Please Help! Italy Airfare 2007
 

Please give us your advice. My husband and I are starting to plan our first Italy trip next year. Our Itinerary is Florence (4 days) Tuscany/Montalcino (4 days) Rome (3days). We live in California and wanted to Fly into Florence (FLR) and fly home from Rome (FCO) BUT, I've been looking at airfare and it seems significantly more expensive (by $1000) to do a multi-leg trip than to do a roundtrip to Rome. To save money, we're considering flying into Rome and taking the express train to Florence. Has anyone had a similar itinerary? Do you recommend we do the RT to Rome flights? Do you have any recommendations or advice on going from the airport to the train station?

I appreciate any help/advice you give us!
Liz

Given the itinerary you describe, I think the better strategy would be to fly into Rome and out of either Rome or Pisa. If you are going to do some exploration in Tuscany, then it seems easier to me to do Rome first, then take the train to Florence, where you rent your car and explore Tuscany/Montalcino, finally ending up in Pisa, which has more cheap flights than Florence. The Eurostar Italia train between Rome and Florence is easy and fast (I think it's something like 2 hours). If you are flying through London, then it's almost certainly going to be cheaper to fly out of Pisa, but if you are flying nonstop from the US to Rome, it might be worth just doing a round-trip ticket from Rome. After exploring Tuscany by car, you can drop off your car at the Rome airport and just fly home. Rome really isn't so far from Florence.

What you're looking for is called an "open jaw" ticket. Depending on the airports and the time of the year...sometimes they work out to be cheaper. Other times not. Keep checking all airlines and the consolidators. Sometimes the airline will give you a better price than the consolidators ie; Expedia, Travelocity, etc.

There are no direct flights from the US to Florence. You would have to change somewhere in Europe. The trip from Rome to Florence is not bad at all on the train. So basically, it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. Which ever flight is cheaper, go for it.

At FCO you can take the train straight to Roma Termini and catch the train to Florence. Go to www.trenitalia.it and look up the schedules. I don't think it's necessary to buy the tickets ahead of time because it's a short trip and many trains a day. But you can print out the schedule and have it with you.

Hi IT,

Check www.kayak.com for flights into FLR or PSA and out of Rome.

Check www.mobissimo.com and kayak for RT Rome.

We had no problems with flying into Rome and taking the train to Florence. Leave yourself about 3 hr from scheduled landing time to the time the train leaves Rome TE.

((I))

Indy,

There are lots of ways to skin this cat, so you'll just have to keep playing with the options until you decide what's right for you.

Have you checked out fares for flying into Milano (MXP) and out of Roma?

Sometimes a very good way to do this is to fly a major carrier to London and then independently books a flight through British Airways or Alitalia to Pisa, Roma or Milano, depending on where you'd like to go first. You can return non-stop via to LA or return via London.

Instead of trying to book through Orbitz or Expedia a multi destination flight, consider booking a round trip open jaw flight through a European gateway that allows you to fly a cheap airline to Italy. Be sure you leave enough time to collect your luggage and get to the cheap flight. And be sure your cheap flight departs from the exact same arrival airport, not just the same city.

Clear?

For instance, you might check out the prices of these options:

Fly LAX to LHR (heathrow) or Gatwick (LGW)
Fly BA or Alitalia out of LHR or LGW to Pisa or Firenze
Fly Roma to LAX

Fly LAX to Zurich
Fly Zurich to Pisa
Fly Roma to LAX

Etc. etc.

The easiest way to find out who flies to Pisa is to check a website like whichbudget to see who flies out of Pisa.

Personally, I think getting off a plane and getting onto another plane in the same airport can sometimes be easier than getting off a plane and taking a couple of trains to get to your city of choice.

Sometimes I've found it's cheaper to price two one-way trips, than a round-trip or an open jaw. Try it and see. Airfares are so screwy, the same trick never works twice!

Nessundorma and Ira have given you good ideas, too.

Good luck!
:)>-

Thanks everyone for your great advice! I'll keep checking rates for the different air options you've suggested.

Delta has a new flight into Pisa starting in May--I would do Rome/Pisa ideally---or the reverse.

Just keep one thing in mind if you decide to try the option of booking RT flights to say, London and then cheap intra-European flights to and from Italy: if your transatlanctic flight is late for any reason, and you miss your flight to Italy you will be out of luck. Not only will they not go out of their way to get you on the next flight, but when you do get another flight you'll have to pay for it - at the current rate which will be quite a lot more than the price you paid for the ticket a few months in advance. If you book a flight on one airline that happens to change in London (or anywhere else) and the connection is missed, then the airline will accomodate you since it's all on one ticket. But if you buy two seperate tickets it's your problem.

One way around the problem is to plan to spend the first and last nights in London (or where ever) so that if your plane is late you have a whole day to make your next flight. A day or two in London can be nice, but if you have limited time and don't want to hassel with getting hotels for one night, etc then it may not be worth it. For that reason, I would opt either to take a train from Milan or Rome or to buy a slightly more expensive ticket that is all on one carrier.

Purchasing trip insurance will cover the costs of any missed connection, hote needs, etc. due to airline delay, and travellers should purchase trip insurance no matter what.

Depending on the difference in air fares, the marginal risk may be worth it. Sometimes flights to London are less than 500 dollars, and a flight to Italy is less than 50. By contrast, a direct flight to Italy, or a 1-stop booked as a single ticket can run up to $900 to $1200.

BA and Alitalia together offer up to two dozen flights a day to Italian destinations out of LHR and LGW. I wouldn't worry about not being able to get a new ticket if my incoming flight were delayed.

You do need to space the flights so that you have time to retrieve your luggage and make the connection. I give myself 4 hours.

Spending the night is a nice idea, especially if your flight arrives late. The hotel room needen't add more than $120 to the cost of your travel, although if you want to go into London, RT transportation in costs between $20 and $40.

If you're purchasing your European leg separately, also note which airport you will depart from. You might fly into Heathrow, for example, but have to leave from Gatwick. So allow for that inconvenience, if it's worth it to you.

Plenty of cheap flights between Rome and Florence. Book an internal flight for while you are in Rome and then return a few days later. You can do a side trip to Pisa while in Florence. Ryanair do very cheap flights between Rome and Venice.

my wife and i have been searching for ways to get around italy and it seems that ryan air is a great site. you can fly and rent a car with a different drop off location. even with the price of gas it seems as if the car option is cheaper than the train option. check it out and best of luck

Kaneda,
Flying between Florence and Rome is longer,more expensive, and more hassle than taking the train.