MilesBuzz! - travel to Italy

I am looking to travel to Italy in the summer, using points, or reduced first/business tickets...Any suggestions?

Cheap travel to Italy for the summer may already be gone. It's a very popular destination.

How about a little more data:

1. What points/miles do you have with which airline?
2. Where in Italy do you want to go?
3. When? Are you flexible?
4. What's your budget?

and so on.

Welcome to Flyertalk. :)

Yes, welcome to FlyerTalk and Italy is a fave among many of us here. I'm sure we'll be able to offer an abundance of advice once we know what kind of miles and points you have. Sometimes Rome and Milan are difficult to redeem to in season and I've always had great luck redeeming into Nice. France and then renting a car or catching the train into Northern Italy.

Again, welcome to FlyerTalk and we all look forward to helping you in any way we can.

I am looking to travel to Italy in the summer, using points, or reduced first/business tickets...Any suggestions?
It would also be very helpful to know where you would like to travel from.

Also, I assume, since you are not specific, that anywhere in Italy is OK.

If you can only get in or out of Italy direct, consider a city with a cheap flight to Rome or Milan. Easy Jet and Ryanair are good ones.

I'll add my 2 cents as well. :)

I would recommend going to Italy in March. I went this past March, and the crowds that you read about were not there. It also was not too hot, but the weather was quite comfortable. I was there for 2 1/2 weeks and had about half-an-hour of rain. You obviously don't want to go over Easter, but if you go just before then, I think you beat the tourist season.

I flew into Naples since I had a conference in Sorrento and then flew out of Rome. This was cheaper than a direct round-trip ticket, and it also allowed me to see more of the country without backtracking. The trains are very good at getting around, and the drivers are crazy so be wary if you drive. I flew into LHR, and then I changed planes onto BMI into Naples which was a good deal. I was able to book everything on one record, too, even though I was mixing airlines and alliances.

I can't answer your questions about miles or business class too well, but my economy class seat with an empty seat next to me was quite comfortable. :cool:

I am looking to travel to Italy in the summer, using points, or reduced first/business tickets...Any suggestions?
jebien There is little doubt that many are willing and able to help you. It is really impossible to answer your questions unless you give your departure city and/or mileage programs in which you are active. If you are not particularly faithful to one mileage program, than I suggest searching for all flights to Italy (assuming, you are USA-based) which offer discounted business fares. These are normally found as I fares or Z fares, depending on the airline and require an advance purchase fare as well as a minimum stay.
You can go to the individual airline websites; e.g.: AF, AZ,CO, DL, UA, AA, LH, etc., but you might be better-served by going to a more ubiquitious website such as Expedia. Again, there are many people on FT who could and would give you great information. We just need a little more input from you.
Welcome to FT.

In regard to Randy's tip. You can also fly into geneva, zurich. munich or innsbruk ^

Thank you all for the advice that you have given so far and I appreciate all of your comments. I have also searched the forum and I am aware of some of the info available. I have also spent time online as well as on the phone with several airlines(Continental, Delta, AA, Alitalia, and American Express (for a free companion ticket).

I have been told by CO, that the standard rewards have not been released from March going forward and Alitalia and CO recommended purchasing restricted tickets.

I presently do not have FF status but have American Express points to use.

I am looking to fly from the NY area; I prefer to fly from Newark and I am looking to go direct to either Rome, but will fly to any other city if the fares are good, ie.Milan.

I am planning a special trip, and usually not a flyer to Europe.

I would also vary the trip to fly through another city in Europe if the fares are good, using reward ticketing, ie. London, etc.

The dates would be mid July for two weeks....I could vary that as well, but would prefer the summer as compared to the spring.

Thanx

Yes, I see that you're targeting mid-July. But one thing that can broaden your options is if you can go before most U.S. schools close for summer (or after they start back up again. An early June departure will present more options for awards or reduced prices (though not for full-fare business class), and will also result in smaller crowds when you get there (there will still be crowds, just not as bad as July and August). And especially in Rome, early June would certainly feel like summer, not spring.

I too was planning a trip to Italy.

Flying into munich is the idea right now.

Also was wondering if Italy has "guesthouses" to stay
in like Germany does.

I too was planning a trip to Italy.

Flying into munich is the idea right now.

Also was wondering if Italy has "guesthouses" to stay
in like Germany does.

Italy has many hostels you can stay in, as well as dive hotels throughout all the smaller cities. I stayed in one particular dive in La Spezia, but it was all part of the experience. ^

Italy in September is wonderful. Crowds are much smaller, the weather is wonderful and there are lots of wine festivals in small cities all over the country.

Rick Steves books on discount travel, and staying in local homes, cottages, flats, etc always helped me when I just wanted a place to sleep, a nice breakfast, and meeting local peoples.

Thats exactly what I am looking
for. I enjoyed staying at the gathaus's in
Germany.

Most of them had a small bar and restaurant
on the premises and usually cost around
$50 a room for two people. Sometimes
breakfest is included. Most of them are
real nice too.

September sounds great too with the
wine festivals!

thanks for the info..

Cheap travel to Italy for the summer may already be gone. It's a very popular destination.

How about a little more data:

1. What points/miles do you have with which airline?
2. Where in Italy do you want to go?
3. When? Are you flexible?
4. What's your budget?

and so on.

Welcome to Flyertalk. :)

I am looking to fly from the NY area; I prefer to fly from Newark and I am looking to go direct to either Rome, but will fly to any other city if the fares are good, ie.Milan.

