bennyg2

Hi All!

I would like to take the wife and toddler to Italy at the end of June 2020. Home base is YYZ and I’m looking for some advice.

1. I only see J and W availability to Gatwick from YYZ at the moment for my dates. I’ve never flown in and out of Gatwick, is the aircraft (777-300) decent and if we’re just laying over, is it a marked difference over LHR?
2. There are direct flights from US cities to Italy on AA with much cheaper taxes. Like wayyyyy cheaper. What are the odds of scoring 3 Saver J or W tickets at least one way and which airport would you suggest I position to from YYZ?
3. Which airport would you suggest I fly into in Italy?
4. The best redemption value in terms of dollars will be to use my Avios points with AA metal because of taxes. Is AA Transatlantic any good or should I just suck it up and pay BA?

I have about 300k Avios points, 260k Avion (which currently convert to Avios at 1.5x until Dec 15th or West Jet and AA at 1:1) and 120k Amex MR points.

Thanks in advance!!

corporate-wage-slave

In W (WTP) it's probably a good option compared to the lottery into Heathrow, plus many of the Italy services run from LGW too. In Club World, it's a reasonably good option too, it's not the best BA kit at the moment, but a good second best. I would certainly be happy to use those 777s, though I'm not a 777 fan overall. The LGW have one of the best IFE set-ups in the sky at the moment, which is pretty much guaranteed, whereas at LHR there are 3 systems to contend with, one of which is prehistoric.

That's probably one for the AA board, but the AA website is reasonably slick for you to find this. I'd be starting from BOS, NYC and ORD.

This is a valid question, but a huge one, because Italy itself is huge. I've been going there 6 to 12 times a year for 30 plus years and I have only scratched the surface, there is so much to that country. The big ones are Milan (MXP, BGY and LIN), Rome and Naples, but a lot depends on what exactly you want to do. If you want to go places by train for example (and Italy has a great rail network, and when it comes to Venice or Florence it's easier than driving) then Bologna is the place to start. If you are looking at car hire, then I'd probably think of BGY or MXP.

Yes, generally speaking. The equipment is good and the service professional . The food and IFE less so, depending on equipment and personal preferences. But if it allows you more money to spend in Italy then why not? Personally I'd be OK to pay a bit of an extra to go BA, but with a family in tow at some point you have to be realistic about this.

bisonrav

You also probably have Iberia as an option into Madrid and then on into Italy, and will probably find reasonable availability.

bennyg2

Wow. Thank you very much! I will discuss with the wife.

Ok Italy specifically; we were there pre-kids and fell in live with Tuscany. The plan is to rent a place in Tuscany, maybe around Florence, and use it as home base. Have any advice? I’ll be renting a car likely.

bennyg2

Is Iberia good with kids?

corporate-wage-slave

One alternative to Tuscany is Umbria, the next province along, it is much less visited, even by Italians but is something of a gem in my view. Or even Le Marche, which is even quieter and more picturesque (and has beaches). Or further, Italians in the know greatly enjoy Sardinia. But if you like Tuscany, then it remains a solid choice with good food and drink, a treasure trove of places to visit and nearly guaranteed good weather.

If you are renting a place, particularly out on town, then yes you're going to need a car, and in that case I would simply go to whereever was cheapest overall (which may well be MXP or FCO). If you go to Florence, Bologna Pisa or Genoa you'd obviously be saving some time driving but that has to balanced on the fares.

All in all, it's a nice problem to have! Don't forget the Italy forum on Flyertalk too.

bennyg2

thank you! I will absolutely be looking at the Italy threads too.

bisonrav

I honestly don't know how Iberia are with small children, but I expect they'll be fine. Oddly enough, the best seat for travelling with a toddler is going to be BA J, because the centre two seats can be fairly well enclosed for one parent and the child, where in other seats it's a fair distance to the parent. On BA, if you site parent 2 in the outside aisle seat it's a good refuge to share, and the child can get out that way when need be without clambering over someone else's legs. I suspect that even were you not to assign seats you'd find this was the configuration BA selects for you.