Airfare to Italy

Is the $6-$7k r/t or one way? For Biz or prem econ?

Pre-covid r/t biz class was in the $6k range per person. ( SEA-Europe)

. What do you think the chances are that airline rates will drop between now and maybe six months from now.

Anyone who can answer that question, probably has the ability to pick winning lotto numbers and would do that and not care what the airfare is. :-)

No crystal balls here, but we are also tracking airfares, and the sticker shock is way up there.
I have set up price alerts on Google Flights. Of course, buy directly from the airlines, but GF is a great tool for research.
I'm hoping everyone goes to Europe right now, gets burned out by the crowds, and doesn't go next year.....
For us, I'm hoping for a fall sale for next year. Who knows? Oh, well, the kids don't need that inheritance!

Precovid we were paying around $2200 RT business from San Diego, British Airways sales. If the prices don't come down, we may be looking at LAX, as awful as that drive is.

I would wait until after this summer, at least, before paying that kind of money. I assume that is the "hopeful" pricing by the airlines based on the prices they are getting for this summer, but some airline analysts think that 2024 will be softer pricing than this year.

Perhaps it depends on when in the spring you are travelling. I picked a few random days late April/early May and saw LAX/FCO RT in PE for ~$2500 pp or less. SAS seems to have the lowest fares on the dates I looked at. March and early April look more expensive.

Maybe track fares on Google Flights for a bit, then jump when you see a fare you can live with.

Our tickets MSP to BLQ (Minneapolis to Bologna) bought in February for December were $1,000 each. We just bought four more tickets for family for the same trip and they were $800 more EACH. Painful. And that was after the price came down from even higher. We kind of had to buy them now and not wait any longer --- if it had been just my husband and me, I would have waited to see if the prices came down more.

Joe,

Is the $6-$7k r/t or one way? For Biz or prem econ?
--The $6k was Premium Economy
--The $7k was Business Class

Pat,

Yes, the drive up to LAX is awful! LOL I actually drive to LAX from the opposite direction--I'm lucky only half an hour from there.

I wish I could figure out how to automatically reply to someone's post when in a thread! That way I wouldn't have to cut and paste!

Just for clarification sake.....flying out of LAX to Venice......flying home Naples to LAX. Perhaps that is why it is so expensive. I could fly to Rome and then take a train to Venice. I guess I could also do the same from Naples back to Rome and home.

We were startled, too, and decided waiting would only make it worse. We just bought flights to the UK for next May, using miles/cash for two tickets and a third person paying cash. Flying from the east coast, we were amazed at the cost variance depending on US departure city. Flying from Boston to Heathrow on BA, our cash-paying friend saved over $1500. This includes a hotel room the day before our BOS - LHR flight but is well worth it.

flying out of LAX to Venice......flying home Naples to LAX.

You are looking at 'multi-city' ( aka open jaw) and not 2 one way tickets, right?

Sometimes airfares this far in advance rarely have deals. The airlines have no incentive to lower the fares so far in advance.

I would also look at flying into another country other than Italy and make your way to Italy on a regional airline in Europe or depending where you land, taking a train into Italy. (Perhaps Zurich). Round trip to and from Rome may be cheaper as well. Play around with different situations because airfares are illogical.

We booked our flights back in March for our late September trip. We fly from DTW and all destinations in northern Italy were crazy expensive. On a whim, I looked at flying into Frankfurt with a shuttle to Turin booked separately. The savings were significant. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was around $800 - $,1000 per ticket, perhaps more.

The shuttle is a bit of a risk obviously, but we have a 4 hour window. The tickets from Frankfurt to Turin will be about $130 each. All told, were are flying to Frankfurt in business and returning from Bologna premium economy cheaper than we flew business and comfort+ last year (to Florence, from Linate).

I'd like to know answer to joe32's question. This looks suspiciously like two one-way fares.

Robin, maybe you can share exact dates your looking at, and see if we can recreate your fares.

We're you by chance searching for two tickets - are you quoting the combined price? Did you specify premium fares in your search? A very specific routing or airline? If so, just do a basic search and look at fare levels afterwards. As mentioned above, actual dates would be helpful - are you competing for seats over the Easter holiday? Random searches show tickets in the 2,500 - 3,500 range.

Yes, I am booking R/T not One Way—Open Jaw
Yes, the price I am quoting is for two people

I will look at flying to neighboring country. I will also be looking at cheaper airfare from LAX to JFK and see about booking a flight to Europe from there.

Thank you to everyone who has responded! You have given me some good suggestions!

