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Advise on Flight Options from US to Italy before potentially booking

Posted by (New Orleans, LA) on

I previously posted about our plans to travel from US to Italy. ( https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/italy-30th-anniversary-trip-assistance-1st-trip-to-europe-italy ) We have shifted out travel plans later to Sept/Oct. 2019. Looking to enjoy Italy for 16 days in addition to two travel days of Sept. 8 - Sept 26, Sept. 22 - Oct. 10 or sometime around this timeframe. We have not booked any lodging or flights yet. I will book our flight first before hotels and have looked at many options over the last few weeks but would like some advise since this is our first European flight/trip. I see that airfare pricing/options vary greatly. Of course, I am trying to pay the lowest price for the best flight options with a reputable airlines, acceptable connecting airports, reasonable layover times and a morning arrival to our destination. I was initially looking at open jaw options but I do see that this is more expensive than a RT flight along with that airline I fly with. We are willing book a RT through Rome, etc. to pay a cheaper price and knowing this will include more travel time once in Italy.

We are traveling from New Orleans, LA and have looked directly at several Airline sites and sites such as Kayak, Expedia, Google, etc. Lufthansa looks to be quite expensive, Delta is more reasonable and I may wind up going directly through them. Upon further searching, I see that I can bundle flight and a hotel (indicating only one night - night before departure) and save quite a bit with this.

Ultimately, would like to know what I am finding seems reasonable/has anyone bought flights through Expedia alone or using the bundle option instead of booking directly with an airline.

I am finding flights for $3,000 for two travelers directly through Delta with one connecting flight arriving in Venice and departing in Rome.

In contrast, in bundling flight and a hotel night through Expedia, a RT flight through Rome is $1600 for Two travelers, flying Delta (DL) Flight 1970 and DL 62 connecting in Atlanta 4.21 hr layover and returning home DL 237 then DL 2947, 4.33 layover in Detroit or there is a 5.21 hr. Chicago layover option as well and several more options.

That is a big difference in pricing. We are easy going travelers and are okay with traveling economy flight status. I would like to keep the travel cost down and have more for all of our adventures in Italy.

By the way, we would still like to visit Rome, Florence/Tuscany, Venice and AC on this trip.

Please let me know what your thoughts/experiences/advise on these flight options, RT through Rome with these cities we are planning to visit.

Posted by
2739 posts

I went on Kayak and entered your Sept. 8-26 RT Rome and have numerous flights from American, United, Delta and others, only looking at 1 stops, for $1370-1374 for two people, economy. This is without “bundling”. I much prefer to book directly with the airline and the hotel separately. If things go sideways I feel that dealing with the vendor directly is easier than with a consolidator. Expedia and Booking.com have good reputations, but I still book directly. I would keep checking your flights and acceptable dates on Kayak or similar, such as Google flights. And check the open jaw options as well. You are a ways removed from your travel dates and fares change very often, sometimes several times per day. But be prepared to pounce on one if you see one you like as it won’t last.

Posted by
1103 posts

I try to only book through he airline website. However, friends of ours (first time travelers to Europe) really wanted to fly from our home airport (Hartford-Bradley) to Venice and returning from Rome. The only way they could arrange this at a reasonable price was through a third party website, so I advised them to use that method.

Multi-city (open jaw) flights often make sense, but not always. We are going to northern Italy next spring, and I am looking at flying into and out of Milan.

Posted by
531 posts

You might wait til Emirates has their springearly summer sale....

Right now they have discounted fares Jfk-Milan NS and EWR- ATH NS for cyber Monday ...see

My post on when to buy fares for Greece

I would fly to either of East coast cities for those fares on a separate ticket

Posted by
847 posts

Bob - Bradly is also my local airport. AerLingus flies from there to lots of places in Europe - all via Dublin of course. But the change in Dublin is very easy. For Italy, sometimes the timing does not work great for Venice and or Rome but usually for Milan it works great. They use Milan LIN, not MXP. But trains from Milan to either Venice or Rome are fairly inexpensive and easy. I've done that several times in the past few years.

Posted by
8359 posts

It's a long time until you'll be taking your trip, and New Orleans flight options are somewhat limited.
Checkout the airfares from N/O on Spirit Airlines or Jet Blue to Ft. Lauderdale. There, you can catch the very inexpensive Norwegian Air Shuttle to Rome which has seasonal flights. The question is if "seasonal" fits into your flight plans.
Otherwise, you'd have to go to Newark on Southwest or Spirit and connect to Rome on Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Either way, you'll beat $1500 by a lot.

Posted by
107 posts

I agree with Allan. Dealing directly with the airline is great 'insurance' if something goes wrong, as we learned last spring when an airport workers strike canceled our flight 6 hours before we were to leave. Lufthansa was wonderful, covering all our changes and extra expenses, and we arrived only one day late. Thank goodness we had left a cushion of time to allow for unforeseen circumstances. I found also that booking too far ahead can cause unexpected problems when airlines change their schedule - sometimes by several hours. If you've booked separately to connect with different airlines, all changes are on you.
I'd recommend booking direct with a single airline about 3-4 months out.

Posted by
13 posts

Thank you for the great advise and suggestions.

Posted by
927 posts

If you are flexible on your dates and where you fly into/out of, I found a set of flights from MSY to Rome departing on September 24 and returning October 12 for $1,174 total (2 pax). You can use the calendar feature to look for the cheapest fares and book on-line.

https://www.google.com/flights#flt=MSY./m/06c62.2019-09-24.MSYIAD0UA2339~IADFCO0UA42*/m/06c62.MSY.2019-10-12.FCOORD0UA971~ORDMSY0UA1868;c:USD;e:1;px:2;sd:1;t:f;sp:.USD.117366*.USD.117366

As for your desired locations, this is tricky because Venice and AC are so far apart. There are a few options to make this all fit. If you fly into Rome, you can take the train straight to Venice (4+ hours) and nap on the train. You would be rested by the time you get to Venice. Spend a few days here and then head to Florence/Tuscany for a few days (2 hr train). From Florence, head to Sorrento for a few days and then take the train to Rome to finish up. Another option would be to land in Rome and head to Florence. Spend a few days in Florence/Tuscany and then head to Venice. From Venice, fly to Naples and head to Sorrento. Finish up in Rome.

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