February 2018: Rome – Flight Planning

Given that we were almost a year out from our actual trip, there was decent flight availability at fairly reasonable prices. Using Google Flights I found several options, but noticed that not all airlines that flew out of Boston were showing routes. This was likely because I was searching so far ahead of time and some of the airline scheduled weren’t yet visible.

Each airline has a maximum number of days ahead they will publish their schedule. Most are somewhere on the order of 300 days out plus or minus. I checked the website for the airport to see which airlines served Boston and checked the individual websites for the airlines I wasn’t seeing on Google Flights. Since then, I’ve noticed that Google Flights has improved in this area and I rarely have to do this these days.

Comparing Prices

The ticket price isn’t always the effective price you pay. Some fares include bags and seat assignments while for others those things cost more, even within the same airline. Google Flights at the time didn’t differentiate that at all, though more century they do a better job at that. It’s not an easy thing to do, so I’m not surprised they aren’t perfect in this respect.

I checked several different airlines and compared the itineraries and extra fees we would incur to find the best value for our family. Alitalia was the only airline offering the direct flight, but it was at a hefty premium. On top of that, the airline had recently declared bankruptcy and that was not something I wanted to deal with at the last minute if it became insolvent (it didn’t).

I did check the prices out of NYC airports, but they were essentially the same and a lot less convenient. Sometimes during school vacations in the Boston area, flights out of NYC can be significantly cheaper since the school vacations are at different times.

Booking

In the end I booked a flight on SWISS leaving on a Friday night and returning on the following Saturday afternoon giving us 7 nights in Rome. We had a 2 hour layover in Zurich on the way there and a 6 hour layover on the return. We had an option for a tighter connection on the return but it was less than an hour. That didn’t seem like enough time if there were any delays with our first leg so we chose the itinerary with the longer layover.

I booked directly on the airline’s website and was able to select our seats at no extra charge. The plane to and from Zurich was an Airbus A330 which has 2+4+2 seating. I selected two of the rows of 2 seats right behind each other near the front of the economy cabin. Since we were booking so far ahead we had lots of options. In previous flights we found this seating arrangement works best for us since we can each take one of the kids and keep them separated. They both get a window if they choose and they won’t get on each other’s nerves nearly as easily!

For the short hops between Zurich and Rome it was a smaller plane with 3+3 seating. I chose a row of 3 plus the seat directly across the aisle in the same row. This is less ideal, but still works. I will usually take the middle seat with kids on each side which allows me to spread out while also keeping the kids apart. It’s the only time I actually prefer a middle seat!

With our fare we also got two checked bags each though we only planned to check one bag. We also got one personal item and a carry on allowance included with the fare.

Next up, finding a hotel!