Alitalia or Delta??

[Janis]

I'm flying to Tuscany this summer. It's outrageously expensive ($1400 - $1600 per ticket!!). The least expensive choices with only one stop enroute are Alitalia and Delta

Of these 2, which offers the best onboard amenities in the cattle section? Do any have in-seat TV's? Comfier seats?

I believe Alitalia flies a 767 , Delta is an A332

Other than these 2 choices, is there an airline that I haven't mentioned that offers superior service to Europe?

Thanks!

 

[Dave M]

For starters, you might be able to do better price-wise. I see mid July flights from BWI to Florence for about $1,100 on British Air, about $350 less than for Delta. Or fly to Rome for under $1,000 and take a train (two hours) or rental car to Florence or to your Tuscany destination.

Delta flies mostly 767-300 planes to Europe, except for a few 777s (such as to Milan). Thus, if you believe you would be on Delta but it's a different aircraft, check to be sure it isn't really Alitalia or Air France, since Delta codeshares flights with those airlines. So you could be looking at different fares on different airlines for the same plane and flight!

Every seat on the Air France A330 has an individual seat entertainment system. The Delta 767s have the old fashioned one screen per 20 seats or so in economy.

Delta has 31 to 32 inches between rows of seats in the economy section on its 767s, a bit less than Air France's 32 inches on its 330s (same as 332s). Both have 18 inches of width per seat, which is tight, but still a bit more room than the 17 inches on (for example) Delta's Song 757s in the U.S.

I can't find any Delta-operated flights on 330s. Can you provide more info?

 

[Janis]

How are you finding these flights? I checked the BA website, and I keep getting a message that they don't fly to Florence.

Also, I was including taxes for the total fare. The taxes are close to 20%!!

I'll keep checking, but if you can let me know where the BA low fares can be found, I would appreciate it!

Also - I am flying 06/30-07/09 which may help to explain the higher fares.

Janis

 

[Dave M]

Yes, I was also including taxes and other charges. I found my fares on Travelocity and they are still there. Just now, I happened to pick departure on July 11 with a return on the 25th.

However, I have no idea what dates you are traveling and that could be the difference. Also, it doesn't matter whether BA flies to Florence. If they don't, they have codeshare flights with one of their partners at those fares.

I almost never look for fares on an airline's site first. I find lowest fares elsewhere (Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, etc.) and then try to match that low fare on the airline's site to get whatever FF miles booking bonuses are available and to eliminate the $5-10 commission charged by the search engine.

 

[Janis]

It must be my travel dates, then. June 30-July 9th. I have tried Orbitz, travelocity, priceline, hotwire, expedia. I only checked the BA website when you spotted a low fare - just to see if the major engines were missing it for some reason.


Anyway..... I'm still seeing 1400 as about the lowest for my dates.

Whaddya think - any chance the price will come down????