non rev in the summer is tough. Shoulder months not so much. I agree with RJ. Pick up a few trip between now and then and just buy the tickets. No hassle and you'll enjoy it more.
I think she'd be onboard with the extra work if she knows it benefits you both.
Business class is worth it for that long of a flight.
You could also find the cheapest way to get to Europe then take Ryan air.
Or walk, Europe is like the size of the southcenter mall. You can walk anywhere

 

If you're ending in rome and taking the train to Venice, also consider taking the train to Vienna (an overnight train through the alps, get a sleeper car). Very cool and unique experience, and I've found flights on Austrian Airlines to be pretty inexpensive.

But to pile on the bandwagon, definitely BUY the business class tickets. My wife and I did going to east Asia a few years ago and it was worth.every.penny.

The difference to our product is akin to the difference between getting surgery in a modern hospital and getting triage on a 14th century English battlefield.

 

Funny enough my European friends use VPNs to shop from USA IP addresses because they think that we always get cheaper prices….

Anyway, An “open-jaw” ticket (returning from a different city than the one in which you arrived) can be more expensive than a simple return ticket, so also check the price for, say US - London - US and then adding internal flights on one of the low-cost airlines like Ryanair or Vueling, which has a lot of flights to BCN. This would allow you to also enjoy a night or two in one of the Northern cities, which have a totally different vibe to the hotter southern places. London and Amsterdam are especially attractive cities for first-time American tourists as everyone speaks English and they are easy to navigate on public transportation.

 

For fun, I just got on Google Flights and checked flights between ORD and Rome/Barcelona in Sep. Prices from most European countries and the US were pretty high. But prices from Spain and esp Guatemala/Mexico were significantly lower. I didn’t try to purchase them, so don’t know what would happen if it detects a US billing address.

 

Zap, when you go to Europe makes a BIG difference. Not in airfares but also in how crowded the tourist places will be. I’ve traveled to Europe countless times (from there originally) and can’t recommend the shoulder seasons enough.

Especially if you’re nonrevving, I’d stay the hell away in the summer. Don’t be afraid to try it in April-May and Sept-Dec. I NEVER paid for a ticket expect for the ridiculously cheap inter-European airlines (Wizz, Ryanair, etc).

I do know that my European friends get cheaper prices when booking their vacations and will be trying the VPN trick soon.

 

Thanks, we were thinking May or October of 2025 - kid graduates from high school next year and I promised to take the wife to Italy once he was in college to celebrate having successfully raised a human. So plenty of time to make plans. Unfortunately neither Barcelona or Venice have nonstops to DFW, so I was just doing a little research to decide between flying to Madrid and taking the train, or flying to New York or Toronto and then directly to Barcelona.

Like I said, it’s all new to me so it’s one of those situations where I don’t know what I don’t know. Looking forward to it though. (except for paying for it all!) Really appreciate all the advice on this thread. I know it’s not Southwest specific, but since I’ve heard we can’t get ID90s on business class because SWA 🙄 I figured who better to ask? After reading here though I think we’ll just save some of the (hopefully) retro check and buy the tickets rather than try to nonrev.

 

I’ve heard good things about La Compagnie (Sp?). Basically a 757 with like 70 seats in it so it’s all business class and we can non-rev on them. Think they fly out of EWR. If you want to go to EU and want options without buying a ticket…look at BOS/NYC. There are other options from places you wouldn’t expect….SLC, AUS, RDU, CVG that are pretty open.

 

I’ve been across the Atlantic more than I deserve. We always go in April or October. Summer heat plus crowds would make a trip out there miserable that time of year. Also, never go in February to Italy, Paris or England. It’s Chinese New Year that month and it feels like half of that country shows up in Europe then. I found myself in Venice once or n February and it was wall to wall Chinese as far as you could see on that island. Never again.

 

I’ve used La Compagnie several times out of EWR (I believe that’s their only airport in the US), either to MXP or ORY. They use the A321Neos which are outfitted with all lay flat business sets. The loads seem to usually be open too.

 

You could get a cheap business class by going over on TAP or Azores or something similar- not much different than a domestic business seat on someone like AA, but it won't break the bank. I'm seeing $1700 roundtrip in business this October from Boston and JFK. Just nonrev to any east coast city with international flights and find the one that has the cheapest hops over to Europe. The flight over isn't that long to Spain, so this "lower-tier" business is honestly fine. On the way back from Italy, it'll be a day time flight so trying to get comfortable to sleep isn't as big of a deal IMO.