How We Flew to Italy for $400

Want to know how we booked a round trip ticket to Italy for less than buying an iPhone? Read on to find out how we flew to Italy for $400!!

Alright, now before you get all excited and think that I’m going to tell you that we BOTH flew for $400 to Italy let me clarify that it was $400 roundtrip per person. But I don’t feel the slightest bit sad about that, I did a lot of searching today and couldn’t find anything for less than $1200 a person so yay!!

What is The Best Day to Book Flights?

How many of you have heard, Tuesdays are the best days to book flights, or never book on a weekend, I bet a lot! Cross that off right now. It’s just not true. I worked for an airline and have spent plenty of time this past year looking at flights and limiting yourself to a day, month or period of time for booking is a huge mistake. We booked our flight on a weekend, late at night, over a holiday, and 8 months out. Pretty sure that breaks every rule.

That being said, avoiding Sunday and Monday travel did seem to be worth it. We noticed a huge increase in price and limited seats when looking at returning before the work week started. I assume many head out on a Monday for work or return on a Monday after taking a long weekend.

The best day to book a flight? Any day, so just search for locations instead of time frames. Be flexible.

How to Save Money on Flights

Alright here’s what you’re going to do. Start out by signing up for airline emails and the google flights.  Our flights were a sale by Delta which we totally would have missed out on if we hadn’t signed up and saw all of our friends posting about it who had also signed up.

I know, I HATE emails as much as you do, but really, it’s the only way to know.

Start looking now. I said this, but really, don’t hold out, start now!

Book Flights into Surrounding Airports

Also look into surrounding areas. Who knew that the best thing ever would be booking a flight into Venice and then taking a train to Florence. It was cheaper and the experience was fantastic. It made our trip so much better to see the countryside by train. But more on that later.

Best Sites for Tracking Flight Fares

Finally, stop worrying about the price. Use Air Fare Watchdog, Sky Scanner, or Kayak to watch for low airfares or to alert you if your flights have dropped in price so you can call in and get a credit or refund.

When I was working for an airline I had someone call in to get credit on a lowered airfare. We can see all the notes from previous calls and this was at least her 7th time calling in and she was up to a $300 credit. That’s pretty awesome and it was all through Kayak.

Now get booking!! If you have to book higher, watch for fares to lower. Or use one of the above and just do an open search to see what amazing deals are out there. That’s how we ended up in Italy when we were thinking Caribbean. Let the deals take you all over the world. In fact, we just got back from California and only spend $300 on our whole family round trip!