Expert: K F. - 4/29/2010

Question
My wife and I are in Huntsville, Alabama and have booked a cruise that leaves from Rome, Italy and goes one way to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We need to fly one way from Huntsville to Rome outbound, go on the cruise, and then return from Ft. Lauderdale to Huntsville.

What is the best way to book the airline portion of our trip? Cheapest way to Rome is to buy a roundtrip and then just throw the return away rather than buy one way. Do I then just buy a second trip from Ft. Lauderdale back to Huntsville? Or when I do that, will they cancel my remaining reservation? (Delta is most likely to be my carrier)
Also, if I buy a roundtrip, I have to give them a date for return...does it matter what date I put down since I'm not going to use the return of the Huntsville/Rome roundtrip? Should I make it way out there? Before my Ft. Lauderdale/Huntsville leg? After it? What?

Thanks for your help in advance!
Donald Fay
Huntsville

Answer
Hello Mr. Fay, thank you for contacting me.
I suggest that you try to look at www.kayak.com and search for your desired date of travel.  
Also, for the roundtrip/one way, I suggest you look up using 'mulit-city'.  This means that you will leave from one place and then depart from another.  Let me explain.

You book a flight from Huntsville to Rome, Italy.  And then a flight from Ft. Lauderdale back to Huntsville.  The only thing bad for this is that it maybe a bit pricier.  You can also try to contact Delta or any carrier you want to ask them if they have anything from their end.  Also, if you are flying Delta, you can use any carrier in the Skyteam Alliance.  This includes Alitalia and Northwest.  You can earn miles and redeem miles on those carriers as well.

Please rate my answer to my question. Please ask a follow up if you need to. :)
Best regards.
Ken