FCO to Venice Santa Lucia
Jan 20th, 2014, 12:08 PM
#1
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FCO to Venice Santa Lucia
We arrive FCO at 630am and would like to buy our train tickets online (to prepay as much as I can) but with deplaning, customs and finding the station at the airport, 3 trains are possible.
Can I buy a ticket for the train and if I either miss it or can get on an earlier train, can I do that? Or must I travel on the timed ticket I bought? Thanks.
Can I buy a ticket for the train and if I either miss it or can get on an earlier train, can I do that? Or must I travel on the timed ticket I bought? Thanks.
Jan 20th, 2014, 12:11 PM
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discount tickets are train-specific I think so if you miss the train you are out - you might be able to apply the fare to a full fare ticket but cannot I believe change to another train with a discounted ticket.
Discounted tickets are meant to fill seats on trains that are not expected to sell out not to be used on trains that may be full. Leave plenty of fudge factor time - Rome Termini station has all kinds of amenities there - restaurants, cafes, etc in case you end up twiddling your thumbs.
Or ask about add-on plane fares to Venice from Rome.
Discounted tickets are meant to fill seats on trains that are not expected to sell out not to be used on trains that may be full. Leave plenty of fudge factor time - Rome Termini station has all kinds of amenities there - restaurants, cafes, etc in case you end up twiddling your thumbs.
Or ask about add-on plane fares to Venice from Rome.
Jan 20th, 2014, 12:20 PM
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I agree. If you are talking about discounted tickets from Termini to Venice S.L., the savings can be substantial. If you're on a budget, book a train ticket at least 2 hours out from your FCO arrival.
If you're doing carry-on only luggage, I'd book the 8:35. If you have to wait for luggage, I'd book the 8:50.
Check how often your flight is on time. If that flight is often late, take that into account.
As the last poster stated, though, there is plenty you can do in Termini station while waiting for your train to Venice. So, if you are on a really tight budget and your plane is often late, and you're checking luggage, you might want to book the 9:50.
PS I believe the 2nd class "Economy" ticket allows you ONE reservation change. The "Super Economy" does not. (Run your cursor over the ticket price and a window will pop up with restrictions for that ticket type [on Trenitalia.com].)
If you're doing carry-on only luggage, I'd book the 8:35. If you have to wait for luggage, I'd book the 8:50.
Check how often your flight is on time. If that flight is often late, take that into account.
As the last poster stated, though, there is plenty you can do in Termini station while waiting for your train to Venice. So, if you are on a really tight budget and your plane is often late, and you're checking luggage, you might want to book the 9:50.
PS I believe the 2nd class "Economy" ticket allows you ONE reservation change. The "Super Economy" does not. (Run your cursor over the ticket price and a window will pop up with restrictions for that ticket type [on Trenitalia.com].)
Jan 20th, 2014, 01:11 PM
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Frecciarossa tickets are good only for the train they are issued for. Non discounted tickets can sometimes be changed to other trains - be sure to read carefully the conditions, as there may be some limits - but in any case you have to formally change a reservation into a new one. If you board an earlier train with a ticket for a later one (or viceversa) you would be considered as having no ticket.
Jan 20th, 2014, 05:53 PM
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asps- I'm not sure your post is clear. You state the ticket is only good for the train it is issued for.. but then go on to talk about making a new reservation.
To be clear- if the ticket allows one reservation change, that is exactly what it allows. A new reservation for a new train. So it <I>could</I> be good for a different train, but you'd have to switch the reservation (I suspect with a ticket agent).
To be clear- if the ticket allows one reservation change, that is exactly what it allows. A new reservation for a new train. So it <I>could</I> be good for a different train, but you'd have to switch the reservation (I suspect with a ticket agent).
Jan 21st, 2014, 08:13 AM
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I see last minutes fares from FCO to St. Lucia around 48-88EU at Trenitalia. The best discounted fare I could find quickly was 37EU. I have purchased a discounted ticket on my first visit. That was the only time I could not make the train. At that time, Trenitalia was issuing discounted ticket with train change at no cost. Now I don't pre-book the arrival day trains anymore. The FCO Trenitalia ticket windows/machines can be mobbed in the morning, but you have so much time to get to Venice. The FCO agents speak good English because of the type of customers. If language is your concern, FCO ticket window is a good place to buy all your tickets using a credit card. If you want to do this, have all train info written before getting to the window/machine.
