Hi all,
This spring my husband and I are traveling to Italy and for the first time I am considering an open jaw flight (flying into Venice and out of Florence, each with one connection). Am using Travelocity, Expedia, etc., etc., and am of course, trying to find the best deal possible. My question to all of you experienced travelers is this: is it too early to find a good flight for May 19th through June 1st? The cheapest I am getting is $753 out of Washington DC, but I was rather hoping for cheaper. Is this a good deal? The schedule is decent but I've heard there are usually airline price wars in February and I'm wondering if I should hold out. Any thoughts on best times/strategies for this kind of flight would be most appreciated!

Hi,

I think that your best deal would be British Air, they are having a sale, to London and Ryan air to Venice.

Florence is close enough to Venice that you could take the train back.

PS,

You would, of course, have to take Ryanair back to London.

I checked the price. It is about $230 from Dulles to London and about $80 London/Venice. Both are RT.

i am doing this same it. in march, using ff miles with delta...you might check with them directly...may and june the prices skyrocket...but B/A is having that sale...

Wow, thanks for that heads up! I hadn't thought of doing it that way, and it IS a good deal...but that would also lop off a day in Florence and involve a train ride and hotel in Venice, which is the most expensive location of our trip. Our original itinerary called for 3 nights in Venice, 6 nights in Tuscany (unchangeable) and then a couple of nights in Florence. I guess I will need to weigh how much jostling we really want to do traveling versus costs. Decisions, decisions!

You could also look into Air France: it connects through Paris to both Florence and Venice.

Painter_va,

$753 is a good price for that time of year. The fares may good down some, but not a whole lot. I am flying open jaw Atlanta to Rome, Venice to Atlanta leaving May 18th and returning June 5th on Delta for $891 a ticket. If you are locked into the days, you may not benefit by waiting. That is a good fare for late may.

Are you sure, ira? Not with taxes, surely - - and are you sure it's available that low even for those May/June dates?

I'll be glad to eat crow if your figures are right and verifiable.

Best wishes,

Rex

I live in DC and I think that is a good fare for May for that route. I don't know where Ira is checking but I've never seen fares that low RT London, even on BA and in winter. Right now they are having a winter sale (Feb-March) and the RT fares are around $360. In May, they are around $560. I think that fare Ira found could be for one way and without taxes.

British Airways has WAS-LHR flights for $468 total May 19/June 1. However, on a relatively short trip, you would lose a fair bit of time getting back and forth from London, particularly if you added overnights to be safe (which I would do). Plus, there are airport transfers, London hotel stays, etc.

I doubt it would be worth the savings to start in London, if the original poster has a $753 fare for the precise itinerary she wants.

Well, I did some more checking and I got a price of $740 R/T from DC to Venice, out of Florence, with one connection each way. That is including taxes and fees. I think in light of the fact that I haven't much flexibility and would need to jostle around with trains, cabs, luggage, etc. to get to our destinations, the extra hundred or so I might be paying seems well worth it, as time and any savings might be eaten up by just trying to get there.

The Ryan Air bit seems like more adventure than I want to take on, as, if I understand it, I'd have to check and recheck bags and coordinate schedules. I am booking for 4 people actually (my husband, me, and another couple) so now I do feel like my deal is pretty good.

Thanks for helping me to work through this.

If you haven't checked with a travel agent yet, you may want to do so. We are doing open jaw from Omaha to Rome and out of Venice in mid-may. The cheapest flight I was able to find on my own was through justfares.com and was approximately $870. However, the connections were at bad times, etc. My agent was able to find fare at $950 with good connection times and without the hassel of having to transport ourselves to a multitude of different airports.

Hello guys,

I rechecked. You were right. The first quote was one way, sold as RT.

I checked again. IAD/LHR RT is $467.70
leaving May 19 and returning June 1.