We are in the early stages of planning a one week cruise next fall. In one scenario we would arrive in Athens, and after a few days there take a one week cruise (Windstar) from Athens to Rome. Then, after a week or so in Italy we would fly home from Rome. I am confused about booking the open jaw flights. Is there any way to do this economically? Last year we travelled by train back to our city of arrival in order to avoid this type of flight. But, if we do the Athens/Rome cruise, it doesn't seem like that would be practical this year. Help?

Usually open jaw ticket prices aren't much different than r/t in/out of the same city. Athens tickets (at least from where I live) are more expensive than other (closer) cities in Europe so will probably cost more for the open jaw. You don't see as many sale fares to Athens as other cities either, but you might sign up for e-mail fare alerts on some of the booking websites.

Did you intend to stay in Rome or travel to other cities? You might check returning from either Pisa/Milan/Venice also if you plan on visiting other cities. The port for Rome is Civitavecchia which is an hour from Rome by train.

If you are reserving your flight on the internet, you should have a "Multiple Destinations" option in addition to Round Trip or One Way. When you select this option, you can then enter each flight leg separately (ex IAH to ATH, then FCO to IAH) This is the easiest way to book an open jaw ticket, imo.

Something to think about:

EasyJet has budget flights between Milan and Athens; AlpiEagles has budget flights between Athens and Venice.

I would try doing the open jaw (into Athens and out of somewhere in Italy) first.

If that is prohibitive think about flying in and out of Milan or Venice and then onward on the budget carrier at the beginning and then returning out of either Rome or Milan/Venice.

Thanks for all you input. We will probably be staying in an apartment for a week in Italy, but have not yet decided where. The flexibility will allow me to plan our flights. Once the cruise arrives in Civit. we may train to our next destination (possibly Tuscany/Umbria, or south to Amalfi.) After a week we would train back to Rome for a few days before flying home.

Where are you flying from/to? Delta is adding a flight to/from Pisa/JFK starting the end of May and sometimes you can get a good deal on a new route.

We will be flying out of LA, so our first stop could be just about anywhere - east coast US or Northern cities in Europe. I have to admit, I haven't searched the flights too much yet. I get stuck reading about the walks to take and the restaurants to seek out. Time to prioritize now.Thanks again for all your help.

HI...We are flying in November out of LAX into Rome and leaving out of Venice back into LAX. The flight was exactly the same price for open jaw as it was in and out of Rome. Swiss Air.

Good luck!