Italy - Airfare to Rome in May-June 2012

I need to tap into the collective wisdom of the FT community. My daughter is graduating from high school in 2012, and my wife and I have promised her we'd take her to Rome as a graduation present. The nearest airport to us is RDU (Raleigh-Durham), and we plan to travel in late May-early June of 2012. I was checking some prices out last night and they seem awfully high ($1,200 to $1,600 r/t). I used Kayak as a search engine.

- Should I be looking and booking this early, or should I wait a bit longer?
- From what you know, are those (high) fare levels what we should be expecting? I remember the r/t fares to Europe around $500 many, many moons ago.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Two things.

First, that is early vacation season so the prices are not too out of line. Second, you may want to check a larger airport like Charlotte. A dummy booking from CLT on Kayak from May 25 - Jun 4 comes back with a $1050 fare connecting through Newark and Lisbon with CO/TAP. For a family of 3, that might be worth the savings and trouble of connecting.

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...a $1050 fare connecting through Newark and Lisbon with CO/TAP. For a family of 3, that might be worth the savings and trouble of connecting.

I'd be hesitant to subject the family to a two hour drive to/from RDU to CLT and THEN tack on a double connection through New York and Lisbon. You will be tired enough after the non-stop 8 hours to Rome from CLT (not to mention the 9 hours+ on the return).

I would wait until just after the new year and book. The fares of ~$1000 are not out of line for travel to Rome in the summer tourist season. (Fuel surcharges and reduced capacity have made those lovely $500 fares to Europe a thing of the past, especially in summer).

Be sure to check mid-week (Tue/Wed) departures and returns for all the airports around you (RDU, GSO and CLT).

I need to tap into the collective wisdom of the FT community. My daughter is graduating from high school in 2012, and my wife and I have promised her we'd take her to Rome as a graduation present. The nearest airport to us is RDU (Raleigh-Durham), and we plan to travel in late May-early June of 2012. I was checking some prices out last night and they seem awfully high ($1,200 to $1,600 r/t). I used Kayak as a search engine.

- Should I be looking and booking this early, or should I wait a bit longer?
- From what you know, are those (high) fare levels what we should be expecting? I remember the r/t fares to Europe around $500 many, many moons ago.

Thanks in advance for your help.

the air fare is still $500. the problem is the tax approaches $600. i just got two "free" tickets iad-vce. total charge is close to $1100. all tax.

Thank you to all for the suggestions. I liked the idea of checking flights at other airports (such as CLT). We have some family there, and may be we can crash at their house for one night, on the way back.
I'll report back once I book the tickets (probably in early 2012), may be this will help someone else with a similar question.

I also noticed that taxes and fees on the tickets are in the $600-range... This is getting ridiculous!

Thank you to all for the suggestions. I liked the idea of checking flights at other airports (such as CLT). We have some family there, and may be we can crash at their house for one night, on the way back.
I'll report back once I book the tickets (probably in early 2012), may be this will help someone else with a similar question.

I also noticed that taxes and fees on the tickets are in the $600-range... This is getting ridiculous!


Don't rule out RDU - ATL - FCO on Skyteam. Delta's hub and they run numerous flights between cities. Beats the two hour drive. I know JFK offers more options and you could go RDU - JFK - FCO, heading north on JetBlue and then take your pick for how you want to get to Rome. Also look into other destinations in Italy (Milan, Naples) as points of entry. A drive around the countryside isn't such a terrible way to spend a day in Italy.

Every now and then, even during peak season, 1800 FlyEurope will run specials to Italy. Give their website a look and talk to one of their agents.

As long as you're flexible with your dates you should be able to get in around $1,000-$1,200.

The US Airways CLT-FCO non-stop is pricing at $1,278 for that season. Note that the A330 that will fly that route this summer will have a fresh economy class cabin as all the A333s in the US fleet are currently undergoing a cabin conversion to the new Envoy Suites and refreshed coach product (with better IFE).

