Flights from Denver to Milan

We don't live in Denver, but I have found that when searching for airfares to Europe, that it is best to reach not just from our nearest airport, but airports nearby (up to 200 miles). For example, we normally fly out of Jacksonville, Florida, but on a few occasions, I have found that flying out of Orlando, Florida saved us up to $500-$600 per person. Jax is 75 miles from our home and only about 1.5 hours away, but Orlando adds another 2-2.5 hours of driving. Still, it is worth checking.

Norwegian is on shaky ground right now, but they are showing $800 r/t to Gatwick with one checked bag and meals. They can use Easyjet for the connection to MXP, but I would leave a lot of ground time, perhaps an overnight, in case of delays on the inbound leg. That will run about $50 to $75 each way, plus luggage adders.

August is prime travel time. Prices drop as you get into September.

We fly out of Denver. Try playing around with other arrival airports. DEN can be very cheap to some cities, although in my experience, not to Italy. Still, it may be cheaper to fly to Florence or Rome, or even Nice. If price is really a concern, you could have a cheaper but more arduous flight by flying into a different city on one ticket and then taking a separate flight in and out of Milan. We often find tickets from Denver to Paris, Zurich, Munich, and Amsterdam for 500 (although purchasing them in January). Flying out of a different airport than Denver is not a good option as DEN is the biggest hub within many hundreds of miles, and generally offers better prices.

Good idea. Delta has flights through Atlanta to Zurich for $572 r/t. From Zurich airport there is a direct train to Brig every 2 hours, then connection at Domodossola to Verbania, a 3 1/2 hour train ride all told, costing about $100 each way.

After a lot of research I've opted for a non-stop British Air flight from Denver to London for our trips to Europe in general ... and to Italy in particular. The rates are cheap enough that we're able to book a night at an airport hotel upon arrival in London (Heathrow in this case), get a good night's sleep in a real bed, then up the next morning to connect via one of the European low cost carriers to our final destination - still saving money in the process.

As an example, for our upcoming trip to Florence in May we saved nearly $1000 by doing it that way. The hotel room cost less than $200, so it was a very cost-effective alternative for us, as well as being a lot more comfortable than trying to gut it out with a same day flight connection followed by a bus or train ride.
Could have saved more by flying Norwegian but thought it too risky and so opted for the BA flight instead.

Zurich's a good idea. I'll check into that. We could meet them there and do some exploring in Switzerland before we end up back in Italy. Switzerland is on their list (along with Italy, Austria, Germany and Slovenia- all in a week+).
Clearly I will need to give them a reality check as this is their first trip to Europe.

Last time I went to Milan MXP, I flew United from Denver to EWR and changed planes there. Coming back it was through Washington DC. Don't remember the exact cost, but was not the highest price nor the lowest price at that point in time, it was closer to the lower price. It was the shortest in total time, as well as having more acceptable departure times (for me) both ways. Sometime price isn't the only thing to look at.

We have made the journey from Denver to Milan, but it was via direct to Munich on Lufthansa, then from Munich to Milan by train. So our experience probably does you little good. As a suggestion you might look at Google flight. It has an option of looking at a graphical display of future costs once your desired input is made. This might guide you to better options. (Hey, the train trip through the Brenner Pass is interesting, but it takes most of a day including a quick change of trains in Verona.)

Thanks for the replies. Not sure yet if our friends are more interested in budget, or time. But it looks like there are $800-900 fares round trip to Zurich with only one stop on Icelandair. But they might end up wasting valuable time getting to and from Verbania.

Is Zurich Flughafen the train station at the airport? Or would they need to take other transportation to a train station?

The train station is right at Zurich airport. Take the pedestrian bridge over the access road to the parking garage/shopping mall and take the escalator down to the ticket office, then the platforms are down another escalator underground. There are direct trains to Brig every hour. From Brig, the good connections to Verbania are every 2 hours. Plenty a places by the station to kill time if they arrive early.

Hi Karen. I fly out of DIA and nearly always on Lufthansa, connecting through Munich. The flight departure and arrival times are convenient and the connections doable. I like the Munich airport; it's easy to negotiate! LH doesn't not always offer the cheapest fares nor is it the most expensive but the flights suit me. I haven't flown into Milano but suggest watching for sales, keeping track of price fluctuations and booking when prices fit their needs.