From London to Rome

Flying from Rome to London is very expensive because of the EU rules on intercontential flying. If you want the least expensive choice it would have to be train. If you dont mind a 6 to 7 hour journey you can start at night and be in Paris by the morning then it is a 2 1/2 hour Chunnel ride from Paris to London. This whole trip shouldnt cost more than $350-$400 per person 2nd class travel.

Nan - You should be able to find something cheaper than 800 USD. Even when the exchange rate was at its worst (1GBP=2USD) that is 400 pounds.

Checking whichbudget.com but without knowing your days:

You can fly from to Rome Ciampino w/ Ryanair from London Stansted and to Rome Fiumicino w/ Easyjet from Gatwick.

Both of these airlines are what Budget Carriers in Europe. They charge your for everything and anything and are extremely strict about check in times. The most disciplined and frugal can find one way tickets for 50-100 USD regular.

This may or not be preferable to you. For example on June 25th Ryanair has 4 flights to Rome. Each costs 28.27 GBP (~40 USD) before they start with the add on fees. Do realize if you go to Stansted you also will need to spend about 1 hour getting up to the airport is as it is outside the M25 Orbital. Although I believe direct buses exist from London.

At least it's another option for you.

There is a very good budget airline that flies to Rome-FCO from London-Gatwick. The airline is www.easyjet.com. I see fares as low as 22Euro per person for September. The big hint on flying the European budget airlines is to book as early as you can. The earlier you book, the cheaper the fare. As the seats begin to fill up, the fares go up as well. Secondly, carefully read their rules regarding luggage, weights and carry-on. They charge well for going outside their limits.

As a side note, RyanAir does not fly in or out of any major city. They fly in and out of smaller airports near the big cities. You have to bus to and from these airports.

We always fly with British Airways from London Garwick to Rome FCO. Never had to pay more than £100 each return, often less. It is always worth checking with the big carriers for special deals, often they are not much more when you take into account all the extras the buget airlines add on.

The reason we prefer BA is that, apart from the more generous luggage allowance, we don't like the idea of having to find seats after we get on the aircraft rather than having them allocated at check-in and BA's on-line check-in facility. Also the price you see is the price you pay, you don't have to work out all the additional charges.

Nan, what date you flying. Flying from ROme to London is generally pretty cheap. I've done this on BA for as little as $100.

When searching, use "LON" and "ROM" as your codes. This will give you all of the London airports and both of the Rome airports.

BA and easyjet both fly direct. I agree with Linda, I also prefer BA. I have flown BA between London and Italy 4 times in last 3 years and all the tickets have been reasonable.

Thanks much. I will forward this info to my friend.

She is flying to London for about 4 days, then flying to Rome on June 14 to spend 10 days with me, ending in Venice. Then flying back to London, then on to the US.

So there are a lot of connections there!

But, we will make it and have a great time!

thnx again

The trick is you have to fly into Gatwick instead of Heathrow. Flights are very cheap if you reserve them ahead of time (although direct flights do tend to sell out rather quickly). I bought a May London to Rome ticket for $75 a few months ago. Its much cheaper and faster than the train.