gc

We are going from BOS/JFK to Florence late April/early May. The airfares to Milan/Rome are holding steady in the $950 RT range.<BR>I noticed BOS-London on Virgin for around $425, offer ending April 1.<BR>I have a few questions:<BR>1. Are we crazy to even consider changing airlines in London to get to our ultimate destination, Florence?<BR>2. How far, and in which direction will the fares move as we approach summer?<BR>3. If we're not absolutely crazy in question 1, whom should we fly to Florence, our ultimate destination?<BR>Thanks!

in_wyoming

We have flown several years to Rome in that timeframe. I can't speak to Florence as I believe it may be more expensive; however, we've never paid over $600 R/T from Denver. I would think $950 is high from Boston or NY, but this year it does appear that prices are not coming down as readily. I know this probably doesn't help much.

GrandeRandonnee

funny, i've been trying to do the same thing, because i'm going in mid june and am appalled at the prices! My op. is that the prices will cont. at the present high(er) rate the closer you get to summer GENERALLY but that if you hang on and persevere ALL avenues(priceline, expedia, diff airports), you will eventually get a better fare. i am guessing the airlines are hoping for a good flier turnout but will lower prices here and there as summer approaches if ridership is down. i searched under UK travel and intend to try other search engines to find other agencies there to book me on to italy. i did do this once successfully yrs ago. also the london papers travel sections you can log on to or just buy in ny or boston will list specials and agents. i'm wondering if the prices from london to italy wil end up not saving you $ after all. Sorry for loquaciousness! Good luck.

gc

Thanks,<BR>I just bounced over to the airline forum and someone posted a bunch of specials on AA.com.<BR>I went there and found this:<BR>http://www.aa.com/apps/reservations/SelectAlternateAirportCode.jhtml?_DARGS=%2Fapps%2F reservations%2Ff_AlternateAirportList.jhtml<BR><BR ><BR>$672 RT<BR><BR>Jeez, I just made $600 in about ten minutes. No wonder I fired my stock broker!

ira

Hi gc<BR> Go to travelocity.com right now. You will find fares good through June 2003 for as low as $280.

rex

For BOS-ROM? Do they plunk these deals in for ten minutes or something? I don't see anything under about $655 that allows travel after Apr 14. Right this minute.<BR><BR>I'm not saying you were wrong - - but they do list fares as low as $280 (plus taxes - - probably about $100) under a headline that says fares &quot;up to June 2003&quot;. but those lowest fares are only good to March 31.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>[email protected]<BR>

PamSF

Here's something to consider..does the flight from Boston land in Heathrow and the flight to Florence take off from Heathrow? If one arrives at Gatwick and takes off from Heathrow it could be a problem. We encountered this returning from Venice last Fall. What should normally take about 1-1 1/2 hours on the speedlink between the two airports took 3 hours. I have not flown into Florence so I can't really comment on flying there. We flew into Rome out of London and then took the train(quick) to Florence. To my memory it only two 2 hours or less on the eurostar from Rome to Florence. Check out British Airways as well. They are having big sales on flights to London and points beyond.In all seriousness, given Powell's speech to the UN this am, there will be a war. No doubt fares will come down in light of that.

Lesli

If you opt to fly into London and connect from there to Italy, be aware that Florence's airport is very small and will therefore offer limited options. Pisa's airport is somewhat larger, and is definitely a viable alternative - direct connection to Florence via train in under an hour. In fact, the last time I was supposed to fly home directly from Florence, there was too much fog and we were bussed to Pisa anyway.<BR><BR>There have been several recent threads re budget European airlines, with links to a couple of very good websites which collect them all. You might try a search for &quot;budget and airline&quot; and see what comes up.

mclaurie

I would definitely consider flying through London (particularly if you can fly direct from Boston without stopping or changing in NY) but agree with previous poster that having to change airports in London is a big pain. So if you have to leave from Gatwick to get to Italy, try to fly into Gatwick. <BR>We flew BA from Gatwick to Venice. Don't know if they service Florence. Saw an airline called Volare (on Travelocity) that services Gatwick to Venice. Don't know anything about them. The &quot;cheap&quot; airlines everyone talks about are Easy Jet (easyjet.com) and Ryanair. Not sure of their routes.

Lesli

This is one of the websites, which allows you to search several budget airlines by route (much like Orbtiz):<BR><BR>www.applefares.com

LdyEternity

Find out how much it is to Fly to florida and use the direct flight to Rome then take the train to Florence. That is what we did although we live in Florida. Italia air .

amyb

GC...<BR><BR>The changing airports in London is the only reason I chose not to fly Bos/Flr next month. Instead, I am going Air France, which will get me to Florence directly (instead of Pisa, which is an hour train ride away).<BR><BR>Check that out for another option. I booked in September for March, and got it for $379 rt. I doubt it'll be that low for late April, but maybe better than you think.