ARKANSAS to ITALY
“NWACC in Italy” a student guide to planning
your international flight travel to Florence
“Details of the steps I go through when booking an international flight” by Miles Fish
1. I choose my departure dates then go to kayak.com. I plug in the dates, then plug in XNA (Bentonville) to FLR (Florence, Italy) and “Round-Trip”. “Economy” is the least expensive seat. (I also click “Show flexible dates.”—usually mid week flights have the best prices but not always).
2. When the results page comes up I go to the LEFT column and UNCLICK Multiple Airlines (I only want to deal with ONE airline). Then, when the new results page comes up…
3. I look for flights that total (XNA-FLR) 15-18 hours with a minimum of 1 1/2 - 2 hours at each airport. (One delay and you could miss your connections, summer flights are often booked solid so you could spend your first day in Europe sleeping in an airport while you wait for the next available flight. Too risky—and potentially expensive. For me 1 1/2 -2hrs at an air port is the minimum.
4. I also look for flights that will arrive in Florence the earliest time of day. (Why arrive at 5:30PM when you can arrive at 11:30AM? That’s a half day.)
5. I choose the best two or three flights from the Kayak website then go to the airline’s website. If my top choices on Kayak are American Air, I go to the American Air website to book, if my top choices on Kayak are United Air, I go to the United Air website. I book only directly with the airline I am flying; I avoid second/third party bookings. (If a flight delay or scheduling problem arises, I might have to deal with the agency that booked my ticket to help me solve it and I want the agency that booked my ticket to be the airline I am flying and not a second or third party agency.)
6. After I choose my flight, I prepare to book it. I have my passport and driver’s license nearby in case I need to enter ID info (if your passport hasn’t arrived, you can probably add that info later).
7. While I am booking my flight, I pull up www.SeatGuru.com , plug in my Airline, Flight Numbers and Date. Seat Guru will show me a mock-up of the planes I’ll be on and advise me on the best/worst seats on each leg of my flight.
8. I pick out my seat(s) and then pay for my flight after AFTER I double check the day and month of departure and return flights. (Most airlines allow you 24 hours to change/cancel your reservations.)
That’s it. If you want help, let me know and we’ll meet the NWACC computer lab and I’ll walk you through the process then you can book when you get home.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
“NWACC in Italy” a student guide to planning
your international flight travel to Florence
“Details of the steps I go through when booking an international flight” by Miles Fish
1. I choose my departure dates then go to kayak.com. I plug in the dates, then plug in XNA (Bentonville) to FLR (Florence, Italy) and “Round-Trip”. “Economy” is the least expensive seat. (I also click “Show flexible dates.”—usually mid week flights have the best prices but not always).
2. When the results page comes up I go to the LEFT column and UNCLICK Multiple Airlines (I only want to deal with ONE airline). Then, when the new results page comes up…
3. I look for flights that total (XNA-FLR) 15-18 hours with a minimum of 1 1/2 - 2 hours at each airport. (One delay and you could miss your connections, summer flights are often booked solid so you could spend your first day in Europe sleeping in an airport while you wait for the next available flight. Too risky—and potentially expensive. For me 1 1/2 -2hrs at an air port is the minimum.
4. I also look for flights that will arrive in Florence the earliest time of day. (Why arrive at 5:30PM when you can arrive at 11:30AM? That’s a half day.)
5. I choose the best two or three flights from the Kayak website then go to the airline’s website. If my top choices on Kayak are American Air, I go to the American Air website to book, if my top choices on Kayak are United Air, I go to the United Air website. I book only directly with the airline I am flying; I avoid second/third party bookings. (If a flight delay or scheduling problem arises, I might have to deal with the agency that booked my ticket to help me solve it and I want the agency that booked my ticket to be the airline I am flying and not a second or third party agency.)
6. After I choose my flight, I prepare to book it. I have my passport and driver’s license nearby in case I need to enter ID info (if your passport hasn’t arrived, you can probably add that info later).
7. While I am booking my flight, I pull up www.SeatGuru.com , plug in my Airline, Flight Numbers and Date. Seat Guru will show me a mock-up of the planes I’ll be on and advise me on the best/worst seats on each leg of my flight.
8. I pick out my seat(s) and then pay for my flight after AFTER I double check the day and month of departure and return flights. (Most airlines allow you 24 hours to change/cancel your reservations.)
That’s it. If you want help, let me know and we’ll meet the NWACC computer lab and I’ll walk you through the process then you can book when you get home.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- If you want to fly from Bentonville to Florence but want depart Europe from a different city in order to spend extra travel days before you return, click “Mulit-city” instead of “Round Trip” when you book your flight. Your first destinations would be XNA/FLR and your second destination (your return) would be Paris/XNA or Amsterdam/XNA or Berlin/XNR etc.
- Airfares usually start to drop some after the first of the year. In January I start checking Kayak daily and when (IF) there is a lower-fare trend, I follow it and usually book when it seems to settle. When flying in June I book by the end of Feb. (Long ago you could wait until the last minute and get bargain fares on the unsold seats but those days are gone.)