Budget Travel - Vancouver, BC to Rome, Italy

I'm looking to book a flight for 4 from end of October/beginning of November to mid November. Flights seem to be cheaper flying out of SEA.

Have a couple of options, SEA to PHL or New York and then connect onto to FCO in Rome (may spend a few days on return to stay in New York).

The second option is to fly SEA to London and then book a cheap flight (Ryanair or Easyjet) which goes to CIA in Rome.

Any other recommendations?

Have you checked Transat/Zoom/Globespan to LGW then cheap flight from there to Rome area?

Also try pricing on aircanada.com using multi-city: yvr-fco, fco-sea/pdx/sfo. Make sure the plain stops in Vancouver and just "miss" the last end of your flight. TAG THE LUGGAGE TO YVR, not the US destination.

SEA-LON-CIA is going to be the cheapest option by far (unless some giant mistake pops up between now and november - you never know).

NW is discounting SEA-LON quite heavily right now.

Be careful with AZ (Alitalia). They might be going out of business any day now.

Flyglobespan is occasionally (very unpredictably) very cheap from YVR to LGW or DUB, and you can then change to a european LCC to Rome.

It's quite possible some cheap(er) deal will arise before November, but the problem is that you can't really plan around that. Seattle to a German city is often quite cheap.

When I went to Italy 3.5 years ago, I went YVR-LHR on Air Canada, and then BMI to Venice, train to Florence and Rome, and then EasyJet CIA-LHR and Air Canada home.

In your case, I wonder how Zoom for YVR-CDG (Paris) would work, and you could even do an open-jaw with Paris and London to add more variety to your trip.

With any of the charters - Zoom, Air Transat, Flyglobespan - I would be very cautious about expecting the plane to land on time and then catch a budget flight. Quite often these flights are delayed, sometimes just for an hour or two, and sometimes for longer. So I'd probably want to do one or two overnights in each direction.

If you decide to fly from Seattle, keep in mind the cost of the QuickShuttle (assuming that's what you take), although you can get 50% off with an Entertainment Book coupon. Then also consider the cost of a Priceline hotel stay for a 3* by the airport, which I generally find to be about $65 in total. Then of course consider the total time lost or gained by flying from Seattle. I've done it several times, because I thought it was worth the extra hassle.

Also should mention Globespan's finances *may* be questionable. With current oil prices if something is up I suspect it will hit the fan very soon if ever.

Thanks for the all the replies everyone.

I have booked a flight from NY to Rome as my family decided to stay a few days in NY after we fly back. Now just waiting for a deal on either YVR or SEA to NY.

Thanks again.

Check SEA and the (much) closer BLI airport. I am 95% certain SEA will turn out to be much cheaper than yvr.

Check SEA and the (much) closer BLI airport.

Alas, SkyBus doesn't fly anymore :p

But agree, most likely cheaper south of 49th.

EmailKid

Alas, SkyBus doesn't fly anymore :p



Connecting using Allegiant or Alaska are still options. Mind you Allegiant may also not be around much longer given the state of the industry.

I have no idea how long you want to stay in Rome for but I did a dummy search for the 25 of October to the 15 of November except for the first flights which leaves on the 28 of October and returns on the 18 of November and here is what came out.

YVR from Air Canada's website works out to be $1257.33 per person
AC 108 YVR-YYZ
AC890 YYZ-FCO
Return
AC6845 FCO-ZRH
AC879 ZRH-YYZ
AC137 YYZ- YVR
Total price for 4 people $5029.32

YVR From Expedia.ca works out to be $1,218.55 per person
UA 8459 operated By AC YVR-LAX
Overnight in LA
UA 966 LAX-IAD
UA 966 IAD-FCO
Return
UA 967 FCO-IAD
UA 951 IAD-ORD
UA 1141 ORD-YVR
Total price for 4 people $4,874.20

SEA From Expedia.ca works out to be $1,159.41 per person
AZ 3317 operated by Delta SEA-JFK
AZ 609 JFK-FCO
Return
AZ 608 FCO-JFK
AZ 3330 operated by Delta JFK-SEA
Total price for 4 people $4,637.64

The Alitalia flight leaves from Seattle early in the morning and the return is late at night are the only con's of going from Seattle.

(I am assuming you don't have family in Italy so)
Usually when I go Somewhere with my family we spend some time and go all around the area. If you do what we do get a train pass and visit other parts of Italy. You would want to spend at least 4-5 days in Rome
C-FMWQ :)