How do I find cheap airfare to Italy?-UPDATE/WARNING!

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

Please list any cheap airfare sites that you know of. I'm trying to travel from San Diego to Palermo in the first two weeks of September. Unfortunately it seems that all the tickets cost about 1000. Someone told me about bestfares.com, which may be as low as 750 to rome or naples, but how would i get down to palermo? Or is it even worth it to try to save some $?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, I feel depressed even thinking that my vacation is not going to happen.

jt

vintage lilac · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 19 Location: Michigan

www.travelocity.com

It's telling me $631 if your dates are flexible.

eta: I've used travelocity for years and I've never had a problem with them.

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

how did you get that? I got 971 as the cheapest if my dates were flexible.

jt

felt · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 236 Location: New York City

http://www.cheaptickets.com/
I always used them when I travel US/Europe. Very good rates when you pick up the paper tickets at their office.

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

thanks for the tips, so far it's just going up, hopefully my b/f willl help look today. Someone at work told me about www.bestfares.com, which apparently is a travel agency, you look up deals on their site and then you need to call them, or pay a membership fee to use their website. She got tickets to paris for 679 but then again my procrastinating b/f may have made me miss the window...i'm crossing my fingers and hoping he has good luck and the price will plummet later.

jt

vintage lilac · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 19 Location: Michigan

jt-

I double checked this morning and this is what it's still saying:

San Diego (SAN) to Palermo, Italy (PMO) round trip

Alitalia $631
Lufthansa $641
United $657
American $664

I have no idea why it's showing you a different price.

These prices sound about right to me because I have Detroit to Florence in my fare watcher and it's been at $511 for months now. i wish I could help you more!

ETA- $679 from San Diego to Paris?? Travelocity says $378. I always listen to the roaming gnome;-) He got me tix for my honeymoon to Hawaii (from Detroit) for $450 each. They are usually $700-$800.

nicegirl512 · Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 114 Location: Washington DC

Oooh, what are you going to Italy for? I have resigned myself to the fact that I have to take my vacation alone this year. Ugh. Am feeling uninspired, but I really need a vacation. I have been droopy at work for weeks and realized it's because I haven't had more than one day off at a time (ie., three day weekends) in 9 months.

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

vintage lilac, did you put the dates as flexible from sept-sept? I did that and sept-oct just in case and it was 879...maybe you put through nov, i have to travel in sept as that's when the family i'll be visiting will be going.

nicegirl512, i'm going to visit sicily with my boyfriend just to hang out, his family is originally from sicily and every few years they rent a house out there so they can visit relatives.

jt

spidergirl · Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 1

I live in London, and there is an insanely cheap airline that flies from London Stansted airport to Palermo, called Ryanair www.ryanair.com

You could maybe try flying to London separately (which I imagine is a bit cheaper..?) and then continuing on to Palermo with Ryanair? You might save quite a bit..!!

vintage lilac · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 19 Location: Michigan

jt-

ahhhhh......I see what's going on now. When I was checking "flexible", I left the dates as flexible as possible, I didn't narrow it down to only the month of September. I think in order to get the good deals you need to get your tickets more than a month in advance. Then again, you never know because they always seem to be running last minute deals.

Have you checked your local paper? My Sunday paper with the Travel section always has ads for great, cheap, last minute deals. It wouldn't hurt to check there.

Good Luck!

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

thanks for the ideas, my b/f's parents haven't even booked their flight, and since we're staying with them i should probably make sure they're going :)

I think they're going to do some research with a local travel agent to see if they can find anything better. i've been so busy at work i can't even deal with this except on the internet.

i looked at ryan air, it's about 49 gbp one way and 40 the other, but that's still close to 150 US approximately, unless i can score a great london flight, that might make it easier to go with the similarly priced, option of checking myself all the way through. one day i will get the deals everyone always talks about...sigh

jt

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

well we got it, it wasn't cheap but at least it's all booked and I'm going to italy in sept, wheee! :)

I'm so stoked!

Thanks for your help ladies! The b/f even went ahead and looked around and booked it. :)

jt

andreacat · Joined: 22 Jun 2004 Posts: 14 Location: la la land

yay palermo! i'm off myself to italy in three weeks and i'll definitely be in palermo for a while ~ i was an exchange student there ten years ago (!) and my first boyfriend still lives there, so oh the memories!

are you going to stay in palermo the city or go to a beach town like mondello, just outside of palermo? ay!

i can't wait to go so sorry if i seem nosy, i'm just excited to talk about sicily :P

~ congrats on getting the tickets ~

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

i'll have to find out, i'm not really sure, my b/f's family is from sicily so i know we're going to be hanging out with them but since i've never been to italy at all i have no concept of what there is to do there!

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

jt

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

warning! We used vipfares.com and are finding out that they are less than legit...this italy thing might become a fiasco after all, as even if we do get our tickets cancelled by them, we still have to find tickets elsewhere as prices are creeping up.

Basically b/f charged two tickets and now they are trying to get him to fax lots of personal information which seems very non-legit, he called the credit card to see and they said that vipfares is in breach of their credit card contract and has to fill the order, although they are now saying that they will cancel monday if b/f does not fax the paperwork.

I looked them up at the BBB and they have numerous complaints, i guess i should have done this BEFORE, or listened to my inner nagging control freak and booked the tickets myself! sigh!

hope this helps others
jt