RDU-ROM advice!?
Jan 28, 2015 | 11:30 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2
RDU-ROM advice!?
Hi Guys,
Fairly new to the forum, looking for some advice:
Taking the fam to Italy this summer as a graduation gift to our son; planning on hitting Rome, Florence, maybe Venice or Tuscany(?). Live in Raleigh, but am trying to figure out the best/cheapest way to fly/drive/train, etc. Wouldn't mind (at all
) for example, flying into France, Germany, etc. and hitting a couple of nice cities there before Italy (i.e. Paris). Never been to Europe before, thinking about renting a flat around Florence. 2-3 week trip. Totally open to itinerary advice or site-seeing. Trying to find the best/cheapest option for flights (and if they returned great mileage, even better 
, and sleeping). Son wants to see Roman architecture, the usual tourist things. I would love to go to the Louvre, Notre Dame, some Paris places. Have some Southwest points, and some United, plan on getting an Ink card very soon. In the planning stage, thanks for the help!
Bilbo
Fairly new to the forum, looking for some advice:
Taking the fam to Italy this summer as a graduation gift to our son; planning on hitting Rome, Florence, maybe Venice or Tuscany(?). Live in Raleigh, but am trying to figure out the best/cheapest way to fly/drive/train, etc. Wouldn't mind (at all
) for example, flying into France, Germany, etc. and hitting a couple of nice cities there before Italy (i.e. Paris). Never been to Europe before, thinking about renting a flat around Florence. 2-3 week trip. Totally open to itinerary advice or site-seeing. Trying to find the best/cheapest option for flights (and if they returned great mileage, even better , and sleeping). Son wants to see Roman architecture, the usual tourist things. I would love to go to the Louvre, Notre Dame, some Paris places. Have some Southwest points, and some United, plan on getting an Ink card very soon. In the planning stage, thanks for the help!Bilbo
Jan 28, 2015 | 11:55 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: KATL
Programs: DL DM/2MM
Posts: 2,089
Hi bilbob baggins-
Welcome to FlyerTalk and to the Mileage Run forum. This particular subforum is reserved for posting of active deals in the premium cabins, so your thread isn't in it's best home.
As you have more general questions about travel value besides just airfare, I think a more suitable place for this is the Travel Buzz forum.
I'll move your post to its new home momentarily, and I encourage you to follow the discussion there.
-18sas
Moderator, Mileage Run forum
Welcome to FlyerTalk and to the Mileage Run forum. This particular subforum is reserved for posting of active deals in the premium cabins, so your thread isn't in it's best home.
As you have more general questions about travel value besides just airfare, I think a more suitable place for this is the Travel Buzz forum.
I'll move your post to its new home momentarily, and I encourage you to follow the discussion there.
-18sas
Moderator, Mileage Run forum
Jan 28, 2015 | 1:20 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,677
Hi Guys,
Fairly new to the forum, looking for some advice:
Taking the fam to Italy this summer as a graduation gift to our son; planning on hitting Rome, Florence, maybe Venice or Tuscany(?). Live in Raleigh, but am trying to figure out the best/cheapest way to fly/drive/train, etc. Wouldn't mind (at all ) for example, flying into France, Germany, etc. and hitting a couple of nice cities there before Italy (i.e. Paris). Never been to Europe before, thinking about renting a flat around Florence. 2-3 week trip. Totally open to itinerary advice or site-seeing. Trying to find the best/cheapest option for flights (and if they returned great mileage, even better , and sleeping). Son wants to see Roman architecture, the usual tourist things. I would love to go to the Louvre, Notre Dame, some Paris places. Have some Southwest points, and some United, plan on getting an Ink card very soon. In the planning stage, thanks for the help!
Bilbo
Fairly new to the forum, looking for some advice:
Taking the fam to Italy this summer as a graduation gift to our son; planning on hitting Rome, Florence, maybe Venice or Tuscany(?). Live in Raleigh, but am trying to figure out the best/cheapest way to fly/drive/train, etc. Wouldn't mind (at all
) for example, flying into France, Germany, etc. and hitting a couple of nice cities there before Italy (i.e. Paris). Never been to Europe before, thinking about renting a flat around Florence. 2-3 week trip. Totally open to itinerary advice or site-seeing. Trying to find the best/cheapest option for flights (and if they returned great mileage, even better , and sleeping). Son wants to see Roman architecture, the usual tourist things. I would love to go to the Louvre, Notre Dame, some Paris places. Have some Southwest points, and some United, plan on getting an Ink card very soon. In the planning stage, thanks for the help!Bilbo
With up to 3 weeks you have plenty of choices - which sometimes makes it harder to decide.
