Flight date advice

Flight might cost a tad more because it’s a Saturday but not because it’s Memorial Day weekend

I doubt the difference is enough to change your itinerary

Prices may or may not change due to the increased demand around the holiday weekend. But availability will probably be more constrained.

For me, any price change would need to be pretty significant for me to lop off 3 days from a short (already too short) trip to Italy. You have 16 usable days on your original plan. You would have just 13 usable days on the truncated version.

If the ticket price is indeed higher on the 27th (and it might or might not be), ask yourself this question: How much more would you be willing to pay if it could buy you three more days in Italy? Heck, if it was me, I'd be looking at flying home on Monday the 30th or Tuesday the 31st (a few days later, rather than a few days earlier) -- unless you must be back by Sunday, or you're just sick of Italy and would rather relax at home.

For most of us, time is our most constrained commodity (usable time at our destination) . Most of us can usually find a little more money. It's harder for a lot of us to come up with more time. Tick tock.

I'd suggest setting up price alerts on Google Flights and start tracking price fluctuations. You can observe what is happening for this year around that holiday, altho that's no guarantee. You can also use Google Flights to look at rates across the months, to determine if one-two day date changes save money; often they do, in my experience.

You are flying open jaw, which is a good choice. For tracking price fluctuations on Google Flights I haven't figured out how to do so with open jaw; I'd just set up a RT to Venice alert, then a second RT to Rome alert, with your proposed dates. Usually open jaw doesn't increase the cost.

Safe travels!

I would check flights this year for a comparable time frame and see if there is any meaningful fare difference, between your original schedule and the revised/shortened version.

Pure speculation on my part, but I would be surprised if any meaningful fare difference is caused by the holiday. Suspect day of the week would be the larger factor.

Based on a very solid foundation of ignorance - my thoughts. Seems to me anticipating / fretting about the cost of air flights for a specific date over one year in the future - is a bit extreme. Doubtful you can place any reservations this far in advance. I do not know specifically, but many AirBnB's have rather liberal policies for modifying or cancel bookings. Ask - if they do, you can then adjust your lodging to accommodate you flight date at when you settle on that date. If not - likely other lodgings would be more helpful Also - my guess - only a guess, any price adjustment on your flight tickets - will be minor in relation to the total trip - may not be worth stewing about. Myself - to me a bigger concern would be the number of places where you have lodging for 3 nights. In effect - at the very most you will only have two full days at those locations. Once you allow for transportation, packing and unpacking - you will have less. I understand that some enjoy the speed more than I - but, the total time moving from one to another deducts from actually doing. And yes - I have been accused of not being concerned enough about details. We all pick our poison. Looks like a fun trip whatever you decide. Enjoy.

Thank you all. I will pass on your comments to my friend. I agree that even though it might cost more, shortening the trip is in itself more costly in terms of less time in Italy.
I’m willing to pay more to be there.
Maybe I should start a new thread, but now that I have lodging scheduled, am I supposed to get travel insurance within 10 days? If so, who do you recommend us using?

There are numerous threads on travel insurance. You don't need to get til you have actually PAID for some portion of the trip. For me that is most often when I purchase my flight.
You only need to insure the prepaid/non refundable costs. If your airbnb's are cancellable/refundable there no reason to insure those costs. (and I would never pay so far in advance for lodging, especially not airbnb)

Hi there..oh my...shorten a trip to Italy???
Please add on if possible. I have never regretted a few extra dollars.. you are not certain this is the case..for a few extra days of bliss in a foreign country! You might check thru your airlines for travel insurance..I have a policy through my homeowners insurance that I utilize for long trips..just a thought! Enjoy your wonderful trip!

My personal policy has always been to book the flights first then the accommodations. Nevertheless, in your case, if air flight prices dropped significantly by not traveling on a Saturday (which may or may not be the case), I would consider postponing my return a day or two, rather than shorten an already short trip. In such case, all you need to do is prolong your Rome stay by a night or two (which would not be so bad since you are staying only 3 nights in Rome).

I agree with you all about the value of holding onto those last days in Rome. I also like the idea of staying a few more days in the event the weekend prices are high. Seems like an easy fix.
We will keep our itinerary Intact until we are able to look at flights in a few months.
Yes, we booked lodging really early, but we were able to save a significant amount of money when I happened across some great deals. I normally book flights first, but had to jump on the apartments.
Thank you for explaining travel insurance.

I like to travel in May. It works for my job and we get the shoulder season rates. What I've found is that May is one price but as soon as you start looking for flights in June for a return, the prices shoot up. Just keep looking and pricing. These days, with the fluidity of flight availability, your actual flights might change a few times before you go.

Memorial Day weekend might affect domestic air prices, but not for foreign travel. How many people fly off to Rome for the long weekend? And it they did, they would not be returning home on Saturday. I’d say there is no basis for your friend’s concern.

I checked the flight prices for Memorial Day weekend this year, using British Airways, and prices for the return flight are no higher on the Saturday than other days around that time. Prices do vary day by day and by time of day, but not significantly enough to make a difference in one’s trip plans.

Actually, the biggest difference came up in pricing the open-jaw (multi city) options. Roundtrip to Venice from North Carolina (Charlotte) for dates in 2022 in May, equivalent to your 2023 dates, are $300 lower than flying into Venice and home from Rome. The Rome flights are higher overall, at least on this airline. Other airlines may be different, but if not, it still makes sense to fly open jaw to save time.

Thank you Lola for taking time to check on the prices this coming May. Glad to hear there wasn’t much difference on Memorial Day. The concern was not for the Rome leg, but was the second leg going to be expensive.
Looks like the flight schedule opens 331 days prior to travel dates, so we will be looking in June.

CT
I’m happy to hear May has been a good experience for you. Luckily our flight days will be in May and not June according to your info.