Travel2015for4

My Alitalia flight from JFK (New York City) to FCO (Rome) is suppose to land in Rome at 08:40 on September 14. I'll have one checked in luggage. I would love to take the direct train from FCO airport train station to Florence at 11:08. I see some posts that say to buy when you get there, but would like to save money if the risk is low. Is this feasible to do? How much risk is there? I'm not sure how prompt Alitalia flights are and what kind of delays to expect in mid September at the airport and how long of a walk to get from landing to the airport trains (I have no idea how big this airport is). Thanks for any detailed info.

Andrew

8:40 is the scheduled arrival time at the gate FYI, not the time you land - any taxi time to the gate should already be factored into the scheduled arrival time. In other words, if your flight is exactly on time, you'd have 2:28 to get from the gate to the train.

That SHOULD be plenty of time - if your flight is an hour late and it takes you 45 minutes to get to baggage claim and wait for the bag, you'd still have time to get to the train station (I have done this in Rome but it's been years...).

Two hours late? You probably wouldn't make it. You can check the history of this particular flight and see what its on-time record is, maybe? But no matter how good it is, it's still a small risk.

You're always taking a chance with such things (I've done it with connecting flights booked entirely separately so a big risk - so far I've been lucky). The question is, what happens if you miss your train? Is your train ticket completely non-refundable/changeable and so you are throwing it away? What's the cost for a new ticket?

I'd book the cheap train ticket myself and simply be prepared to throw it away and buy the full-fare train ticket if 2+ hours late - just a cost of travel. If you think about it, you're really risking the cost of the cheap ticket, anyway, as you'll have to buy the full-fare train ticket whether you miss your earlier train or buy nothing in advance, right?

Travel2015for4

Thanks for that perspective. Did you mean "..no matter how good it is, it's still a" BIG risk? vs "small risk"?

If I decide to go with a one stop option. Is it better to stop at Termini or Tiburtina? I'm looking for a balance of easy and cheap (easy being the higher priority since it's my first time in Europe).

Travel2015for4

This flight has an average delay of 31 minutes with a standard deviation of 18.76 minutes.

I'm guessing that means that it's possible that I'll arrive at the gate at 9:30am? So what's the risk of still catching the 11:08 direct from FCO to Florence?

tuscanlifeedit

What's the difference between the deepest discount available at this time (today) and the walk up price? The difference looks to be about 20 euro between Super Economy and the base fee.

Economy is only 10 euro more than Super Economy and would allow changes, with a change fee. I don't know how much that would be.

I think your chance of catching the 11:08 is good, but I wouldn't check a bag. I would pack very light, had a rolling carry on, and go straight to the station.

Check out maps of FCO and see if you can find out where your flight generally lands.

bvlenci

The Economy tickets can be changed only up until the scheduled departure of the train, so that wouldn't be very useful if you missed the train. The fee is the difference in price between the Economy and Base tickets.

Even the Base tickets can be changed only until an hour after the scheduled departure.

For one person, you save €22 by buying SuperEconomy in advance, and you stand to lose €29 if you miss the train. For Economy, you would save €12 and risk losing €39.

For me, that would rule out buying Economy tickets. It would be a more difficult decision in the case of SuperEconomy, but I myself only buy things in advance if there's a substantial savings, or a great risk of not getting the thing at all (like reservations to a popular opera). Sometimes I've had to cancel or reschedule an entire trip due to circumstances beyond my control. Likewise, I always pay more for hotel rooms, if necessary, to get the possibility of canceling or changing dates. It's usually cheaper than trip insurance.

Ackislander

This is a lot of overthinking a month in advance of your trip.

If you keep worrying like this, you will be a mass of quivering nerves by the time you get there.

I just listed seven reasons why you might miss this train, but I erased them because they are not cumulatively likely and you can't do anything about most of them.

I do think you should follow tuscanlitfeed's advice to try very hard to do carry on only. It is much harder for men than women, but it can be done if you don't have special issues.

And relax!

Travel2015for4

Thanks all for the info. It really helps to have the info to decide. Even a month in advance, the super economy fares are already sold out. I rather know ahead so that I can relax vs get stuck without good info. Thanks again.