Air fare to Rome

To quote another sage poster here, the best time to book is when the price is lowest. What's that you say? You want to know when that will be? So do all of us - and, for obvious reasons, the airlines aren't telling. For decades, the airlines have used sophisticated software to change prices constantly to try to fill planes, and no one can predict them. So, don't listen to "experts" who will tell you rigid formulas like "book 6 weeks in advance and you'll always get the best price." There's certainly no rush to book now for May 2013. And prices are unlikely to go higher than what you're finding now. The people who book now are the ones who have to - conferences, business, and the like. What I'd do is set a fare alert from Kayak.com, as well as from all the airlines that fly that route (get that info from Kayak, then go to the airline websites directly). Then, in a few months, start checking regularly. When you see a price you want, jump - if you wait even a few hours (say, to consult a spouse, or go home to get your credit card information), it could be gone (we saw posts about this on the Helpline recently). Some sales are announced and have a definite deadline (e.g., "book by midnight tomorrow for these fares"). Others are just random reductions, and can disappear within the hour. Since you haven't booked yet, are you sure you want to fly round-trip? What places are you planning to go? You may do better with an open-jaw ("multi-city") ticket, into one city and out of another. Even if it's "more expensive," you save time and money not having to backtrack.

Charles - That is the age old question and if I had the answer I would share it, for a price ;-). Basically when I have a rough idea of my travel dates, I start watching airfares. When I find a fare that I'm comfortable with I buy my tickets. As an fyi looking on skyscanner.com, I've found r/t air fare MCI-FCO departing 5/2 returning 5/23 for $1,100 per person on US Airways.

In my personal experience on the airlines I fly, Rome is the most expensive European city to fly into/out of. If you can fly open jaws (aka 'multi-city'), you could probably save a few dollars. Now, if you'll promise not to make a voodoo doll with my name on it... ...I'd wait until after the first of the year before buying tickets (probably). I also would be watching fares like a hawk in the meantime. DO set up fare-watcher accounts with Kayak, etc, so you can watch the trend in pricing. Every fare I searched for - European and otherwise - between now and March 2013 was around $1100. I know from experience that starting in the winter months, the airlines are practically paying people to go to Europe in March but they certainly haven't started that yet LOL! It's just a little early. I have lots of experience with American Airlines; you can save a ticket for 24 hours on their website. That will give you time to quickly consult with others in your party if necessary without worrying about that fare disappearing like they are wont to do :-( Working from past years, $1500 is awfully high, though...They've been closer to $1000-1100 for the last few years, and even less before that. Again, if you'll be moving around Europe, definitely look into flyng into or out of another city besides Rome. You'll save time and money.

Hello fellow Liberty Resident. I sent you a private message on Saturday. Hope you received it. If not let me know. I also found fares in the $1100 range in May. But I had to just pick some dates. Your actual dates may change the price but not to $1500. IMO.

By searching flight options, you will not only see going rates, but will see what the various flight options are along with layovers. Pay attention to total travel time, but sometimes can be deceiving as sites like Kayak, can put together "unreasonable" layovers, there is no chance in making a connecting flight. Also understand if you can fly direct to Europe from your closest major airport, or if you need to connect in the US first. As you are exploring potential options and paying attention to prices, ask questions on this site as you have a lot of people with experience on airlines/connections, etc. If you have educated yourself to recognize a good deal as well as your preferred routes, connections, and airlines, you will be prepared to make a quick decision when you see cheap flights.
One other hint, I use a site like Expedia to search across multiple airlines for prices and options, but I prefer to book directly with the airline unless I'm saving enough money to make a difference. In the event you need to change your flights, or your flights are changed by the airline, easier to contact the airline directly. Sometimes when booking through a travel agency (Expedia, etc.) airlines require you make changes through the travel agency.

Hey, You guys are great. Here is more detail (as of now) our plans are to fly MCI to FCO on May 18 and arrive early on May 19 for a Royal Caribbean cruise May 19 to may 26. When we get off the cruise we are going to take a train to venice for 3 or so days (day trip by train to florence) and then take train back to Rome for 2 or 3 days before we fly home on June 1. The May 18 and June 1 dates are locked in due to work schedules for some folks.

You are right about the price of $1500ish but you are traveling closer the the high season and those are the fares they are asking right now. Might they go down, no one knows. (Plus weekend travel is often in higher demand so it does usually cost more.) I did a search on United.com (Multi City) and if you flew into Rome and out of Venice on your dates (18th & 1st) the ticket is $93 less. Also you would save the cost of the train back to Rome. ($50 - $75 each). So if you just stay in Rome after the cruise and "do" Rome then travel to Venice you would also not lose a day of sightseeing to a day of travel back from Venice to Rome. My search found this: Round trip Rome was $1707. One stop going, in D.C. Multi-City into Rome out of Venice was $1613. To Rome one stop in D.C. From Venice two stops one in Zurich one in D.C.
Flight departs Venice at 10:30 AM. Back to KC by 6:30 PM. So no early morning transfer to the airport. Which is a good thing flying from Venice.IMO.

Almost a year ago we started to look for flights to get us to Italy for June/July 2012 (just got back a month ago - it was great). We saw fares between $1250-$1500 no matter what combination of Italian cities we chose from Minneapolis. For a family of five who had never payed more than $960 to get to Europe before, this was too much. So here is what I did; 1) We have friends in NYC and I know that there are MANY, MANY more flight options from NYC to Europe. We also live only 400 miles from Chicago, where there are MANY more flight options to Europe. We also have low-cost airlines that fly from Minneapolis to NYC and Chicago. 2) With those fresh options in hand, I started finding flights on Aer Lingus that were just under $1000. Aer Lingus flies out of both NYC and Chicago. Encouraged, I started to look more closely at various dates and even more cities in Europe to fly in and out of. 3) We finally settled on this; Minneapolis to NYC for $119 (visit friends). NYC to Venice in mid-June & Paris (ended the trip there after a week in Rome) to Chicago in mid-July for $798pp. We drove a rental car home from Chicago for $90 for all of us together. Total cost per person for all of this was still well under $1000 per person. Now, in your circumstances, you can't really go to that much trouble. You are more restricted with your dates and locations. But you can still consider other US airports that have more options/competition with flights to Europe. Do you have a cheap option to get to Chicago or NYC? If so, Aer Lingus is an excellent option with multiple connections to Italy and a web site that makes it pretty easy to find the best price. Good luck!