Will a $720 RT air fare to Rome in April reasonable? Please reply asap as I have to make a decision very soon! Thanks a million to all the valuable info.

where are you flyimg from? $720 is a lot from the East coast, but maybe not bad from the West coast.

I am flying from the East Coast, any suggestion on where to check for the most economical fare. Thanks Beth for an early reply!

$700 seems high to me, for April. We payed about that much but it was early September which is still high season. It seems to me I saw sale fares that were around $4-500 between January and May of last year. (This was Boston-Rome, which is probably one of the cheaper places to fly to Europe from, although New York may be less). You may have to wait for sale prices to hit, probably after Christmas. On the other hand, if that is close to Easter, with the Jubilee in Rome, there might not be any sale fares. in that case $720 isn't bad. <BR> <BR>Another friend said she took a charter flight which only cost $400. You might check with a travel agent, if you know a good one. <BR> <BR>I booked my fare through Travelocity. I checked frequently, and watched the airfares, and waited for them to drop. I think the cheapest fares became available about 90 days before my trip. My experience was that British Air offered the best prices, at least from Boston. I actually spent a few bucks more to fly on Lufthansa because I think their coach seats are more comfortable.

Thanks again for your reply, Beth. I actually got the fare quote from Travelocity also. It's a catch 22---if you wait for Dec., one might have a hard time getting a room of your choice. Honestly, I think that $720 is also high; but then again it is the law of supply and demand I guess. I am now thinking of maybe going some place in Europe other than Italy and just do Italy next year. Anybody care to comment? Thanks!

The odds that you won't be able to get on the flight you want if you wait to book seem pretty slim to me. There's no law that requires you to have your plane tickets to reserve hotel rooms--at worst you'll have to juggle your schedule and maybe cancel a few bookings. Unless you have to stay in a particular hotel on particular nights, why not risk it?

I bet the airfares are out of whack because you're going during Easter month (Palm Sunday on 4/16, Easter 4/23, and it's Lent, to boot, starting March 8). About 8 bizillion Catholics head for Rome to celebrate this time of year. Add to that the Jubilee 2000, and there is no earthly reason for the airlines to offer you a deal. <BR>Unless you can find an oddball ticket through a consolidator, I'd say head for another country (or city in Italy, like Florence or Milan [get OUT of Milan asap, but it's okay to land there]) and postpone Rome to another year/month/decade....

Andrea, I would wait until the airlines do their sales for April---usually after <BR>about 15 Dec. And I would check thru a <BR>consolidator. I bet you can get less <BR>by then, but this is 2000---perhaps the <BR>old rules may not apply. Check with <BR>Euram at 800-848-6789 or Online travel <BR>at 800-660-5300 for an indication.

Hi Andrea, <BR>If it were me, I would either do Northern Italy as Elvira suggests, or go to another country. I would not want to be anywhere near Rome for Easter 2000. The taxi driver who took us on our tour of Rome by Night last September said he thought we should come back in about 2002, when the traffic patterns would have straightened out, and the construction would be finally done. he was skeptical about it being done in 2000 in time for the Jubilee. That added to the millions of expected pilgrims.

Hi Andrea: <BR> <BR>I think you have to shop around some more. Have a look at bestfares.com they have lots of good deals.