Plane Fares to Italy - Wait?
 

My fiance and I are planning our trip to Italy for our honeymoon for two weeks the last week of Setember and the first week of October. We are flying into Rome, spending a night and then heading down to Capri and Positano where we will spend the majority of the 2 weeks, and then back to Rome to head home.

My question: Fares haven't budged from $980 for months. Is is okay to go ahead and plan our trip and book the hotels we want to stay at now - even if we don't have plan tickets yet?

Hi H,

I would book the hotels.

From which airport are you flying?

CMH - Columbus, Ohio

I also would book your hotels now and watch this forum and the "cheap flight forum" at eurotrip.com. A sale fare will be available but you have to keep checking daily. You mention fares haven't budged for months - I purchased tickets Chicago-Rome with a return Milan - Chicago, Sep 18 - Oct 5 for $522r/t taxes and fees included on Orbitz in early Feb. Once you find a decent fare buy it immediately.
Regards - eurotravler

We did a trip similar to yours last Sept. - I think we booked our tickets in July - we also saw some cheaper fares in June but had not chosen our exact dates yet. I think we got a fare in the $700's - from Atl to Rome and then home from Paris. Keep watching - I think you find better but go ahead and book hotels. SueC1

Hi Honeymooners04,

Check CONTINENTAL'S website. They are running a huge fare sale to Europe this spring/summer from some U.S. cities which gives you business class for economy prices!

Good luck, and congratulations!

I would book the hotels now, just make sure the reservations are cancellable.
You will not pay more for the flights than what you seeing now, so I would wait for another sale from one or all the airlines. Once you do find a comfortable fare you could live with, book it.
Some things to consider when searching for lower fares, although right now it doesn't seem to make a difference.

1.If possible, try to book flights with Mon-Wed/Thur departures. Always somewhat cheaper.

2.Columbus is not a direct to Europe airport. If possile try to look at departures from Cleveland and Cincinnati.

3.Always look at flights to London. London is always the first and cheapest sale destination. You could connect in London on a separate ticket with British Airways or Alitalia with low fares to Rome. Also you could always check the low budget airlines from other London airports, but sometimes the hassle of airport transfers is not worth the $100 or whatever savings. I would stick with the majors out of the major London airports. That way you could fly in and out of the same airports.
Just as an option here is the website for low budget airlines in Europe:
<b>http://www.whichbudget.com/?lang=en</b>

4.Paris is also a good option, especially out of Cincinnati with Delta/Air France. Connect there with Air France or Alitalia or budget to Rome. (again, be careful with budgets, because they could be flying out of an airport that's far away from the city.)

Hope this helps.

Congratulations!

Hi moon,

http://airtravelcenter.com/onetrav.htm has Columbus/Rome via ewr for $839 on Continental.

Two weeks is a long time on the Amalfi Coast. I suggest that you do 7-10 days on the AC (including visits to Naples, Capri, etc) and the rest of the time in Rome.

You might find the AC/Naples part of my trip report helpful.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

Ira is right - book your hotels soon. I booked my air in December for our June trip to Amalfi and Sorrento. I waited until March to make my hotel reservations and we were unable to get our first choice. Just be sure that you can cancel if necessary. We are doing 5 days in Amalfi and 5 in Sorrento. I agree that it would be nice to spend some time in Rome but we did that on our last trip.
Incidently, we booked on British Air from Newark To London connecting with BMI to Naples and our fare was $635 PP R/T to Naples.

I had a decent fare last summer for $700.00 from SAT to Rome and CDG to SAT.
Is best to wait, 980 dollars seems too expensive..

Last year we flew into Rome from Indianapolis the same weeks you are planning to. I looked for airfares everyday from January to May until I finally found one in the $700 range. Keep checking all the usual suspects--the aircarriers, expedia, travelocity, etc. as well as the lesser known sites like cheaptickets, cheapseats, and bestfares. Something reasonable will eventually turn up.

I also have been looking at fares from Columbus - you can fly from Detriot to Rome for $754 on British Airways if you go to their site - if you don't mind driving there!

We have been going to Italy for the last 4 or 5 years late in the year. I have always waited until June/July. The rates seem to come down.....last year we paid $500 (that included taxes from Atlanta to Rome) on Delta.