Cost of Seattle - Naples / Venice - Seattle should I change gateways?

I've been pricing the Seattle to Venice route (not Venice to Seattle, as I am coming home from London) for a few months now and have not seen much price change. Lufthansa does that route via Frankfurt and consistently prices out the highest. BA does it through London/Heathrow, but prices out at about 1600 in June. I finally went for Air Canada at about 1350 per ticket. Their website is pricing Seattle to Rome and then Venice to Seattle at 1250 for some dates I randomly chose for May. Plane changes in Toronto on the way out and Frankfurt on the way back.

One thing to be aware of is that your ticket price may vary by as much as $300 - $400 depending on the exact dates next May that you choose to fly. You can use farecompare.com to check your various options. It will give you a price breakdown per date.

The little legs to Naaples and Venice can add substantially to the ticket as compared to flights into Rome and Milan simply because those are bigger airport with more traffic. You might start with those cities as a base point and then add in the additional cost of reaching those cities via train. But I also think that a flight under $1000 from Seattle in May is a little unrealistic. Jan, Feb maybe but not May.

The Seattle market has limited competition so fares are generally higher than other West coast airports. I have not seen fares under $1000 for high season travel. We have done that in early April (on British), but never in May or later. Kayak is showing the best fare for open jaws into Naples and out of Venice around $1230, but that is a flight with 2 stops in each direction which I personally would not consider. You might look at fling into Rome instead of Naples, either RT or open jaw flying out of Venice. It is quick and easy to get between the two on the train. I saw a fare on British for $1150, RT to Rome in May. (I did not check the price for an open jaws flight with return from Venice. If you do that, check to see where the Venice flight lands in London. That flight used to go to Gatwick and you had to transfer between airports. I don't know if that has changed recently.)

I agree with Lola. You probably won't even be able to find a flight for less than $1000 into a major hub, much less smaller airports like Naples and Venice. Going in and out of Rome is your best bet, but definitely check out Milan fares too. Even then for May I'd personally jump on a $1200 fare (as long as it was only 2 legs). I am also looking at May/June fares for a number of Europe destinations and finding them VERY high right now. $1400-$1500 just to London or Paris, for example. But some are saying that there are not going to be bargains next year--that it's just going to be expensive.

You might look at round-trip flights from Seattle to London, and then look at the low-cost (and major) European airlines from London to various Italian cities and back as a separate booking. (Check one way and round trip fares - a round-trip flight from Munich to Paris on Air France last July was cheaper than one-way; I just didn't use the return ticket.) I agree with other posters that your $1,000 target is probably unrealistic, but you may get lucky. And it feels better paying the higher-than-anticipated price if you've exhausted all other possibilities.

Thank you everyone so much! Based on your advice about fares and airports I jumped on tickets Seattle to Milan and Rome to Seattle on American Airlines for $1,007 each. I really appreciate all the advice, take care.