How soon do I need to book for Italy?
 

We are going to Positano and Capri in mid-May 2008.

How soon should I book our flights?

I just started a new job not long ago, and didn't want to be asking yet for vacation approval for NEXT year, so don't want to book yet in case the dates don't work with them.

However, if it is going to get more expensive the longer I wait, I will ask them if I can put it for it now.

I think we have decided to fly Alitalia.

I just booked for January, this afternoon. In two weeks the same flight has gone up 140 dollars per ticket. This morning at 7:30 AM it was $110 less than at 5:10 PM.

I think I would ask my employer now, and tell them why.

I'd talk to your boss, explain the situation, and if they so OK, I'd start booking. 6-7 months is NOT too early. I could not get a couple hotels in Sept/Oct this year and I tried booking them in December and January!
Most people like to have as early a notification as possible for someone's vacation.
Italy fills up fast. Not that you won't be able to make reservations, but you might not get the hotel you want on the nights you want.

We are going to Italy in March. Originally I was planning to start looking for flights in early November. However, I happened to be checking kayak in mid-October, and noticed a Boston-Rome fare for $558 (including favorable departure times going and returning, as well as a good layover city - Amsterdam).

It might be a bit early to find spring sales, but I would start looking anyway.

I guess I'm less picky about hotels and a different kind of traveler than many here...but I didn't start planning my October (last month) trip to Italy until mid-September. I managed to get decent hotels - none of them disappointed me. I booked my airfare less than two weeks before departure. I usually book these things last minute and it has worked pretty well for me. I'm self-employed so not as worried about getting time off work...

We already have our hotels booked - figured we could change those easy enough if we have to.

The flights are more complicated.

I think I will take the suggestion and ask my employer if I can put in the time now. Will also prevent me not being able to go because someone else asked for those weeks.

Where are you flying from? I am asking because we are planning a trip for late April and out of JFK it looks like the best connections, and prices, are on Iberia through Madrid, connecting to Naples. I am seeing fares of about $900 this week. We have not booked yet but your post reminded me that I should think about doing so soon.

I have to disagree here...$900 is not a great fare at all for Spring ouot of JFK.

I don't think I have EVER booked flights more than a month or so in advance...a good deal always comes a long (but I can be rather flexible with dates a day or so on either side).

The most I have ever paid NY-Rome was about $625 (with taxes and fees) and that was last AUG.

That said...I spend a LOT of time on the computer trying to find good flights before I travel :-) And, to be fair, the flight was not direct - I changed in Amsterdam. I am not picky at all about which airline I fly either - I just book the cheapest...KLM is actually my favorite, BTW...AirCanada was the worst...Alitalia and Continental rank somewhere in the middle for me - I wouldn't go out of my way or pay more for any of them...except to go direct...but, I assume you are going into Naples and EuroFly is the only direct anyway.

so...bottom line...I think you should relax...and wiat until you are more shure and then just start searching for a great flight and be prepered to GRAB it as soon as you see it :-)

Good luck!

I never said the Iberia fare was a great fare! I wrote that it was about the best I could find for myself right now. I will not make more than one change on a flight to Europe and I will not wait around an airport for 6 hours to make a connection. But that is me..

I would love to learn the details of the $625 August flight to Rome from JFK.. I would not rule out KLM, or any other airline, although having just flown KLM from JFK to AMS and on to CPT, they do not rank at the top of my list!

We are flying out of Boston and want no more than one stop.

We are flying to Rome from Boston in March. I look for the following as optimal: no more than one stop; adequate but not excessive layovers; reasonable departure time going home to avoid getting up too early on the last day of the trip. Also, some airlines seem to have better reputations than others. Finally, the layover airport can be important. Amsterdam, Zurich, Munich and Vienna are probably the best airports for layovers and transfers. Each of these airports has average transfer times of less than one hour, compared to two hours+ at Paris CDG. I prefer buying tickets directly from the airline to avoid potential service problems with a middleman. Given all these criteria, I decided that I really wanted to fly on Northwest for this trip.

I used ITA software as recommended on this forum :-) (THANKS!)

just kept checking until I found a flight with a price I could take! (I fly over often and with a family - can get expensive!!)

I agree about not having crazy layovers, etc. - not worth the few dollars saved! Obviously, I would LOVE to fly direct all the time! but...in August anyway, direct flights were not going any cheaper than $1200 :-( so worth one connection in my case. (and return time was big for us too...needed to be in the afternoon as we were not staying in Rome and needed to do a fairly long drive and return the car, etc.)

