Book flights with Expedia ??

Go for it! I've used them in the past for tickets and never had an issue. I've found some great deals in the past on the UK Expedia site, and they have been my go-to-site for renting cars for the EU.

Can you recreate the same itinerary on an airline site? That would be ideal. There was an article in the news recently about booking two separate one-way flights being cost-effective again. I know this wasn't true for many airlines, at least in the past. I booked my last two US-based itineraries with different carriers and two one-way trips.

In general, I would steer away from a third-party airline booking IF you can do as well on an airline site. Expedia is supposed to be pulling published fares so they should be identical. Unfortunately, third party sites (I use matrix itasoftware by Google) come up with itinerary combinations that are impossible to recreate. While I don't use Expedia for airline bookings, friends of mine have in the past so it doesn't seem out of the question (luckily they've had no issues but I guess it's the luck of the draw). I would be sure to stay alert for any flight changes in case the info from the third party doesn't flow through for some reason. And be prepared to deal with Expedia because the airlines are not going to be helpful if there's a major issue. If you trust Expedia or the price offsets the probability of a major issue (or if you're pretty flexible and nothing can really mess up your trip), then go for it.

I tried Air France and it came up with much higher prices. Alitalia's site doesn't have a multi-destination option.

I am flexible with arrival/departure times as long as I don't get stuck at a connection, though an overnight in Rome or Paris would not be the worst experience in the world.

Will I be able to choose my seats? When I click on "seat preview" it says "available seats for this flight cannot be viewed at this time." I'd hate to end up in a middle seat on a long-haul flight or not be able to order special meals.

Edit: I just tried a one-way on Air France and it's $200 more than the open-jaw trip on Expedia.

I often book flights via Expedia for short flights within Europe and Asia. Mostly because using their site is often easier than the airline's own site. Never had a problem. FWIW.

I have used them many times in the past with no problems. But
the last time I used them I was flying with EVA airlines and noticed a sign at the customer service desk that said if you booked with Expedia please see a travel agent for any problems, I was fine as my flight left on time but was a bit concerned as as I was flying into Toronto which was being hit with a snowstorm and many flights were being cancelled. I asked my travel agent later and she said many airlines will not help with flight booked on Expedia. She recommended booking directly with the airline

Chani - I'm just curious - what is the fare you're seeing on Expedia? I popped two sets of travel dates randomly onto the Air France site and came up with a round trip fare $816 both times for the routing you're describing. That seems like a really good price for summer travel.

What dates and route did you use. I just tried round-trip TLV-ORD and came up with around $1600, depending on days. I'm going for 33-35 days, from around July 20 to August 23.

June into July. Here's a few random dates I checked: Works on June 7th to July 5th. Works on June 28th to July 26th.

Looks like outbound prices go up on June 29th and stay high until about August 22nd. Too bad you can't go a bit earlier or later.

These are from the Air France site - just messing around with travel dates there.

Thanks but I have to be in Phoenix at the end of July and near Chicago the second week in August, so my time in Chicago will be from August 11 for 10-12 days.

My other choice right now is round-trip on Turkish Air to Chicago, then Southwest a couple days later to the West Coast. It would be about $100 more than the Expedia flight once I add in extras (second bag homebound, seat selection - assuming I can do that with Expedia). Instead of buying macarons in Paris, I could buy Turkish delight in Istanbul. :-)

I've used Expedia to book 6 vacations now and never had a problem. I like being able to browse various airlines, prices, connecting cities/connection times, and arrival/departure times all at once.

Thanks to everyone for the positive reinforcement. After a lot of combinations, permutations and indecision, I think I'll fly Turkish Air, booking directly. When I changed the dates a little, I found that the round-trip to ORD on Turkish is a whopping $6 more than Expedia. I'll have to pay about $200 for the flight to SFO, but most of that is offset by the Alitalia charge for a second checked bag.

The benefits of going to Chicago first include leaving a big suitcase there and not schlepping it around everywhere and splitting my 2 weeks there in half, so my friends don't get sick of me!