We are going to Italy in May 08. I am making fantastic connections for hotels/apts in the various places I plan to visit in Italy. It's great because everything is available!! Do I send deposits before I have my plane reservation? Everyone says it's too early to book flights. Your suggestions have all been so spot on!

"Everyone says it's too early to book flights."

I don't. I booked my May 2007 flight in July 2006; the fare never went below what I paid.

I don't either...I make the airline reservations as soon as I know I am going. Sometimes I miss a "sale and other times I don't.

I do it this way because I want to go when I WANT to go..not a few days before or after, etc.

I'm another one who usually books flights as soon as I know I'm going. I've had great luck the past few years with www.1800flyeurope.com

Note that if you're considering trip insurance and there's any potential for a pre-existing condition, most policies will cover same if the insurance is purchased within (usually 15) days from your first deposit/purchase toward your trip.

Find the best price you can and do it now.

We do our research for hotels, apartments, villas, etc. We email and get prices, availability, etc. At the same time (sometimes, I am researching the accommodations while my husband is finding the best prices for flights) we find the flights which suit us and book the flight first so we have exactly what we want and when we want to go. The we go back to the accommodations choices and make our final decisions. I rather book my flight early and not wait to try to get a deal which may never happen. We just booked our December trip to PR and got a great deal - so early sometimes pays off.

Good luck and have a great trip!

Some flexibility is also useful. At least when cashing in FF miles for airfare. I tend to make arrangements for accommodations first (i.e., reservations, deposits, etc) and then call the airline to get airline reservations. What this means is that I have to be flexible in terms of "arriving no later than ..." and "returning no earlier than ...". Sometimes you are lucky and can get exactly the tickets you want, other times you "have" to go a day early or leave a day late. Quel dommage!!!

KC

That's an interesting point of view.

If I were relying on FF mile tickets I think I would see what I could get for where I wanted to go and then make hotel reservations after I knew I was going to be there.

We almost always use FF miles for our trips or to upgrade. Since we are flexible, I see what the airlines have available that suits me.

I've never had trouble getting the hotels I wanted after booking my flights.

Wow, that is what I thought! I was so conflicted with sending money for apts and not having plane reservations yet. And if I wait for "sales" I might not get the accommodations, which are so important. The plane fare was $900 and now its over $1000 and I have 4 to buy!! Almost booked on AlItalia, until I heard about their financial woes.

I like www.kayak.com and www.sidestep.com to compare airfare prices.

And I agree, I prefer to book flights first since price and date changes are more significant with airfares. Plus, the best airfares for summer in Europe are when you buy far out. Deals are usually for airfares to fly to Europe Oct 15-Dec 1 when it's low season.

And since frequent mile seats are limited, those are also best booked far in advance. Hotels are rarely booked up a year or even 6 months out.

And if you're booking just mileage upgrades, I'd surely book the air first. I usually always have to juggle a bit with the dates for the flight as there seems to be less upgradeable (is that a word) seats available & get snapped up early.

With respect to my previous post here, I pretty much already know where we want to go before even trying to get tickets or accommodations. At least that's been the plan so far?

Whoops! I guess in 2005 we wanted to fly to Rome to get to our villa in Umbria (sharing with 3 other couples). The only first-class FF tickets available for our dates of interest "made" us go 3 days early, with a layover in Paris. DW didn't complain.

KC

The start of every trip for us begins with booking the airfare.

italty08 - Hello, always book flight first and then follow that with where to star, car rental.

Sandy

Hi I,

I always book my accomodations first.

The lowest to highest prices for airfare might be only $250 pp (if you start looking early enough), but good, inexpensive rentals sell out fast.

I do things a bit different - I book my hotels first and then search for the lowest airfares. In 2006 I made our hotel reservations in January for July 2006 and didn't find a sale on airfare until the end of April.

I would never book nonrefundable accommodation without having flights first. I might consider booking cancellable accommodation if I were pretty certain of my dates. I'd definitely check out prices before committing to flights, in case there was some reason that accommodation costs were exceptionally high during that time period.

Always the plane first, for me. Airline ticket prices vary and fluctuate so much compared to hotels.

The last two times we traveled to europe, we bought our airline tickets by October for June travel.

Plane first for me, but 90% of our trips we are using FF miles.