judilie

I would lke to use miles for a flight within Italy. I first called Delta, which partners with Alitalia, but they didn't have any seats available for Sky Miles on the flight I want. I then called Alitalia, which has seats available for miles through their program, but cannot accept SkyMiles directly. They said I had to convert the SkyMiles to Alitalia miles. I then called Delta again and they said they don't make that conversion. They suggested I check points. com, which I did, but their trade and transfer programs do not include Alitalia.

I've checked the seating chart for the flight I have in mind and there are many available seats. Any suggestions of how I might be able to get two of those s seat for miles (Delta, UA, or USAir)?

Thanks.

kybourbon

I think you should be able to find the flight (get the info from Alitalia) and have Delta book it with your Skymiles. Delta's ff search function is terrible. Here's some threads with info how to book. First you need to join Air France Flying Blue program as their search function will show flights (including Alitalia) that Delta's doesn't. You don't need to use or earn miles on AFFB as you are just going to use it for search purposes. You should be able to book the flight calling a Delta agent and I don't think there should be a charge for them booking a flight that you aren't able to book on the website.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/skyte...-alitalia.html

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...-work-for-you/

judilie

Thank you very much, kybourbon, for the suggestions. I joined the Air France Flying Blue program, and checked the website and saw that seats were available with AF miles. I called Delta today and they were able to give me seats on the flight I wanted. There are two catches: (1) You must book a round trip (I originally had in mind one way, but round trip will be OK). (2) The taxes are $224. If I were the buy two RT tickets, cost would be $656. Taxes would be considerably less if I were able to use Alitalia or Air France miles, but apparently there isn't any way to convert SkyMiles to those miles. Is there any way to reduce the taxes?

I am having Delta hold the reservation, but am probably going to go with it. I rarely use my Delta miles, so might as well use them for this. If we don't fly from Rome to Bologna, we would need to spend the night in Rome and pay for train tix from the airport to downtown and from Rome to Bologna (and hassle with luggage) or rent a car, spend the night, and then drive to Bologna, whereas we have free lodging in Bologna. The costs of the various options are about the same, but we could avoid the hassle associated with luggage, etc., if we fly and also would get back to Rome expeditiously. (We will have nearly a week after that for sightseeing -- planning to go to Naples and the Amalfi Coast area -- and will be in Bologna for 4 weeks and will have time for excursions from there.)

kybourbon

I think the consensus on Flyertalk is it's better use of miles for international flights only (they tend to talk about cost per mile).

Many people would book one of the budget airlines for flights withing Europe.

For Rome to Bologna, it would be cheaper to train. I would forget the flight and train. Regular walk-u[ price for the fast train from Rome to Bologna is only 55€ and travel time is 2:17. The train from the airport to Rome Termini train station is 14€ or you can take the shuttle bus for 4-6€. Last fast train from Rome to Bologna without connections leaves Rome at 8:15 pm.

kybourbon

For budget flights:
www.skyscanner.com
www.whichbudget.com

Don't book a flight with Windjet if still listed as they are going out of business.

If you decide to book a budget flight, be sure to check baggage rules and check-in times as they are a bit stricter than full service airlines.

I don't know where you are searching flight prices, but a random date in Sept. shows an Alitalia non-stop one-way for $118 (doesn't include baggage fees).

judilie

Thanks again, kybourbon.

We are scheduled to arrive in Rome at 6:15 pm on Sat., Sept. 15, so it would be too late to catch the last fast train (which, it appears, departs from Termini at 7:45 pm that day). Hence we’d need to spend the night in Rome.

If we fly from Rome to Bologna, we would take the Alitalia flight that leaves at 9:25 pm on Sept. 15. That flight is more expensive than earlier flights that day or flights on some other days. I checked www.skyscanner.com and www.whichbudget.com and didn’t see any less expensive options than the $212 per person I’d already found for one-way FCO-BLQ given the date and time we’d have in mind.

I’ve been considering three options: (1) Flying from Rome to Bologna the evening of Sept. 15; (2) staying in Rome that night (probably near the central train station) and taking the train to Bologna the next day; and (3) renting a car at the airport, staying near the airport (or somewhere on the way to Bologna), and driving to Bologna the next day. Costwise, these are about the same. Option (1) has the advantage that it would get us to Bologna (where we have free lodging) the soonest and we could sleep in the next day and get oriented. Option (2) would entail lugging luggage on trains. Option (3) would provide some limited opportunities for sightseeing, but given the time change (we are beginning our journey in Los Angeles), we probably are not going to get up early on Sept. 16. I recognize that Option (1) entails using SkyMiles, but I’m not sure I’d be doing much with those anyway. And it would include a flight back to FCO, where we could rent a car and begin our journey to Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

I made an earlier posting asking for advice between Options (2) and (3), but that was before I thought of Option (1).