Where might I find the best airfare to Italy?  Traveling this summer
on vacation.  Leaving from Los Angeles (LAX) or Burbank (BUR) or
Ontario

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 07 Apr 2004 16:26 PDT

Researching this sort of question is likely to take more time than
most Researchers are likely to be willing to expend for $1.50 (the
Researcher's share of your current price). You'll be more likely to
get a good answer if you offer a better price.

Hi Painternow,

Without knowing the exact dates (or even approximates) you want to
travel, length of stay, and which Italian city you want to fly into,
my hands are somewhat tied in this answer.  However, I do have some
results for you, and if you'd like to request a clarification to get
more specific advice I'd be happy to follow up with as much detail as
you need.

Flying out of Ontario (I'm assuming you mean Toronto) will be much
more expensive than out of either Burbank or Los Angeles.  Flying into
Milan (MIL) is slightly cheaper than flying into Rome (by about $60). 
I found no difference in rock-bottom price between LAX and BUR for
either Italian destination.

To find these prices I went to the travel section of Yahoo!
(http://travel.yahoo.com) and did a "my dates are flexible" search for
the six different combinations (three departure cities and two arrival
cities).  Here are the results:

LAX or BUR to Rome: $684
LAX or BUR to Milan: $623
Toronto to Rome or Milan: $845

Note that those are the cheapest possible round-trip tickets, and I
did not check the dates on any of them.  Also, keep in mind that
airline ticket prices vary by the minute depending on the popularity
of any given flight, so the prices you're quoted now may go up (or
down!) by tomorrow.

Again, if you'd like more specific information for dates and an
arrival city, let me know in a clarification request and I'll get that
info for you ASAP.

- librariankt

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Clarification of Answer by librariankt-ga on 06 May 2004 20:57 PDT

I also want to mention that it is not always true that the internet
will get you better ticket prices.  According to a study by the Public
Interest Research Group, travel agents can get better prices,
particularly if you're trying to do a multi-step/multi-city trip. 
Also, I have found that Yahoo! Travel usually has the same fares as
all the other discount brokers, which is why I use it for all of my
simple trips.  Priceline is an option in that you can bid the maximum
price you're willing to pay - but you have very little control over
when your flight leaves and how long your stopovers are.  With an
international flight that would make me nervous.  I would advise you
to call a travel agent for help if you're unsure about using an online
broker.

Hope that aside helps further!

- Librariankt

First the simpler rules ,
- the further in advance you book the lower the price (upto about 8 weeks) 
- the more stopovers you are willing to endure , usually the lower the price
- booking on the internet is cheaper then booking with a travel agent

Now for some places where you can find cheap flights

www.orbitz.com
www.priceline.com
www.cheaptickets.com
www.expedia.com

when booking on the internet bare in mind : if it sounds too good to
be true , it usually is, only go with established names

Hope this helps you out a bit