Anyway...I'm going on and on here...sorry...my point anyway...is don't' freak out...fares chance prices all the time...by the hour even, so if you don't see something working for you, keep looking :-)! I actually bought those tickets around midnight...by morning, they'd gone up a few hundred dollars each! - so jump when you see a great deal.

What is ITA software?

I also like to buy direct from the airline.

Do you find better deals calling or booking online with the airlines?

Thanks for the clarification, Casa.

Wanderer, you should check both by web and by phone. Also make certain to check on both airlines if they are code-sharing a flight. For example, I once called Delta for a flight JFK-Rome and was told $1100; Alitalia sold me the seat for about $800. Mind you, it was the SAME flight, a code-share between the 2 carriers.

I am no expert on getting the cheapest fare because, as I said, I always fly direct if possible. And I always want the miles, which I am not sure if you can obtain by using some of the cheapest fares...But many people here use these, and others:

www.kayak.com
www.itasoftware.com
www.orbitz.com

There are many other sites.

I prefer to book directly with the airline, either by phone or on the airline web site. But that is my own quirk..(I have never used a third-party site to book a hotel, either)

this was the first time I used the ITA software link I found on this board :-) -

I kept checking...saw the fare...called KLM/Northwest to book...and it was almost $600 per ticket MORE direct from the airlines!!

frantically posted on Fodors again at about midnight I think ;-) hoping I didn't have to go through a travel agent to get that fare...and got a response right away (love this board!!) to check Travelocity...and...sure enough, thats where I was able to book the fare. (I'd been checking Travelociy days before...but this fare just popped up one evening and I would have missed it without ITA)

I also always am checking travelzoo.com and sidestep.com and the airlines direct sites... and anywhere else I find!! :-) We have a vacation home and I like to visit it as often as possible! :-) I usually fly NY-Rome though, so that's a fairly easy route to find. (but the time I change plans to fly into Naples, I can be there by car if I pick one up in Rome)

Thanks! A good point about the car, too. I would much prefer to fly Alitalia (or Delta) from NY to Rome or Milan (for the points on Flying Blue) but the connections I am seeing for Naples are horrible. Maybe I am missing something. How long do you think it would take me to drive from Rome airport to Amalfi and it is a fairly straightforward drive (coming off the overnight flight and all...)???

Then I would have the return to deal with..have to look again at the Alitalia connection from Naples to Rome and then to NYC..

Many thanks!!

yup - I don't bother flying into Naples unles the price is the same...takes me about 1 1/2 to drive to my house from the airport....takes me 3 1/2 hours from Rome...so...by the time I connect in Rome, I get there faster by driving :-)

The drive is VERY easy....until you get to the Amalfi Coast...and then, I must say...it is difficult if you have not slept (we've done it to Positano...but it was difficult and we needed lots of coffee!) Usually, we stay a night ouside of Rome, have a nice dinner in town and a good night sleep, and then drive down...but...that gives me a good excuse to spend the evening in Rome too :-)

I think driving out of the Rome airport is easier then Naples...car rentals (for automatics anyway) are much cheaper in Rome...now...all that said...this is only good if you were planning on getting a car anyway...

if I were only going to Amalfi and the Coast, I wouldn't bother with a car...too stressful...you could still fly into Rome though and either take the train or the direct bus to Sorrento and than transfer to the SITA bus if the rome flights and times/prices work well.

CC: Am I understanding correctly that I can get a bus to Sorrento from the Rome Airport? (I am sure I should know this already as I am sure Steve James has mentioned it in his excellent posts...so forgive me for asking again..)

The issue might be (and I have not checked all the flights yet) getting from Naples back to Rome airport in time for the JFK-bound flight going home..this would be on a Sunday , if that makes any difference...

Spending a night in Rome on either end makes lots of sense, but on this trip we only have from Saturday to the next Sunday, so only a week and that will not be changed.

ok...I haven't done it by bus...so double check (!) but...

I think the direct bus departs only from the Rome Tiburtina Station (you can take the train from/to the airport)

If I recall, the bus leaves Sorrento at 6 am, arriving at Rome Tiburtina Station at 9:45am - so you couldn't make a really early flight- but a late afternoon one would work.


The Marozzi bus website is:
www.marozzivt.it

Thanks, CC..Going back we would be departing from Naples city to the Rome airport..any ideas on that one, if you have the time for this? Many thanks!