I am still looking for flights to Italy for June since NWA doesn't want me to use FF miles!! Anyway, we can leave from Minneapolis where we live, or Chicago, where our son lives, or New York, where our daughter lives. We have flown the past two summers out of JFK. Prices are high, high out of all right now. I was checking and found a $560 fare out of Newark to Dublin and I was thinking then of taking Ryanair or Aer Lingus to Rome from there. Both look lilke they would be about $200 per person. That still makes it less than New York/Chicago/Msp to Rome. BUT I have never flown Ryanair and the additional costs that people complain about makes me nervous. What do the experts think? I'm not sure I can beat this price, even waiting until winter/spring. Last year we paid almost $900 JFK to Rome through Dublin on Aer Lingus. Help? Thanks!

Remember the checked luggage restrictions which RyanAir will impose; if you travel light it might not be much of an issue.

Hi I am also a MSP traveler. Check www.flycheapabroad.com

Just got $680 open jaw to Italy for March...

I you have a choice between a regular airline and Ryanair, for the same price, why not take the regular airline then? You can figure out the likely additional costs if you go to their website, I think it is just a formula and based on luggage size/weight. I don't think Ryanair is really meant to be a major airline for long distance vacationers.

One side note about Ryan Air (that I didn't know realize until our plane was in there air...), they do not fly into Fiumcino (sp?) Airport, instead it flies into Ciampano (sp?)Airport, which is about 25-30 minutes outside of the city. You then pay 7 euros or so to board a bus to bring you into "town". I believe they drop off at Termini. You can either prepurchase a ticket on the plane (cash only) or there are several options once you land.

Just a heads up, as it may be the same issue in Dublin. We flew Ryan Air out of Paris and the airport was an hour and 15 minute bus ride away.

Overall though, I'd compare it to Southwest Airlines in terms of planes, service, etc.

Tim and Liz,
Thanks for the heads-up on getting a flight in March for just over $600 from Msp to Italy. The flights in June on www.flycheapabroad.com show $1,379 as the cheapest flight. Uh, not so much. Thanks, anyway!!

hi rbn,

Have you checked www.kayak.com and www.mobissimo.com?

CIA airport is actually closer than FCO to Rome in terms of miles. You can also take a bus/metro combination to get into town if you really want to save money, but the bus from CIA is very convenient.

Ira, Ira, Ira. Have I checked kayak.com or mobissimo? How about 5 times a day since August? For 3 years. It is my part time job. Unpaid! Haha. Yeah, I've checked em all. But I'm one of those people who thinks there is a cheap fare out there hiding and if I am diligent, I will find the sucker.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one with OCD. Like you, I've been checking the booking/search sites and consolidators since last summer. Base prices for June and July have come down a little but when you add in the taxes and fees they're staying well above $1000. Two years ago BA, Virgin and AF had sales the first week of Nov. and our family of four went SFO-LHR in June for less than $600 each.

In 2002 I couldn't find a summer sale until April and even then the base price was around $800. It's a crap shoot but it sure feels good when you hit the jackpot. Hang in there!