I'll report back once I book the tickets (probably in early 2012), may be this will help someone else with a similar question.


I would wait a little while; the airlines are just beginning to move into summer fares. American had a sale from RDU a few months ago; hopefully you could find something sub-$1000.

I wouldn't be so surprised: May-June are peak months for tourism in Rome

OP here - Thanks to all who responded and made suggestions.

I am starting to look seriously now. So far the least expensive fare I've found for Rome is CLT-FCO, at $1,200, with TAP. I flew TAP about 10 years ago when I lived in Europe and they were ok... I wonder if they have improved/worsened since.
We live in the Raleigh-Durham area, so it'll be a 2 hr-drive to Charlotte to catch the flight, if we decide to book these.

I also priced tickets departing from ATL. Surprisingly, they were more expensive, at $1,600.

From JFK, Air Berlin has the lowest fares at $850, but it involves a 8-hr layover in Berlin.

I will continue looking and will probably book the tickets by early Feb. Hopefully there'll be a sale between now and then!

I am starting to look seriously now. So far the least expensive fare I've found for Rome is CLT-FCO, at $1,200, with TAP. I flew TAP about 10 years ago when I lived in Europe and they were ok... I wonder if they have improved/worsened since.

If that's a CLT-FCO non-stop then it is a code-share operated by US Airways. If it is operated by TAP for the transatlantic portions, you will likely have to fly to Newark on US Airways, then connect to Lisbon,Portugal and then connect again to FCO. That's not worth the savings as you'll beat yourself up just getting there.

OP here - Thanks to all who responded and made suggestions.

From JFK, Air Berlin has the lowest fares at $850, but it involves a 8-hr layover in Berlin.

I will continue looking and will probably book the tickets by early Feb. Hopefully there'll be a sale between now and then!

Just saw Air Berlin JFK-FCO on june 6 to 13th for $751 with shorter connections (1.5 hours) in Berlin. It's risky, but for those savings you could buy separate RDU-JFK roundtrips and still come out ahead. If you do, allow PLENTY of time on both ends (I'd fly up to JFK in the late morning for a 5:30 European departure just to be safe).

With the price of oil going up, I was concerned that airlines would jack up their fares even more in the next few weeks, so I pulled the trigger today.

I bought open-jaw tickets for $1,315/person on American Airlines, leaving RDU for Rome on a Wed (5/23) and coming back from Milan to RDU on a Tuesday (6/5). The best I could find for a straight round-trip ticket RDU-FCO-RDU was $1,293, so I thought paying $22 more for an open-jaw was well worth it. I used Kayak, Vayama and itasoftware.com, and even went to see a travel agent, in my search for the best fares. The travel agent admitted that she wouldn't be able to beat internet fares; she said she makes her money off organizing escorted tours and other special travel arrangements. Again, thank you to all on this board who made suggestions and gave me advice.

We plan to stay a few days in Rome, then take the train to Florence, then to Milan and fly home from there. I'll try to hit some of the same exact spots where we took our daughter when she was 3 (she's 18 now). It'd be fun to take the same photos, from the same vantage points, only 15 years apart.

Now I'll start my search for hotels... Does anyone know of a good hotel in Trastevere? :)

Sounds like a fun trip!

maybe you booked too early?

We've been tracking prices for weeks for a May trip IAD-FCO. Prices running $1100 and up (UAL over $1500 for the only non-stop!) for May 4-19.

Tuesday evening, everything dropped, triggered by a Lufthansa sale, I believe.

Grabbed two seats with KLM/AF for $830 each.

This is consistent with my experience for shoulder season travel - you can expect to see price drops about 6-8 weeks out if the planes are not full. You can get an idea of load from seat maps, at least for those that make it easy to see them - most US carriers, AF/KLM, Lufthansa etc.

klevin - thanks for your post above.

I went back into Kayak & Vayama to check on the fares. I found out that I could indeed get a cheaper one (about $1,200 on USAir, vs the $1,315 on AA that I paid). However, we would have to contend with 2 stops on the way back: Milan -> Munich -> Philly -> RDU. The way I have it now, we only have one stopover; we fly from Milan to Philly to RDU.

