Washington Dulles to Italy - Flight help!

I flew from Dulles to Florence last fall using Scandinavian Airlines (connecting in Copenhagen). I just booked their equivalent of basic economy and it was very affordable. No frills, everything was pretty standard, but a pleasant experience. Got there on time and no issues with the layover in Copenhagen. I flew home from Rome so don't know about returning from Naples.

It was my only experience with Scandinavian so don't know that I can really wholeheartedly recommend them, but worked for me.

Use Google flights
Look for “multi city flights” not 2 one way tickets )

There will not be direct flights either direction

Start with Google Flights to get a good look at what flights and connections are available. You can set up price alerts for a particular itinerary.

You can select a set of flights and Google Flights will give you the link to book directly with the airline.

While I personally decided I've aged out of flying across the Atlantic in economy, I would consider eight hours from IAD doable. (I'm on the west coast so I'm looking 10-12 hour direct flights, and I'm done with those in seats I don't fit in.)

Have you looked at Google Flights for your flight options with a multicity ticket? You can filter for number of stops, and can display options by most popular or by price.

I picked a couple of random June dates and saw no direct flights, but there was an abundance of diffrent flight choices with single connections.

Most major airlines are more similar than different. Look at the price, total flight time as well as connection time. With connecting flights on a single ticket, you should be OK with a layover of 2 hours.

It can depend on the connecting airport. But there are other factors that are out of your control and can't really be predicted- your first flight could be delayed. There could be bad weather. There could be a lot of arriving flights that causes a backup at Passport Control, etc, etc. My point is- don't overthink it. You just can't anticipate everything. Everyone has their most and least favorite airport. In the end, it doesn't matter. If you miss your connection, the airline is obligated to get you to your destination.

I agree, look at Google Flights or Kayak or any of the big travel sites that show all the flights.

For the outbound leg there appear to be no nonstop flights from the US to Florence so you’ll have to connect somewhere in Europe. Be sure to allow extra time on the connection for getting through immigration. You might want to consider flying into Milan instead so you can get a nonstop flight from IAD or at least a connection on the US East Coast.

For the return leg there are also no nonstops so you should do the opposite - connect in Europe so you do US immigration and customs at IAD.

Once you find the flights that look best, go to the airline website to book them. That way you’ll be sure you avoid any scams or unpleasant surprises that could occur with a 3rd party site.

Good luck with the trip!

Another search engine for Mulltu-City flights is www.Skyscanner.com

From Dulles to Europe, we always fly United. When we went to Italy in 2022, we flew Dulles to Frankfurt and then connected there for a flight to Milan. If you are open to flying back to the States from Rome, you can get a direct flight to Dulles.

Ditto the advice on looking on Kayak or Google Flights.

Saw on random dates via Google Flights some good prices on ITA with a layover in Rome both directions. Not super long layovers either (a few hours in each direction)