International Air Travel (USA -> Italy)

[Bob&Sue]

Our planned cruise leaves from Venice,Italy. HAL will make air travel arrangements but not necessarily at the lowest fare (also a "customization fee" is charged for not returning home immediately). So before approving that i will investigate making air travel arrangements online (using Kayak.com). But there are many variables to consider:

(1) which airlines provide best value
(2) refundable fare or not
(3) airport proximity to the ship
(4) delayed flite arrangements (joining ship after departure)
(5) trip insurance
(6) how early shd reservations be made (price fluctuation consideration) ?

Since this is our first international flite any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Phil&Liz]

You might also consider searching Cheap International Airline Tickets, International Flights, International Flights Deals - vayama , too.

Just doing a shot in the dark search from Orlando to Venice it was running about $550 one way (but $800 RT) for travel in January.... Not knowing your sail date of course.

Another site to look at and follow would be FareCompare - Cheap Flights, Travel Deals, Cheap Tickets, Airline Tickets and Discount Airfares

I would suggest arriving at least a day before sailing and absolutely get travel insurance. Just be aware that unless you got the insurance within 2 weeks of booking, there will be exclusions.
Many here have suggested using insuremytrip.com.

An example of a search using flexible date option one way Orlando to Venice in January here: Orlando to Venice Jan 13 $586 from vayama.com

Hope this helps.

Phil & Liz

Originally Posted by Bob&Sue

Our planned cruise leaves from Venice,Italy. HAL will make air travel arrangements but not necessarily at the lowest fare (also a "customization fee" is charged for not returning home immediately). So before approving that i will investigate making air travel arrangements online (using Kayak.com). But there are many variables to consider:

(1) which airlines provide best value
(2) refundable fare or not
(3) airport proximity to the ship
(4) delayed flite arrangements (joining ship after departure)
(5) trip insurance
(6) how early shd reservations be made (price fluctuation consideration) ?

Since this is our first international flite any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[homeatlast]

I am going on a cruise next April that leaves from Barcelona and ends in Venice. I have already booked our flights about 2 months ago. I never have had HAL do the flights since they always seem to be at inconvienent times, layovers etc. Frankly it has been my experience that I sometimes get just as good of a deal with the airlines sites directly as I do with discount sites, plus less chance of errors or missing reservations. This flight I booked with Delta (most of mine have been with them) and paid just over $1000 for each of us to fly into Paris (we are going to spend 5 days there first) then out of Venice. We live in Montana so getting flights from here is always more expensive so I thought I got a good deal. I always take the HAL insurance for the cruise and then I took out a separate insurance for the rest of the trip.