There are many things that can affect the price of a ticket A) the fare in that particular market (Dallas is an expensive market by the way) B) Availability - the fares may be there but sold out for a particular flight that you are looking at. C) Time of year you are traveling..September is shoulder season so it will not necessarily be the cheapest..but definitely cheaper than the summer. <BR>On an open-jaw you are taking the average of two markets. DFW-LGW (Dallas Ft. Worth - London Gatwick) and FCO-DFW (Rome to Dallas Ft. Worth). So for example if you find a fare of $500.00 from DFW-LGW and then you find one from DFW-FCo for $600.00. Your fare will be $550.00 before taxes. That is provided that you are using the same fare basis in both markets. Consolidators can be a good deal but read the fine print. If you have to change your ticket you will be referred back to your agent. Most consolidator tickets you cannot call the airlines as they are considered Non-published fares. Please be careful there are some great deals out there. Try to determine what your risk is. I cannot emphasize enough to read and ask what the rules of your ticket are. I used to get phone calls all the time as a res agent from people wanting to change tickets due to emergency or because of other reasons. Make sure you can live with the ters. Okay I'll get off my soapbox.<BR>As far as getting your hotel room I would book as early as you are able to and know that your schedule and dates are firm. <BR>I wish you the best of luck and hope your planning goes well.

Mina

I agree with Kate on consolidators. I had no problem with Save On Travel, and found their service great. However, if something went wrong, I don't know how they would have done. I try to book through my travel agent when I can (because she goes out of her way to help me when something goes wrong, and I use her a lot for my business travel.)<BR><BR>But consolidators really do have some great deals.

Rex

It is harder and harder to consistently find good fares in September - - and harder still to predict when and why good fares might exist from Phoenix but not Dallas, or Detroit but not Cleveland, or Atlanta but not Orlando. you get my drift.<BR><BR>I think you have a shot at finding under $700 from Dallas, but you should be prepared to take in/out of London (only) if you find the price you seek. Cheap fares are available between Italy and London.<BR><BR>I would recommend starting the hotel seaarch process in January. One advantage of an early start is that you have time to ask for brochures in the mail. Not every good hotel has a good internet presence - - and there is still something to be learned from printed brochures. For one thing, it can tell you about their eagerness to earn your business. And not every hotel with a &quot;good&quot; Internet presence can come across well in a request for a brpochure. Still, i think a round of fax communication (or e-mail, in some cases) can tell you a certain amount about how the hotel will treat you in person.<BR><BR>Last of all, stay abreast of developments in other low-cost intra-Europe air travel (i.e., not just UK-Italy). It might affect your overall itinerary planning. France-Italy seems to be finally making it to the front burner for low cost possibilities.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

elaine

Jill<BR>Some hotels will take reservations up to a year in advance and will be filled up shortly after the reservation book opens up, so it's never to early to inquire. Others may tell you, for example, that they don't take reservations for 2003 until after the first of the year. In that case, call/email on the second. This is especially true for budget-minded places; there are few secret gems these days due to the internet. It's never inappropriate to inquire; Sept is still a very popular month for travel which is why in Sept you will still find relatively high air fares unless you luck into something. It would be worth having a travel agent trying to get you all the best deal on the air. Do the hotel legwork yourself.<BR><BR>I have files on London, Paris, Rome and Venice; if you'd like to see any or all of them, email me.<BR>Good luck.

Jill

Many thanks to everyone for their very helpful replies! =0)<BR><BR>Jill