Baggage retrieval at FCO is slow, but this has been the case at all Italian airports. I waited 40 minutes in Sept. And depending on airline, it can be a trek to the FCO train station.
Baggage retrieval at FCO is slow, but this has been the case at all Italian airports. I waited 40 minutes in Sept. And depending on airline, it can be a trek to the FCO train station.
Jan 21st, 2014, 08:27 AM
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There are no trains from FCO to Venice, and most tickets from FCO to Rome's Termini station (where you have to go to change onto a Trenitalia train to Venice) aren't time-specific.
It might be easier to change your reservation at Termini, which has loads of ticket machines and (miracolo, miracolo) nearby floating helpers to talk you through the process of using them. In (even more unItalian) good English. All of this applies, of course, only if you've got a ticket that allows reservation changes.
Do realise also that Italy has <b> two </b> high speed intercity railway companies. The Commies who dominate this site (and most guidebooks) keep in pretending that the tax-guzzling Trenitalia is the only one, But Italotreno (on which you connect to the Venice train at Rome Tiburtina) takes exactly the same time, has newer rolling stock, is often cheaper and structures its discount policies differently.
I've no idea which of the two has policies more friendly to arriving air travellers. But I wouldn't book on either without checking the competition
It might be easier to change your reservation at Termini, which has loads of ticket machines and (miracolo, miracolo) nearby floating helpers to talk you through the process of using them. In (even more unItalian) good English. All of this applies, of course, only if you've got a ticket that allows reservation changes.
Do realise also that Italy has <b> two </b> high speed intercity railway companies. The Commies who dominate this site (and most guidebooks) keep in pretending that the tax-guzzling Trenitalia is the only one, But Italotreno (on which you connect to the Venice train at Rome Tiburtina) takes exactly the same time, has newer rolling stock, is often cheaper and structures its discount policies differently.
I've no idea which of the two has policies more friendly to arriving air travellers. But I wouldn't book on either without checking the competition
Jan 21st, 2014, 08:35 AM
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(on which you connect to the Venice train at Rome Tiburtina)>
if doing that you can take a regional train directly from FCO to Rome Tiburtina station - do not take the Leonardo Express as it only goes to Termini. And the regional train is much cheaper - just a few euros - Tiburtina is also IME a much easier station to manage - Rome Termini can be very chaotic and flummxoing to the novice user.
if doing that you can take a regional train directly from FCO to Rome Tiburtina station - do not take the Leonardo Express as it only goes to Termini. And the regional train is much cheaper - just a few euros - Tiburtina is also IME a much easier station to manage - Rome Termini can be very chaotic and flummxoing to the novice user.
Jan 21st, 2014, 09:26 AM
#12
>>> most tickets from FCO to Rome's Termini station (where you have to go to change onto a Trenitalia train to Venice) aren't time-specific.<<<
If you buy a train ticket online for FCO/Rome it is time specific even though it's a regional train without any discounts.
>>>But Italotreno (on which you connect to the Venice train at Rome Tiburtina) takes exactly the same time, has newer rolling stock, is often cheaper and structures its discount policies differently.<<<
I don't find Italo to have cheaper discounts than Trenitalia, but their discounts are for sale until departure (if they haven't sold out). Trenitalia requires and advance purchase of at least 24 hours to get a discounted ticket.
If you decided to use Italo, you might not have to go all the way to Tiburtina (45 minutes from FCO). There are some departures from Ostiense so that might work for you. You would still take the local train from FCO (not the Leonardo Express) which departs every 15 minutes (8€). Travel time from FCO to Ostiense is about 15 minutes.
If you buy a train ticket online for FCO/Rome it is time specific even though it's a regional train without any discounts.
>>>But Italotreno (on which you connect to the Venice train at Rome Tiburtina) takes exactly the same time, has newer rolling stock, is often cheaper and structures its discount policies differently.<<<
I don't find Italo to have cheaper discounts than Trenitalia, but their discounts are for sale until departure (if they haven't sold out). Trenitalia requires and advance purchase of at least 24 hours to get a discounted ticket.
