We're looking at the fares to Italy for a trip in May. A couple weeks ago we saw rates of $850 each and thought OK -that's reasonable, lets see what they do.
Now we only find rates of $1250. Do the rates go up (down) frequently, or are we past a down season and they're only headed up?
Help - trying to figure all this out. Thanks.
I would shop around especially if you are not leaving anytime soon. I paid $550 from Denver to Rome and returned from Venice less than weeks ago. I booked it 6 months in advance. I had one connection on both flights. I checked daily and one day it was $550 and I jumped on it.
Both Steve and Jennifer offer great suggestions as airfares change frequently. My open jaw tix for June from SFO to Italy next June were $1200ish, but I wanted to be able to make firm hotel reservations ahead of time. I KNOW they'll come down...they always do. My friend went to Rome in May, booked 5 wks prior to departure and paid $550 RT from SFO and only one stop! Sometimes it pays to be spontaneous. Checking everyday is a great idea as is email notifications!
The question is....do rates go up and down frequently...ooops, they just changed...oops, they changed again.
And I'm not kidding....computers are working constantly to figure out what is the best rate to charge on a particular route. I have been on Sabre and actually seen rate changes in a five minute period.
The best thing to do is follow the fares and when they hit the price you want to pay, buy them. Early predictions for 2010 travel is similar to 2009. Not very good so airlines will be doing what they can to put bodies in seats.
I agree. I tried all kinds of goofy suggestions about trying to buy certain days, certain times of the day, etc. Finally, I found a good rate and bought them. I just purchased tickets for May from Swiss Air (www.swiss.com) from Chicago to Rome for $750. I looked on their website and they still have good prices, although they only fly out of Miami and L.A. (for places closer to you) so you would be including airfare to those cities, as well. We are driving 11 hours from northern Minnesota to Chicago (which turns out to be worth it because we have relatives in Chicago where we can leave our car) to get good rates.
Dave,i've been looking for 2 tickets to Italy for more than 2 months now,checking 2 to 3 times daily.What i learned is that in general the patern is UP,at least from week to week.But within the week some time i found a better fare on let say friday than th one on monday.I hope i'm not beeing confusing.Mid september on British from Tampa to Bologna saw one fare $550,which i sneezed at.Off corse we lost that one.We wanted to go around Xmass.Ended up paying $650 on Delta,from Tampa to Milan.It is very important what part of May you want to fly.At the end of that month,i believe around 23 the summer fares go in effect.The fares shoot up almost double some time.It is very true, i'm from Europe and fly over often.One more thing,if your dates are flexible,try playing with them,2 up 4 down,3 and 3,4 and 3 and so forth.I got very different results each time.Hope this helps.Good luck and happy travels.
Hi Dave,
I have heard explanations for the rhyme and reason and days of the week that airfare rates fluctuate. It still doesn't seem to follow many patterns.
I usually go to Kayak.com where you can input your search criteria to search for fares. They show you what all of the airlines and travel websites are advertising at that time. You can also sign up for fair watcher here. This service will email you as the fares drop. Then when it is at a reasonable rate you can purchase it, as opposed to you searching multiple websites daily.
Hope this helps.
Ciao
Thank you for all the replies and suggestions. We are watching daily to see how the rates change. Mostly going up lately, but we're hoping that we will be able to catch a sale at some point.
Thanks for all the ideas. Dave
I fyou dont have to go specific dates, use Kayak.com and go to BUZZ and then your airport and go to europe. It will give you the best rates for the month of May 2010
Hi Dave:
Not sure they go to Rome, but we just booked round trip tickets from Denver to Barcelona via London and back at an amazing price. Non-refundable, two weeks advance booking with one year for the return.
Also might want to consider taking SW Airlines (now booking $50 flights) to Denver and flying from there to Europe. Just a thought!
Paula
We found great prices on When to fly.com and used them last spring. We booked the end of December for travel mid May. I found rates change from the time I logged out and logged back on to my computer though so it didn't always pay to wait. From Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Rome, round trip, we paid about $900 per person.
Hi - I know this is an older post, but I am going in March/April and have been keeping my eyes open everyday. So far, I found a flight for $531 round trip including taxes and fees on www.vayama.com. My search was for Pittsburgh to Rome, so I'm not sure if you can get the same deal, but it's worth a shot.
