Planning trip to Italy and my first move is always to lock in airfare. I know its a gamble to book early and miss last minute sales, but I don't want to risk increases either... Prefer nonstop flights (mainly because I'm afraid of luggage mishaps as has happened to several friends recently). Best fare I can find is about $1200...

Should I book it or wait a while?
(Traveling late May, early June, dates slightly flexible but can't leave before May 20)

I've always traveled to Europe in the fall and usually waited until a month out or less to book my airfare, and I've never felt like I should have booked earlier. Sometimes I've gotten really good deals, nice last minute specials. Traveling in May or June might be different, but I'm still guessing better fares than we have now may come about at some point. It would still be way too early for me to book airfares personally - everyone has a different way to travel.

Whether a few hundred bucks give or take is a significant part of your travel budget depends also on how many are traveling with you (solo? family of 4?). For a family a $200 airfare increase really adds of of course, whereas for a solo traveler hotel costs may wind up costing more than the airfare, as was the case for me on my recent trip to Italy. So an extra $200 in airfare wouldn't have been such a big deal.

I wouldn't book before seeing the mid/late January sales. Now is definitely too far out for lowest fares.

I always book well in advance, like you. I am nervous about flying and need to have that assurance. We have taken several international trips in June, and I suggest you book your airfare by December. Get into the habit of checking the airfare daily if you can, and follow it. Sometimes there is a temporary lowering of prices at odd times, such as midnight, which you can catch if you're a night-owl.

The oddest sale I ever found was a discounted airfare for Costa Rica, which I had been following daily for a month or so. At about 20 minutes before midnight on New Year's eve, or perhaps it was Christmas eve, the fare was suddenly much lower and I snatched it up!

Good luck.

What city are you departing from? What city do you want to go to? Do you want an open-jaw or return ticket, and how long is your trip?

I think the main problem is that if you want to have nonstop flights, you will pay through the nose for the privilege. Consider taking only carry-on luggage, or accept the small percentage chance of having temporarily mislaid luggage, or the very small percentage chance of having your luggage lost for good. If there are sales between now and when you leave, they are unlikely to be for nonstops.

If it was me, leaving from US east coast, I'd wait until Jan/Feb to see how fares behave. But I'd be looking now to understand what is currently 'normal'.

We went to Italy (in Rome, out Venice) in Sept, and I bought those fares around May for $980 - but typically, flights are $1000-1200.

We're going to Holland in April. Normal fares are in the $900's, but for 3 days or so, US Airways had some fares for $547. So... that's what I bought, 6 mos. in advance. You just need to be prepared.

I didn't see too many sales last year except to London and Dublin at the end of May. Most U.S. airlines flew their planes half empty instead of lowering their prices.

If you're going to Northern Italy, check out flight to/from Zurich. This past May we got a $650 nonstop from Newark, rented a car in Zurich (a lot cheaper than renting in Italy since I could refuse the CDW and use my Plat M/C).

Overall, I saved big bucks vs. flying into Milan. The 2 hour drive south was well worth the money.

This is too early to book a $1200 ticket. I would think you could get a cheaper flight and, more importantly, would be shocked if you had to pay substantially more.

Also, as others have mentioned, a connection really isn't the end of the world and you could pay a premium for that nonstop. And if your concern is lost luggage, I wouldn't say that a non-stop will save you. In the past year, my wife or I have had bags mishandled on 6 separate occasions (1x KLM, 1x SAS, 2x BA, 2x Northwest) Two of those were non-stop flights.

Thanks for your help. More details--leaving from NY area and flying into Rome and out of Milan.

Going for 2 weeks and no way could I just bring a carryon...I know there are some of you out there who can fit everything into a carryon, but I'm not one of them!

I think I'll maybe book hotels now and wait until January to book air, and meantime check every few days..

If you are serious about saving money check every day. Also, watch Aer Lingus. They were having a quick sale last year from NY to Dublin for June. We called and asked if we could get in on that sale and then on to Rome. No problem, they said, and we saved a nice amount. But I check DAILY for months when I am looking to save some money.

Future fares? Please check oil prices. Who knows the percentage each fare rises as oil prices rise by $10 a barrel? Use a spread sheet, plot available air fares by the month against that month's oil price. Assume that if oil prices continue to rise, air fares will also continue to rise or we can expect significant fuel surcharges.

As I am sure you have been watch some of the major multiple-line searchers like Kayak. I booked my ticket to Florence (from Chicago) in Aug for travel at the end of Sept (not suggesting you wait this close, but mine was for work so I had no choice) and got a roundtrip flight for $850 USD total.

The flight was actually booked through airfare.com (flying United/ Lufhansa) and I still look back impressed.

Have you signed up at some of the websites that alert you to low fares from your departure city? One of them is: Farecompare.com.

Keep checking daily, and buy a ticket when you find one that seems almost reasonable for your budget. Unfortunately, I doubt very much that airfares will go down during the time you want to travel.

thanks for your help, and for the farecompare.com info. I checked and there's an aer lingus flight thru dublin for $928--not bad! I think I'll keep checking for a while and see if I can do better...will keep you posted!

Cindy

By the way, we called Aer Lingus last year to check on jumping on that trans-Atlantic fare sale and the price they gave us was even less than advertised. So, give them a phone call. Aer Lingus is a very basic airline but it was fine for us.

Keep checking eurofly (www.euroflyusa.com). We flew them from JFK to Rome in May. The flight was a promo fare. Eurofly fluctuates with the kind of service they provide. In otherwords you get what you pay for. They have alot of delays. We got to Rome with no problems but were delayed about 4 hours on the return. I have read other stories about eurofly flight problems. That said, we are flying with them again in March on another good fare deal.

In many cases, airfares are the luck of the draw. I've found that lower fares usually show up on Tues and Wed nights.

Our entire family is going to Rome over Christmas.

Orlando - FCO : $657 (United)
JFK - FCO : $553 (Alitalia)

We got the tickets last summer, but also found similar prices up until last month.