On the outgoing portion, we will fly RDU to Heathrow to Rome, with AA. I also prefer that arrangement to the one with USAir (RDU to CLT to Rome), mainly because the transatlantic leg will be shorter.

I'll keep checking though, may be something cheaper will crop up and I can get a bit back from AA.

And congrats on your fare, $830 to Europe is an awesome deal!

We just got back last night from 13 days in Italy: a week in Rome, and the rest of the time split between Florence and Milan. A few tips and observations for folks planning to go:

- Buy bottled water from supermarkets and stock it in your hotel room for use every day. In supermarkets (they're sprinkled throughout town, we never had a problem finding one), the big bottles (1.5 liter) cost between 0.15 euro to 0.30 euro each. Buy them from street vendors and you're likely to pay 2 euros each. A 6-pack of small bottles is about 1 euro at supermarkets, but you'll pay 1 to 1.5 euro for each bottle from street vendors or vending machines. You can save quite a bit this way as the markup for bottled water by vendors is simply rapacious.

- As you stop by the supermarkets, buy fruit and some bread and cheese or cold cuts for breakfast or afternoon snacks. All the hotels we stayed at had a fridge in the room - and these were not luxury hotels (about $180/night).

- Many McDonald's over there have a side cafe, called McCafe. You can get good cafes and pastries there (0.90 euro for an espresso, between 1 to 2 euro for pastries). Their toilets are free and mostly clean.

- For dining out, we would often climb on a random bus and ride it until we saw a neighborhood with lots of restaurants. Then we'd stop, go into a coffee shop to get an espresso, and ask the folks there for a good neighborhood restaurant. I only speak a few words of Italian, but always managed to make myself understood. And some of the most memorable meals we had were in small trattorias where they didn't even have a menu and I had to order with a mix of pointing + English/French/Spanish/Italian. I think doing this adds immensely to the human side of traveling. And generally meals in such places are a lot cheaper than in touristy restaurants: about 20 to 25 euros for 3 (but we don't drink alcohol), while you'd easily pay 40 to 45 euros in a tourist area. When you're done eating, walk around the neighborhood a bit then take the same bus, but in the reverse direction, to get home.

- If you take the metro in Rome, watch out for pickpockets. One lady tried to pick mine but I was prepared and caught her in the act. I gave her a loud tongue-lashing and insulted her in a couple of different languages, which embarrassed my 18 y-o daughter to no end... This is how pickpockets operate (it also happened during my previous visit to Rome a few years ago): usually a lady will get on the subway and have a briefcase or a satchel with her. She'll stand close to you, and use the satchel to block your view of her hands, then pick your pocket. While riding the subway or when in big crowds, I always have a hand in the pocket that contains my wallet. Probably because of terrorist threats, I saw a much larger (and welcome) police presence at train stations and touristy spots than in the past.

- Prior to leaving the US, scan your passports and important docs (e.g., front and back of your credit cards) and mail them as attachments to yourself. That way, you'll always have a copy "in the cloud". Leave your passport at the hotel, you won't need it unless you change travelers' checks.

- Avoid Western Union at all cost for exchanging money. Their rates are poor and they tack on a confiscatory service charge. For ex. I got 62 euros for my $100-travelers' check while I could have gotten as much as 77 euros elsewhere, but I was in a bind and had to have cash right then.

- If you visit Milan and its Duomo, there will be touts in front of the cathedral that will give you kernels of corn to feed the pigeons with. These guys will literally drop the kernels into your hands if you let them. DO NOT accept, as they will demand 3-5 euros afterwards.

Overall, it was an excellent trip and my daughter loved it - it was her high school graduation present. In August, we're both headed back to school (the same one, to boot), her as a freshman and me for a professional degree.

If you have questions about Rome, Florence and Milan, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them. Happy travels!