If you decided to use Italo, you might not have to go all the way to Tiburtina (45 minutes from FCO). There are some departures from Ostiense so that might work for you. You would still take the local train from FCO (not the Leonardo Express) which departs every 15 minutes (8€). Travel time from FCO to Ostiense is about 15 minutes.
Jan 21st, 2014, 09:55 AM
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"If you buy a train ticket online for FCO/Rome it is time specific "
Haven't we had this discussion before?
Last time I bought a Leonardo Express ticket, it did indeed say on the screen that it was for such and such a time.
But the Trenitalia staff nearby made it clear that wasn't a condition of the offer, but a glitch in the system. They explained that, self-evidently an airport train can't have time-specific conditions, since passengers have no control over their arrival time. So a booking requires the passenger ONLY to travel on the specified day. No-one, it appears, had been able to programme that into the system.
The rules may have changed since New Year 2012/13. But though tickets were checked onboard, there wasn't even a gesture of checking they were for the train concerned.
Haven't we had this discussion before?
Last time I bought a Leonardo Express ticket, it did indeed say on the screen that it was for such and such a time.
But the Trenitalia staff nearby made it clear that wasn't a condition of the offer, but a glitch in the system. They explained that, self-evidently an airport train can't have time-specific conditions, since passengers have no control over their arrival time. So a booking requires the passenger ONLY to travel on the specified day. No-one, it appears, had been able to programme that into the system.
The rules may have changed since New Year 2012/13. But though tickets were checked onboard, there wasn't even a gesture of checking they were for the train concerned.
Jan 22nd, 2014, 12:36 PM
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Sarge, a Frecciarossa ticket is issued with a reservation for a place on a specific train at a given time. If you want to board a different train you must change the ticket and the reservation - if your ticket allows for a change. You may change with a ticket agent, or even at some ticket machines or on the internet; the first ticket is voided and a new one issued with a different code.
(To the conductor on the train, the ticket is the code on it; the conductors enters the code on an handheld terminal, and if the code is recognized by the system the ticket is valid.)
(To the conductor on the train, the ticket is the code on it; the conductors enters the code on an handheld terminal, and if the code is recognized by the system the ticket is valid.)
Jan 22nd, 2014, 02:37 PM
#15
>>>But the Trenitalia staff nearby made it clear that wasn't a condition of the offer, but a glitch in the system. They explained that, self-evidently an airport train can't have time-specific conditions, since passengers have no control over their arrival time. So a booking requires the passenger ONLY to travel on the specified day. No-one, it appears, had been able to programme that into the syste<<<
I'm not sure why you were told that or how you purchased the ticket, but for several years (at least since 2011), if you attempt to buy a Leonardo Express ticket from the machines at Termini, you have to select a two hour travel window. You must travel in that time window. Trenitalia's website states you have a 90 minute window on the tickets and then they expire. You don't have to validate them because they are only valid for that specific time.
*****Where to buy your ticket
Only buy tickets in authorized points of sale:
• on this website, by simply printing the pdf file that you will receive via email with confirmation of purchase
• in our ticket offices
• from our self-service machines
• in authorized travel agencies
• in authorized points of sale (coffee bars, tobacconist’s newsagents’ etc.)
Remember to always print your e-ticket and bring it with you when you travel.
Trenitalia e-tickets are already validated, and expire 90 minutes after departure time of selected train.
Hold on to your ticket, you will need it to exit turnstiles in Fiumicino Airport station. ******
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...008916f90aRCRD
I'm not sure why you were told that or how you purchased the ticket, but for several years (at least since 2011), if you attempt to buy a Leonardo Express ticket from the machines at Termini, you have to select a two hour travel window. You must travel in that time window. Trenitalia's website states you have a 90 minute window on the tickets and then they expire. You don't have to validate them because they are only valid for that specific time.
*****Where to buy your ticket
Only buy tickets in authorized points of sale:
• on this website, by simply printing the pdf file that you will receive via email with confirmation of purchase
• in our ticket offices
• from our self-service machines
• in authorized travel agencies
• in authorized points of sale (coffee bars, tobacconist’s newsagents’ etc.)
Remember to always print your e-ticket and bring it with you when you travel.
Trenitalia e-tickets are already validated, and expire 90 minutes after departure time of selected train.
Hold on to your ticket, you will need it to exit turnstiles in Fiumicino Airport station. ******
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...008916f90aRCRD