Jan 28, 2015 | 2:11 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA Plat, MM *G for life, AY Plat, BA Silver
Posts: 10,554
My recommendation would be to fly to Venice, take the train to Florence, then pick up a car and tour Italy's wonderful countryside. Then drop the car in Rome. Basically, you will not want to have a car in Venice, Florence and Rome, but you will want one everywhere else.
Jan 28, 2015 | 2:21 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2
Thanks,
Probably have 50k miles on United. Don't plan to use a lot of miles, but maybe acquire some. 4-7 of us travelling. Looking for a combination of cheapest flights, best itinerary, and most efficient use of time/funds. I am linked into a few sites like Travelzoo, who sometimes have "package deals" (not that I really want a "package"), where hopefully the package might be less than the air alone. Thanks for the input!
Probably have 50k miles on United. Don't plan to use a lot of miles, but maybe acquire some. 4-7 of us travelling. Looking for a combination of cheapest flights, best itinerary, and most efficient use of time/funds. I am linked into a few sites like Travelzoo, who sometimes have "package deals" (not that I really want a "package"), where hopefully the package might be less than the air alone. Thanks for the input!
Jan 28, 2015 | 2:53 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: DL PM, MR Titanium/LTP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,319
I would take a look at United for this. Intra-Europe Y fights RT are 30k which enables you to incorporate a stopover and open jaw, which can really help you maximize this kind of travel.
For example you could do the follow:
RDU - JFK - CDG (cash ticket)
Spend time in Paris
CDG - FRA - FCO (stopover)
Spend time in Rome and then travel by train / bus / car around Italy and say end up in Venice
VCE (open jaw) - ZRH - IST (destination - Istanbul is an amazing city and considered part of the Europe region)
Spend time in Istanbul
IST - MUC (layover of less than 24 hours - go to a Biergarten and spend the night) - CDG (return portion of award ticket)
Spend additional time in Paris if you like or take train / car to other parts of France and then return to Paris by that same method
CDG - JFK - RDU (return portion of cash ticket)
Considerations for this approach
1) Finding award space even in Y during the summer can be difficult especially for 4 people. You may have to split up in certain instances and use different routings. For example 2 of you go CDG - FRA - FCO on LH and the other two go CDG - ZRH - FCO on LX. That being said I just did a test for 4 Y tickets CDG - FCO in July and every single day has 4 Y tickets available with some variation of CDG - FRA / MUC / ZRH - FCO routing
2) Stopover and open jaws only apply to roundtrip tickets on UA so this cannot be accomplished using a one-way ticket. This will cost 30k a person so if you end up going with 4 people that's 120k UA. You're most of the way there if you have 50k UA + say a 50/60k Ink signup bonus however you need to sign up soon since the minimum spend will need to met relatively quickly so you can have the necessary UR points post and transferred to UA so you can book for this summer
For example you could do the follow:
RDU - JFK - CDG (cash ticket)
Spend time in Paris
CDG - FRA - FCO (stopover)
Spend time in Rome and then travel by train / bus / car around Italy and say end up in Venice
VCE (open jaw) - ZRH - IST (destination - Istanbul is an amazing city and considered part of the Europe region)
Spend time in Istanbul
IST - MUC (layover of less than 24 hours - go to a Biergarten and spend the night) - CDG (return portion of award ticket)
Spend additional time in Paris if you like or take train / car to other parts of France and then return to Paris by that same method
CDG - JFK - RDU (return portion of cash ticket)
Considerations for this approach
1) Finding award space even in Y during the summer can be difficult especially for 4 people. You may have to split up in certain instances and use different routings. For example 2 of you go CDG - FRA - FCO on LH and the other two go CDG - ZRH - FCO on LX. That being said I just did a test for 4 Y tickets CDG - FCO in July and every single day has 4 Y tickets available with some variation of CDG - FRA / MUC / ZRH - FCO routing
2) Stopover and open jaws only apply to roundtrip tickets on UA so this cannot be accomplished using a one-way ticket. This will cost 30k a person so if you end up going with 4 people that's 120k UA. You're most of the way there if you have 50k UA + say a 50/60k Ink signup bonus however you need to sign up soon since the minimum spend will need to met relatively quickly so you can have the necessary UR points post and transferred to UA so you can book for this summer