I Can't Believe the Airfares to Italy 2010

Hi Stephanie,
I think its a little early for airfares for next year to be competitive. Usually the end of the year holiday season has to be over for the airlines to start their sales again. You should kept monitoring but do not despair yet. From Atlanta Delta usually has great fares to various destinations in Europe. For now you'll have to play the wait and see game.

Hi Stephanie,

Use www.kayak.com to track airfares--if you use the "Fare Alert" feature they will send you a daily e-mail with fares for the cities you're interested in flying to--that way you'll know when a good deal is available.

I agree with Nadine--it's still early!

You might consider finding a good deal to some other city (say, London) then taking a budget airline the rest of the way. When I did this going to Spain last year, I saved about $600 each way. If you have to make stops anyway, it won't matter where you stop.

I'd definitely say it's too early. Also, check airlines directly. The consolidators aren't always the cheapest. isn't Atlanta a big Delta hub and doesn't Delta do Codedshare with Alitalia? Sorry if I'm totally wrong on that but I would think if that's true, there should be some decent prices out of Atlanta to Italy. Also, check off-season. I'm flying SwissAir from LA to Florence with 1 stop for under $600 this October! Good luck!

It's way to early Stephanie. Most airlines don't begin putting in their best pricing until around 6 months. (3-6 months before usually having the best prices). And depending how far out you're looking, some of them may not have even put all the inventory in yet. I'd wait.

Stephanie you did not say when exactly you were planning to travel, but just as an example, when I started looking for fares in April between SFO-Zurich-Munich-SFO for August the fares started at $1,300. But when I got my tickets in May the fare had decreased to $740.00 and by the next week it had gone down another $150.00. I used Kayak as well, and also went to the airlines websites. Delta has great sales. I am using them next three weeks to Zurich (yes!).

Try fly.com. I have been checking airfares for next May and found a flight from Chicago to Rome for $705. I also found flights from Chicago to Frankfurt for around $600. I have never actually booked through this site though, just dreamin' right now! I realize you are flying out of Atlanta but this site has been by far the cheapest for any flights I have checked.

Well there are actually 6 of us going next May. I have always purchased my airfare early, probably much earlier than most & have never paid anywhere near what the prices are presently. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll just wait & watch & hopefully prices will drop as we really want to go.

It only takes 10 people to get a group rate, if you can get four more people be sure to check into that when it gets closer.

Greg

It's never "too early" or "too late" to grab a bargain airfare. The sales pop up whenever the airlines want them to pop up, and you just have to know what a "good" deal is so you can jump on it when it pops up.

I just booked a rather good airfare roundtrip from Knoxville, TN to VCE for $700 total from USAirways for June 2010.

I agree! I've been looking at Orlando to Paris for June and it is $1500 so I have set up a Kayak daily alert. Last month Delta had this crazy $211 Tampa to Madrid (or $340 from Orlando) sale going on and I was in the middle of making the reservation (had booked the outbound) when the system literally kicked me out and the fares doubled. I called Delta and they said basically, "too bad, so sad, your fare is not guaranteed until you hit "send" on the 2nd/return portion"....I'm not loving them right now, but the point is that freaky fares do pop up but you have to be ready with dates and credit card in hand!

I bought early for my 09 trip thinking prices may get higher closer to my departure. I paid 1000 per person. (from my smallish airport) My friend bought his two month before for like 400. I also noticed lots of specials 1 or 2 month ahead.

I like to be sure on dates though, so I'm glad I bought when I did.

Because we had booked a cruise, I needed to secure the air travel quickly. I watched fares for several weeks and then grabbed a continential flight from Austin to Rome for $1000.00. I was happy with my decision and the fact that I was able to secure a fairly direct flight, Austin to Newark and Newark to Rome, making overall travel time less.

Also check other departure places besides Atlanta. My sister booked flights on Delta from Huntsville thru Atlanta to Dublin which were actually about $100 cheaper than the direct flight from Atlanta. So check places like Birmingham, too.

Fares will continue to stay lower than last yr so... When you have a date range start tracking fares starting about 6 mo. ahead. Be flexible with your arriving and departing airports & dates espec. for Italy which can make a huge diff in airfares. If fares are still to high for you consider a flight into a cheaper airport like Frankfurt etc then grab a low cost carrier check www.whichbudget.com

Consider flying out of Charlotte, NC. US Airways flys direct to London, Paris, & Frankfurt. From one of those cities you could get good "cheap" flights or take the train, maybe.

Laurie, if you're comfortable with $977, take it...then forget about it and move onto other trip planning. I figure anything below a thousand dollars from North America's interior to Europe June-September is a good deal. There's no way anyone can predict that prices will go down after the holidays. If the airlines cut their capacity as traffic slows, prices will go up....so don't bet on prices coming down after Christmas.

I've been looking at Austin-Frankfurt fares for June 2010 for a month now and find a $977 on Lufthansa/United. This seems very reasonable and I'm tempted to go for it except for posts suggesting fares will go lower after the holidays. What do you think?

I saw some British Air flights, R/T from Tampa to Venice for $500 this past late spring for travel in the winter. Keep an eye on British Air.....they can have amazing fares.
Kelly

Just checked Swiss Air for June 2010. They have competitive prices.

Please know that INTERNATIONAL airfares are based on the "season" you are traveling. If you travel during the airlines "peak" season it will be the highest. If you are flexiable call the carrier(s)you have in mind to travel with and find out what the lowest seaon of travel is. Ask for the dates and day of the week. That should be of help to get you into the lowest price "season". Then it is more home work to keep up with the change in that fare during the seaon you chose.

Good luck. It's like the stock market up and downs.

Laurie: If you’re ready to buy now for June of 2010 and $977 is a decent fare for you, then I agree that you should book it without delay. Fares may go down if you wait, and they may go up. There are simply too many variables for anyone to know with any accuracy exactly what will happen with air fares. You can apply a little science to the mix as previously noted, but your best bet is to know where you want to go, when you want to go there, acceptable flight options, and your idea of a good fare. Track it for a period of time and be ready to pounce as soon as you see a fare that meets all of your requirements. Fares can change in the time it takes you to call someone to get an approval to purchase. Have an agreement with your travel companion (if there is one) that it’s okay to buy without any further consultation when you see a fare that’s acceptable. It looks like $977 beats the $1088 from DFW to FRA and the $1130 from IAH to FRA for June 2010 that I just reviewed on www.skyscanner.net. Go for it.

Someone had mentioned $500 total roundtrip for winter 2009 travel offered earlier this spring, and someone else mentioned Swiss International Airlines. I grabbed tickets back in March on Swiss at this price for travel this fall, but those fares have been gone for awhile now. Several airlines had similar offers (some below $500) at the time.