Hi all,
I know that no one has a crystal ball, but.....
I am wondering how much longer I should wait for our group of 10 to purchase tickets to italy for May 20-31 2010. I have been monitoring and looking at fares for months that never seem to move, they are always $1100 -1300 for ORD - VCE and ROM -ORD.
I have contacted some of the airlines for group fares and they come back with the same pricing.
I was hoping that the fares would drop soon, as most sales are good for now through May 15. I am not expecting much, just a $800-900, a below $1000 would just sit better with me.
When would you give up and pull the trigger?
All of the other plans are set, but the airfare is the only piece left.
Thanks.

I wish there was historical data that would help with predicting airfare prices but I haven't found anything yet that works!!

I received a notice today on Kayak that the airfare I've been watching Baltimore to Rome dropped by $50 with Delta. Have you also looked at the number of seats available on the flights you would consider? You might check with Delta to see if there is a price drop out of Chicago.

We are flying in and out of Rome May 10-30 but bought our tickets in early January at a not great price. My sister who is flying out of Chicago saw cheaper fares back in November than when she bought in January and there hasn't been much movement up or down since early January. She paid about $1100 a ticket.

I'm still watching the fares for my flight as a matter of gathering information for future purchases. Not that what airfares do this year will help as all for next year!!

If the seats available are disappearing you might need to buy sooner rather than later. I completely understand your hesitation. I guess it will take a few trips to Europe before we all adjust to the higher priced airfares Good luck, Deborah

Check on how full the flights are and decide accordingly. Prices will move based on how full the flight is. If the flights are pretty full, the chance that the price will drop is not good. You also want to make sure there are 10 seats left for you. You can look at "View Seats" on the airline website.

Thanks,
good advice on checking how full the seats are.
I think I may just have to pull the trigger the first part of March. I have usually gone to Europe Feb - April so I have never paid over $600!! so over $1000 takes a bit to get used to.

olympic--I guess these prices may be our "new normal". We have traveled to Europe in May the past 10 years and this year our tickets are about $200-300 more per ticket. OUCH Deborah

Hi - when my sister and I went to Italy, I found cheaper prices - $200 less - into Milan when I accessed the airline site through my sign-up with airlines for special deals. I get notices from several airlines and find my airfares are always better when I access the site thru them. I traveled US Airways to Milan at $800 in July. Don't know if that holds true with all airlines, but I'm a USAirways regular and get good prices thru their e-saver messages wherever I'm going.

I have a couple suggestions:

1) Make sure you sign up for email from all the airlines that fly to Europe (A/A, Delta, USAirways, British Air, Air France, Lufthansa, etc).

2) Consider going in/out of Milan, Venice, Pisa, etc. Look for those tickets and see what kind of fares you can get.

3) Have you tried Priceline or Hotwire?

4) Have you checked flying out of Milwaukee? Rockford? Midway? Might be less expensive, maybe not. But worth a look, yes?

Good luck!

Hi,
Thanks for all the advice. Yes I have signed up for emails from several sources. I am just waiting, hoping that there will be a dip. I also have several from my group watching also. In 2006 I flew into Milan to attend the Torino Olympics and caught a great fare that lasted a day...I am crossing my fingers for the same situation.
Thanks
Rich

Try www.flycheapabroad.com. Right now they have a BOS-FCO (non-stop) with Venice-Bos return in the $750 range for May 10-21. They may show something cheaper than what you've been finding for Chicago. I've been checking prices since the fall and find their fares consistently lower than other sites.

You would most likely have to call to book 10 tickets.

You should contact the group reservations for the various airlines. Each has a group link/contact on their websites. Some require at least 8 people traveling together while others require 10.
http://www.delta.com/planning_reserv...ales/index.jsp