This will be my first trip to Europe - I want to see it all, but know that's not possible, at least if I want to enjoy myself.

I thought I had narrowed down my itinerary...but for the heck of it, priced out something totally different for flights.

Am I crazy? Do any of you make your plans based on flight prices?

My original itinerary was flying into Zurich, Switzerland and flying out of Vienna, Austria - making my way through parts of Italy. (Venice and Rome, mainly)

But now I'm thinking, I could fly into Paris, and make my way down to Italy...

I personally don't see how going to Paris could EVER be a bad idea.

I know...I know...So much to see, so little time.

Hey - nothing was set in stone yet.

"Plan itinerary based on flight price?"

I do that all the time - probably 60% or 70% of all my leisure trips aren't even under consideration until I learn about a fare sale. I get an e-mail from one of the airlines about a deal -- and then start planning a trip to take advantage.

I'm with Janis. As long as you're still traveling places that interest you, I don't see anything wrong with taking advantage of great fares. Actually, sometimes even if it's not a place you were considering, it can be a great surprise!

I found a consolidator fare on Sunday ORD-FRA for $380 r/t taxes and fees included in mid September and purchased it. I always wanted to see the parade on the first Sunday of Octoberfest! I will often work my itinerary around a bargain airfare.
Regards - eurotravler

That's how I ended up vacationing in Hawaii last month, instead of my usual Mexico mid-winter sunny get-away ($329 vs. $700+).

>Plan itinerary based on flight price?<

Of course.

PS,

>I could fly into Paris, and make my way down to Italy...

Much better itinerary.

Assuming you're coming from North America, you need to know what is - at least to me - a truism about air travel to and in Europe. That is, there are cheap flights so some places from everywhere, cheap flights to a few places from a few places, and expensive flights to many places from everywhere else. For example, direct flights from N. America to Italy tend to be very costly compared to direct flights to Britain or Ireland. France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia and Iberia tend to fall into a middle range - sometimes cheaper than flying into Britain and changing, sometimes not.

The "X" factor over the past decade or so has been the budget airlines that go from pretty much everywhere to pretty much everywhere else, at very low cost, and, of course, offering very little in the way of service or comfort. In other words, same deal as with most domestic US airlines nowadays.

So now, planning an itinerary based on cost of air travel (or even train travel, which in many cases is now much higher than air travel between the same two cities) is much less a factor. You can fly cheaply into a gateway city, then hop around on budget airlines to your heart's content, with the resulting total travel cost being comparable, or cheaper, than flying to a more expensive "end" destination in the first place. You may find yourself having to schlep to secondary airports to use the budget carriers (but increasingly less so), but in most cases the total time elapsed will still be less than the time needed to go places on the train.

So in your case, you might look at flying into Dublin, for example (often a cheap "gateway" destination) then using Aer Lingus or Ryanair to fly to Italy or Switzerland on a one-way basis, then back from Vienna to Dublin, etc. - all at less cost than an "open jaw" longhaul itinerary to Zurich and back from Vienna.

Look at www.whichbudget.com for lists of to/from routes served by budget airlines, and also look at cheap gateway cities from which you could connect to the budget guys cheaply. O brave new world of European flying.

Thanks so much! Traveling to New Zealand and Australia was a no brainer compared to trying to figure this out. And as far as flying within the US - again, a no brainer.

I hate to rely fully on travel agents, so I'm trying to price things out on my own. Your advice is very, very useful.