re: European flight question (Updated connection question/paging Cuse)

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That seems incredibly high to me

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I thought so too but looked it up.
For comparison purposes :
r/t from NO to Rome for 3 in May/June can run $8000

Go late Sep for $5700

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and get there Thursday afternoon. We can settle in, get a meal and get a good nights sleep so we can start fresh Friday morning. Any other flights would make us fly out Thursday morning or mid day and land Friday morning, making it a jet lagged exhausted day.

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I’m not sure how much international travel you’ve done and I hope this isn’t condescending. Jet lag can be an issue but it’s not THAT big of a deal for Italy or near there. We landed in the morning after flying coach and just pushed through the first day crashed that evening and then had little issue the remainder of the trip (14 days) when we did Germany and Italy in 2022. I was 45 and kids were 17 & 18 just for reference. This past summer was London, Paris, Cologne, Bastogne, and Berlin with similar times of arrival and shorter duration of trip. We were able to bump up to premium economy this go round which was much better than coach but not $4k better.

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You are going to be exhausted day one no matter what.

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This. Day one get there, get your room and take a nap. Go out to dinner and walk around and hit the ground running on day two. The minimum I would personally do is a week there sandwiched in between two travel days.

I’m going to Rome next Thanksgiving most likely and have some price trackers set. Prices aren’t up, demand just is.

There were $550/ RT flights for this past November and December 2023 to book last minute (3-4 days away). I really didn’t look hard. I just started looking this past November 2023 for next November 2024.

Now, a decent bit of those cheaper flights are bad times so again I didn’t look. I’m not sure what premium economy usually goes for. But I’m assuming that it’s much less than what you are looking at.

I would expect flights to go down quite a bit next fall, yes. But flight deals are going to be airline specific generally so you need to keep your options open. I personally wouldn’t stress about booking your flight until about 3-4 months out of your trip unless there’s a deal earlier. Deals generally aren’t ran to fill up until 4-6 months out but sometimes happen sooner and like I said occasionally run last minute.

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Look into leaving MSY in the morning, getting to a major US airport mid afternoon and then catching a long haul from there to Rome. It will be an overnight flight and you will arrive usually before noon. Nothing worse than taking the 8 hour flight out of MSY, but still having to do more traveling once you arrive.

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Absolutely this. A layover on your way home is one thing, but a layover in Europe going over is absolutely horrible IMO. You arrive exhausted and then you have to go through customs and then wait at the airport and catch another flight all the while exhausted.

The first day of arrival going to Europe there's just no great way to do it.

Some people nap, some don't. But generally you want to arrive as early as possible and push yourself to just wait until at least 8pm to go to bed so you get a good nights rest and wake up reasonably late (as in past 4am). Then seize the next day, and usually by the 2nd morning you are adjusted fully.

I understand not sleeping (I mean I can sleep but I understand its not easy and being tired).

If you truly don't sleep and are just wiped out, your other option is to find a direct that gets in at say 8am to Rome (or Italy) and then take a good nap the first day. Then get back up at say 4pm, have an espresso or 3 and push yourself to stay awake until 10pm or later. If you take a long nap you want to stay awake later at night so that you sleep in longer, the last thing you want on the first day/ night is to go to bed early at say 7pm and wake up at 3am rested and ready. Then you are tired again the second day and want to nap/ go to bed early again.

Tag-along question for a first European booking: do you consider refundable tickets, and if so, when does it make sense? I would never typically consider a refundable fare, but at the current high price I would possibly struggle to use up travel credits within a year if something fell through with our plans. Refundable fee is ~15% of the ticket cost.

If flying to Ireland in August when is generally the best time to book. Originating from Dallas.

Still stalking flights and prices are beginning to drop. One flight out of BTR has a 35 minute connection in Charlotte. I love flying out of BTR, but 35 minutes for an international connection seems way too short.

Thoughts? TIA

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Just an FYI, British has among the highest fees and taxes of American Airlines affiliated airlines.

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Exactly. If you fly through Heathrow you are paying (absorbing) a hefty fuel surcharge. When I fly to Italy I fly Iberia through Madrid.

I cannot say it enough. Get yourself frequent flyer accounts with the airlines (they are free people) and book directly through the airline. You have more leverage if things go south and, shocking I know, you accumulate miles and can benefit by getting free flights from time to time. Stop using Expedia!