Airline travel Seattle to Rome

Hi-haven't used flight guru nor flown business class, so can't help there. The cheap seats in coach are going the same place at the same speed, and I believe your checked bags all go on the same luggage carousel at the arrival airport, but you'll get more pampering for your $3,500.

As for Sicily - it's fantastic, and if you can find time to get there, by all means go! It looks like Rick's 13-day Tour ends in Naples. We flew from Rome in December 2012, but I believe you can fly or take a boat from Naples. Flying was much faster, and was cheap. You can fly in or out of either Palermo or Catania. We rented a car, and the highways on Sicily are great (and charge no tolls), but some towns have very narrow streets and parking requires patience and skill (get the smallest rental car you can, for maneuverability). October will be less hot than the weather when so many people visit during summer.

Rick doesn't have a guidebook for Sicily, so Lonely Planet is a good place to start. Picking up a rental car in Sicily would be my first choice, probably at Palermo airport. There has been a fair amount of Sicily discussion on this Italy Travel Forum, which might boost your confidence.

Do you mean Alpha Flight Guru?

http://alphaflightguru.org/

It sounds like they deal in mileage tickets. There have been lots of cautions about brokers like this on air travel forums like Flyertalk and Tripadvisor. Most airline mileage programs prohibit selling your extra miles, and will cancel the ticket if they catch someone doing it. People who have bought this type of ticket have reported showing up at the airport and being denied boarding as their ticket was invalid. Personally, I would not risk that.

Do you have any way to get to New York cheaply? You can fly from there to either London or Paris in Business Class for $4300 Round trip in October on British Airways or their partner Open Skies. Then fly economy from there to Rome.

Have you considered any of the "Economy Plus" options? If what you're wanting is a little more room, that can save you TONS over business class.

I too would be wary of a website that claims to sell cheap business class tickets.

We fly British Airways in business class using miles. It is not free; it ends up costing about the same as Economy Plus but we find it well worth it.

If you have Alaska Airlines miles ( many Seattleites do) you can use them on American, British, Delta, and Emirates.

Wisels64---have you given up on the idea of Alpha Flight Guru? I hope so. I was reading Tripadvisor this morning and came across a thread with posts by people who used them and had their tickets canceled at the airport because they were bought with other peoples' air miles.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i12290-k5097210-o50-Alpha_Flight_Guru-Bargain_Travel.html

And there are others. just search Alpha Flight Guru and you'll find more there.

Looks like most people get most of their money back eventually, but imagine the inconvenience of showing up at the airport all ready for a trip, and then being denied boarding.

$3,500 for a r/t from SEA to FCO is a lot of money for my taste. An economy class ticket, even in peak season, would be less than half that. For me to pay $2,000 extra to go to Europe, the flight attendants would need to give me a type of service that would be illegal in most US States, except for maybe Nevada.

Go Economy and maybe take Economy plus/Economy Comfort if you need extra leg room.

Roberto, it depends on the county.

Zoe, it could also depend on the flight attendant ;-)

Have you looked into flying out of Vancouver, BC? That is what we will do for our trip. We saved about $3000 for the 4 of us. We will just get a one way rental car to drive up to the airport.

Sicily is wonderful, as long as you have at least several days. In May 2014 I flew between Naples and Palermo on Volotea Air. Very reasonable fares and a fine one hour flight. If you can make firm plans well in advance, they often offer truly remarkably cheap fares, like 19 euros. Be aware: their carry-on limits are really small, so I would recommend assuming that you will be checking a bag, and reserve and pay for that when you buy your ticket, which is much cheaper that adding later or at the gate.

Shirley---about that one-way car rental: are you sure you can rent a car in the Washington and drop it in Canada? If so, how much is the drop fee?

thank you all so much for your input. therefore, i have ruled out alpha flight guru....looking at premium economy...yes i will check into going out of vancouver/air canada or other airlines. we can fly non-rev alaska air. to vancouver we don't have enough miles to use our mileage plan. still contemplating sicily...it just looks so inviting.

I don't have the exact number right now. If I remember it right, from Sea-Tac to Vancouver is about $150 including all fees. It's more expensive the other way because Budget is out of cars on the day we need it. We also did a one way rental when we took the Alaska cruise a few years ago and had no trouble with it.

The Vancouver option is definitely one to consider once you weigh in the cost and time associated with getting to Vancouver and back. If you've got the time, it can definitely save you hundreds, but a big variable is the amount of time necessary to cross the border if you're driving. The train is more reliable, but its schedule might not jibe with what you need. The best solution, if you can swing it, is to spend a couple of days before and after your Rome trip in Vancouver itself. It is such a beautiful city.