Your post prompted me to check BA for next spring as I was hoping those high prices wouldn’t be reflected. After checking on flights out of Seattle, I put in the same dates -late March departure and early May back home-for LAX/VCE and Naples/LAX-Premium economy came in at $1992R/T. That to me is about normal for how prices have been going. Therefore, it seems if you aren’t relegated to one particular airline, you ought to be able to find a decent fare-far better than the 6-7K!!
Good luck with the search.

I just checked the same flights we took in May of this year to see what the price currently is for the same dates in 2024. The price is unchanged, this is on United.

I just checked the same flights we took in May of this year to see what the price currently is for the same dates in 2024. The price is unchanged, this is on United.

Would be helpful to ID the 'where', class of service and price of those flights, per person r/t.

I checked Delta and got a fare of $2500 pp for seats in comfort (premium economy).
I noticed that for regular economy the fare was much cheaper, $1800 pp.

Consider taking a one way transatlantic cruise to Rome (from Florida) You can usually find a TA with Royal Caribbean for around $1400pp and if you have enough miles used them for the one-way ticket home.

Multi City SFO—MXP return FCO-SFO Economy $1537/pp May 2024

Make sure you check all airports that are reasonably close. I have found Milan much less expensive than Venice. Arrive Milan and train to Venice, which takes a few hours.

I just did a search on Lufthansa, LAX to Rome round trip in April. I found premium economy tickets with rebooking and refundable for approximately $1,500 each way....definitely check out Lufthansa. They are one of three airlines that book a year in advance - the other 2 are British Airways and Air France. We flew on British Airways but the seats were small, Lufthansa was much more roomy and we flew economy. If you fly on Lufthansa economy, you can choose a seat with extra leg room but the seat selection will be about $100. Anyway, give them a look, you will be surprised. No one should pay $6,000 for tickets. That is truly outrageous.
Also, do an Expedia or Kayak search, I was surprised at all the options and prices.

We have booked Best of Rome for October 8-14. From Minneapolis, I have found a RT on Air Canada (economy) for $1,360. Google Flights says the typical fare for Rome in October is $1,650-$2650.

Comments?

As I understand it, the $6,000/$7,000 is round trip for two people -- so $3,000/$3,500 per person ?

$3500 each is not a bad price at all for Business Class.

For Venice, we would much prefer to arrive by train that by plane. The tripfrom the airport to hotel is not much fun. So we prefer to fly into Milan or even Zurich, depending on how much extra time we have. One night in Milan provides a chance to go up on the roof of the Duomo, which is always a Good Thing.

I live in LA, and just checked LAX-FCO IN October with flexible dates. Economy fares are just under $1,000. While I’d like to fly a better class, the flights are torture to me regardless where I sit, so I save my Euros by toughening it out in Economy. And I cannot justify doubling the cost for short term comfort. Just my take.

Thank you all for your great advice!

Besides the typical price swings of a few hundred dollars from day to day, I would not expect prices to substantively decrease in the next six months.

We are going to Oaxaca and Mexico City next March during in/around Holy Week and finally bought our tickets for around $500 each way.(Volaris is a no go airline for me-I read the reviews). We thought ithe prices were bad then but now instead of falling they have gone up in price.

And any price different going to another airport to depart is negated when you factor in gas, driving and having to pay to park at airport for two weeks. Was actually talking to my British driver when I was in London going to the airport and he used to be able to take his family to Dubai and Turkey on package holidays twice a year. Now, the fares/expenses are so high, he's lucky that he takes them to Croatian beach holiday once a year. As I've said, it's going to turn out like it was in the 1970s when only the rich could afford to fly internationally.

I have been watching flight prices for next May for a while and finally booked last week. I got One-way tickets to Naples from St. Louis for $1325. I had to leave on a Wednesday but that was the best price I could find. I asked the American Airlines agent if they would lower my cost if the price went down between now and next May and she said YES! So, that would be a reason for you to purchase now if your airline will do the same.

Now, I'm hoping we will have enough miles to cover the return trip from Venice.

BTW, the cost was not different if we purchased one way vs multi-city.

Adoing64, what class of travel did you book? Thx for sharing!

I’m looking at Venice out if Detroit for next spring. I’m usually a big delta fan but Turkish air looks so much cheaper. I have done Turkish air in turkey. Anyone have opinions on Turkish air thru Istanbul business class? Is it equivalent to delta one?

Pat, I got regular main cabin refundable. They do not offer super economy non-refundable on that flight.