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Discounted Flight To Italy?

post #1 of 12
6/11/10 at 2:05pm
Thread Starter 
I know this may lead to nothing but I'm desperate and could really use some help.

I need to get to Italy by mid-July and stay for a month. I live in Boston and right now Alitalia wants roughly $1,500 for a round-trip flight from Boston to Rome. Taking off from JFK and other somewhat nearby airlines is no discount either.

I know I put myself in a hard position seeing that it is already almost mid-June and I want to fly during the most expensive airline travel months to Italy. But with that established I could really use some help or maybe even a personal hookup if at all possible.

Two years ago I did the exact same trip for close to 1K but I went through British Airways and had to connect in London of course.

I'm not against stopping somewhere if necessary but even with that in mind right now online I'm not finding much of a savings with a stop-over.

I've used Kayak and pretty much most other popular airline ticket tools to find a deal but no such luck. If anyone could be of any help that would be greatly appreciated. Ideal scenario would be a round-trip ticket for 1K or less, if possible. Also there will be two of us. Thanks.
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post #2 of 12
6/11/10 at 2:33pm
Airlines usually discount from between 2 months and 2 weeks before departure. So, if you're having difficulty at present, you may have to bite the bullet. And Alitalia is one of the cheaper outfits. Keep searching, for a bit longer, at least.
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post #3 of 12
6/11/10 at 2:37pm
You are probably not going to find a flight to Europe for much less than $1,000 with your time requirements. If you are trying to save a few hundred bucks, you should fly midweek to London, Frankfurt, or some other European hub and then fly Ryanair, easyJet, or one of those other discount airlines to Rome. Just poking in some random dates and stuff on kayak.com, I found a ticket from Boston to London for under $1K and then a ticket on easyJet.com from London to Rome for about 100 GBP. That's a little over $1K total.
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post #4 of 12
6/11/10 at 2:38pm
during the peak travel time to one of the most popular tourist destinations? Yea... good luck with that. Try getting creative with your search. For instance, say you see a deal from Boston to Berlin for $500. Well look at the options on discounters (ryan air, easy jet) from Berlin to Rome. Be flexible on departure days. If you leave on tuesday its cheaper than a sunday. Maybe even search open jaw flights, into rome, out of venice, or whatever. Good luck. EDIT: DAMN. Homeboy beat me to the punch by one minute!
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post #5 of 12
6/11/10 at 2:39pm
Yeah this is going to suck because you're so close to your time frame. I booked back in NOVEMBER for my Europe flight in August. Going out of Orlando, connecting in Detroit, then to Amsterdam. Run me $1000 round trip on Delta. You guys up north usually have it a lot easier though, as you have no connections.
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post #6 of 12
6/11/10 at 2:39pm
you have to find a ticket consolidator. they buy bulk block tickets and sell at a discount. they exist.
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post #7 of 12
6/11/10 at 3:04pm
Thread Starter 
To add another hurdle I have a fear of flying on discount airline carriers. I hate flying in general and won't get on a cheaper per se airline (Ryan Air, etc). Yes, I know my logic makes no sense, but it will never change.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I'll keep looking for a break somehow.
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post #8 of 12
6/11/10 at 5:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredfred View Post
you have to find a ticket consolidator. they buy bulk block tickets and sell at a discount. they exist.

Do these really REALLY exist?? Who are they? Everyone recommends it but no one can point me to one

Same hting with being a courier "Oh, just take a package somewhere for someone and you get a free trip!" Yea, how does THAT work...
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post #9 of 12
6/12/10 at 4:12am
A quick search threw up this for $1158. You didn't specify exact dates so this might work.
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post #10 of 12
6/12/10 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davidko19 View Post
Do these really REALLY exist?? Who are they? Everyone recommends it but no one can point me to one

Same hting with being a courier "Oh, just take a package somewhere for someone and you get a free trip!" Yea, how does THAT work...

Travel agents purchase tickets from consolidators and resell them to the public.
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post #11 of 12
6/12/10 at 1:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davidko19 View Post
Do these really REALLY exist?? Who are they? Everyone recommends it but no one can point me to one

Yes they do exist. I found one through an ad in a sunday newspaper travel section. Small ad. Not sure what it said, but it did *not* say "consolidator".

I had to fly to Africa from the US (got to, it was a great trip). Ticket on Air France would have cost around $2,000 (coach class) - I tried them directly. From consolidator, same flight, $900 round trip. Huge savings.

The airlines know they can guaranty so many seats at the discount price, so they sell them to the consolidators. They sell them to the travel agencies, etc..
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post #12 of 12
6/12/10 at 1:51pm
Use miles. Edit: You can essentially have unlimited flights on miles if you are willing to take a hit on your credit score, given all the ridiculous mileage credit card deals out there. I got 103K for signing up for a British Airways visa.
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