I am going the middle of May until June 4th. I look everyday at fares. They are all over $1100. for one from mid west. I know I have seen specials for a lot less? I look as fare as 150 miles away. Chicago, Minn. Des Moines. All are about the same price. Is there a better time? Or should I wait until closer to date to get tickets? Thank you all. Sher

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They are all over $1100. for one from mid west. I know I have seen specials for a lot less?

I am not sure what you mean by a lot less. Some of the "sales" often don't include the taxes and landing fees and end up bieing hundred of dollar more that the teaser rate. June is the beggining of prime time big buck fares for America to europe. I am going to Rome at the end of Feb/beggining of March for $633 from MSP. My daughter's round trip ticket from Detroit is $675. I have recently checked airfares for the end of April/beginning of May for a possible trip and thought that $900 was pretty good for that time frame.

I checked Sidestep and there were fares as low as $973 from ORD May15-June4. I am attaching the cheapest fare section as a graphic. I am not sure if you checked Kayak and Cheap Air. I have used Cheap Air often because for whatever reason they seem to have cheap fares to Europe using Lufthansa that I don't see elsewhere. I ususally fly to Italy in the Dec-April time frame, though.

You should keep checking for a while, but I think I remember reading that as Feb approaches, the summer fares tend ot go up.

Some lower fares get loaded in January; you might wait a little to see if something turns up. My home page lists several discounters, but it's probably outdated. It's been a while since I've needed to research a paid trip to Italy; I have an award trip for this year too

Last year in March I noted Kansas City-Milan leaving mid-May for under $700 all-in, reported here. It's anyone's guess whether something like that will turn up this year, given the state of fuel costs and the exchange rate.

Try Jet Blue ORD to JFK $200 r/t Aerlingus to FCO 900, approx. I think is going to be around the better prices. But actually the fares on Aerlingus has gone up $150.00 since November when I purchased the tickets. With gas expected to hit $4.00 a gallon here in the USA and 150 a barrel I wouldn't wait too much longer. These are changing times.

my last two fares have been purchased in january for my trips to italy, borderline- feb. and I have saved a fair amount over the previous listings.

Mimi:

The price you quote is appropriate for travel during May and June. That period is peak travel time for Italy. As always, price and demand are in force and the rates reflect that system.

Make sure you use all the available search engines like sidestep and kayak. But also check with each individual airline's website. Also, look at US Airways website, even though that airline is rated the worst in the marketplace, they do have cheaper flights to Italy out of Philadelphia.

Good Luck!

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they do have cheaper flights to Italy out of Philadelphia.

The problem then gets to be getting to Philly from the Midwest, and how that adds onto the trip cost.

Every time I have looked at PHL they are at least 300 -400 dollars more than from NYC. I don't see PHL cheaper anymore, theu use to be before the take over.

Last year I got a very good fare from Cincinnati to Rome roundtrip on flycheapabroad.com; they don't show airlines in the intial fare quote but since they give connections and times you can easily figure out what the airlines are. I ended up on the Delta direct flight out and Alitalia/Delta back through Newark. For my next trip this fall I'm looking at flying into Pisa and out of Venice and avoiding Alitalia, but even so FCA is again giving me rates below anywhere else.

I just tried it for Chicago to Rome, May 15 - June 4 and got a fare of 760.40, taxes included -- though they do add on a 35.00 booking fee:

$ 760.40 Total price all taxes included.
You can e-ticket this itinerary.
Leave


Thu, MAY 15 (Duration 09Hs 30Mn)
Departs: 7:30 PM ORD, Chicago Ohare Intl, IL
Arrives: 12:00 PM FCO, Rome, Fiumicino APT, IT on Fri, MAY 16
Stop(s):0 | Cabin: Coach/Economy
Return


Wed, JUN 04 (Duration 10Hs 40Mn)
Departs: 2:10 PM FCO, Rome, Fiumicino APT, IT
Arrives: 5:50 PM ORD, Chicago Ohare Intl, IL on Wed, JUN 04
Stop(s):0 | Cabin: Coach/Economy

SG Thank you, I just checked that sight. I guess because I have to leave May 20the thru June 3, this is as cheap as I can find
I thought leavingand returning on a tuesday was cheapest way?
$ 952.46 Total price all taxes included.
You can e-ticket this itinerary.
Leave

Tue, MAY 20 (Duration 11Hs 35Mn)
Departs: 4:45 PM ORD, Chicago Ohare Intl, IL
Arrives: 07:45 AM MAD, Madrid, Spain on Wed, MAY 21
Stop(s):0 | Cabin: Coach/Economy

Connect

Wed, MAY 21
Departs: 09:00 AM MAD, Madrid, Spain
Arrives: 11:20 AM FCO, Rome, Fiumicino APT, IT on Wed, MAY 21
Stop(s):0 | Cabin: Coach/Economy

I was a little leery at first since I'd never used them before, but everything was fine. I made sure to pay with a credit vs. a debit card in case of problems, but they sent me confirmation of my e-tickets right away, and included both airline record locators. I double-checked with both Delta and Alitalia, everything was in line and confirmed, and I was able to get seat assignments from the airlines at that time. Then all I had to do was monitor for strikes and make sure Alitalia didn't arbitrarily change our seats!

When Delta eliminated the original Newark to Cincinnati flight we were booked on, FCA was right on it and changed us right away to what ended up as a better connection, without me having to do anything - even call.

For my next trip I like the fact that I can get Delta via JFK into Pisa and out of Venice with FCA. I don't like JFK much (who does) but it's been ok in the past when connecting with the same airline (changing airlines is a different story - I've had some real adventures with that!). Right now and for the right fare I prefer via JFK over connecting in Europe.