Thanx

I'm with many of the others in preferring -- on vacation -- to get close and then to make my way to the destination by car. Much more fun and adventure than just parachuting in to some hotel. However, if you want to fly into FCO, even a quick search I ran on through the Air Canada's Aeroplan interface shows AC or AC/Lufthansa availability if you can accept one connection. [I ran 7/5-7/19 ewr-fco].

I guess if I were you and wanted to do this on miles, I would start by calling one reservations/rewards center from each of the major alliances (One World, etc.) that will cover many of your options. Then if that doesn't turn up something you can grab with your Amex MR points come back with more details and I'm sure we can help!

Oh--and book me a companion ticket, bella Roma here I come.

Isi

I greatly appreciate all of your advice.

I previuosly spoke with Delta and Continental and their partner airlines regarding redemptions of their points and miles.

It seems as if there have not been any rewards released for the summer of 2006.
Is this right; I was under the impression that rewards using miles are released 11 months in advance.

Am I asking for something that is not available?

Thanx to all of the help that I have received thus far.

I signed up with Aeroplan , yet I was only able to find a higher mile reward. ( This was the same that I found with CO=200K R/T).

I can fly from any of the NYC airpots as well.

thanx:
jebien

Isi
I previuosly spoke with Delta and Continental and their partner airlines regarding redemptions of their points and miles.

It seems as if there have not been any rewards released for the summer of 2006.
Is this right; I was under the impression that rewards using miles are released 11 months in advance.

Am I asking for something that is not available?

Thanx to all of the help that I have received thus far.

thanx:
jebien

I am flying on Alitalia BC from Newark to Milan in May on Delta miles, and back from Venice to ATL to EWR on Delta in June, in BE using miles, so it is clearly not true that Delta and its partners have not yet released award seats.

I think it is more likely that the ones which have been released are already spoken for, and the agent may have meant that more seats MIGHT be released later on (I seriously doubt it, though, particularly for SkySaver awards).

Gotta plan way ahead of time to use miles for a ticket to Europe during the summer, in my experience.

Good luck.

yes plan way ahead might be a good idea.

Gotta plan way ahead of time to use miles for a ticket to Europe during the summer, in my experience.Here's an example:

We're doing a "big trip" to Europe this coming spring. I picked the spring because crowds are down, awards are available, weather is pleasant, etc.

I booked the hotels (all awards) this summer, probably around June or July. Availability was there. As a Hilton Diamond, i could have "forced" it, but I'd rather not.

Booked J class across the Atlantic about the same time. Because it was so far in advance, and the season is not the most popular, I got the flights I wanted on the dates i wanted.

For the intra-Europe portions, I'm using LCC's, and they often don't release their schedules more than about 3 months in advance. No matter; I'll book them probably this month, and I'm confident the prices will be affordable.

A lot of people come here and, seeing all these experienced travellers, they assume we know some magic way to get choice seats on short notice at cheap prices (or free). Yes, it happens sometimes. But in general, you hang around and pick up tips and eventually, partly by osmosis, you get a "feel" for the travel/hospitality industry and how to work your way around in it.

Good luck. You didn't say why you have mid-summer pegged as your dates, but from the comments here I think you've picked up on the fact that that's a tough time to find deals to Europe. Because everybody else wants to go there then! Welcome to supply and demand! :)

BIGLAR:

Thanx for all of your advice...I have appreciated all of the invaluable info that I have read about here and I am sure that others have as well.

Having previously lived in Italy for 25 years, I now travel from the US to Italy on a regular basis to visit family. One of the better web sites I have found and used extensively is SLOWTRAVEL at http://www.slowtrav.com/ Not much on the air portion of the trip but great knowledge for once when you're there.

I agree that there are a lot of folks here at FT who will book 330 days in advance to get what they are looking for, but there are also lots of us who do almost the opposite.

I often don't know in advance what my vacation availability is going to be so I end up booking less than six weeks in advance. Nevertheless, over the last five years I have often been able to get myself over to far Western Europe in May or June.

Also, and I don't know if this goes against the received wisdom, but I have found it easier to get C/J -- or whatever you want to call business class -- awards figured out and tracked down. With the right awards desk agent, might get you some assistance.

For instance, my most recent trip, if I had planned way ahead I would have flown YVR-FRA-AMS RT, but because I booked it only several weeks instead of months ahead of time I ended up changing things a bit to YVR-JFK-VIE-AMS, with the return AMS-MUC-JFK-ORD-YVR.

Now that's some extra stops for sure -- but looking at the outbound flights I took advantage and made a stopover in NY and then had the good fortune to enjoy the most amazing meal service on OS to VIE. Really made it worth the extra stops. Even made it worth missing my connection and spending the afternoon in the Vienna airport.

But I digress, the important info is that the hard to get segment (the trans-atlantic segment that is) was not available the first time I called. I booked this trip through US Air. Nor the second time I called -- although the second time I tried I found myself an even more roundabout route with 6 segments that put me on Lot -- something I didn't want to experience on this trip if I didn't have to. But a few more calls (a day or so between calls) peiced together a final itin. that worked well for me--patience and researching the options and trying over and over and there I was...feet up, drinking beer, and eating bitterballen on the shores of the Maas.

I've always had great luck redeeming into Nice, France and then renting a car or catching the train into Northern Italy.Thank you for this reminder, which will be particularly helpful to me some day as my wife's sister married an Italian and lives in a mountain town on the train line half-way between Nice and Torino.

We are intending to visit Italy in the Summer of 07. This would be a family trip with extended family. We are thinking of visiting Venice, FLorence and Rome with a side trip to east coast.

We have lots of miles on American Express and status on American with miles there also.

If we are intending to use miles, would American or American Express miles be best.

Also what city would you recomend flying into.

Thanks