Flight to Florence - layover in Italy or elsewhere
 

We are going to Florence to which unfortunately there are no direct flights from NY. The question is: if we pick a flight with the layover outside of Italy - say Charles DE Gaulle or Germany do we have to take our luggage and go through customs? If we pick a flight with a layover such as Rome or Milan would our luggage be transferred and would we avoid customs in the layover city.

We're trying to make the trip as easy as possible.

Also considering flying to Rome and taking a train.

Any thoughts?

One other question to consider. How long would your layover be in Rome? Depending on how long it is, it might be just as fast to end in Rome and catch the train to Florence. If the layover is as much as two hours, you could probably be in the center of Florence by then.

We usually transit through Frankfurt and the luggage is checked straight through. Also the connection times have never been overly long, just enough time to comfortably get through passport control and to the gate.

Personally I prefer to do it this way rather than fly to a city I am not going to stay in, then get to a train station and take a train to where I am going. Just less hassle IMO.

Easy: all planes to Florence via FRA or AMS. If via CDG, needs a longer layover, as it is a sprawling airport.

Schedule: You will have to compare flight vs. train as a whole. Trains can connect to any flight coming into FCO, MXP, or LIN, but you have to do luggage transfer on your own. Train is not a good option for heavy packers. Look at flight departure and arrival by train. If the flight layover is very long or if you can leave NY earlier if you take the train, you can get to Florence earlier by train.

If you flights are on the same codeshare, you check you luggage all the way to the end of the flight trip. They do the transfers for you.

IMO the difference between AMS Schiphol and a lot of other airports is this: EFFICIENCY of the layout and the ability to move between areas with fewer impediments.

I would also not fly into either Milan or Rome and then get to the train station and train to Florence. The last time I did that (through Rome) it took some waiting for baggage retrieval, walking, buying train tickets, the absolute madhouse of Termini (not to mention that other Italian swirl of humanity that is Milano Centrale) and so forth. In retrospect I wish we had booked a flight into Florence.

However, that might have been as "problematic" in its own way.

No matter where you land, you have luggage retrieval (so unless there are huge delays, it is equal), but getting into the city varies. Getting into Florence is easy by taxi 15-20 minutes or shuttle 20-25 minutes. By train, you arrive in the city center. I have not found termini to be that bad, but I am sure timing is everything. Travel is always a pain in some way or other, kind of a toss up trying to pick the least painful.

When are you going? There are seasonal flights non-stop JFK/Pisa (Delta). From Pisa, there is either the train from the Pisa airport to Florence (1 hour - under 10€) or the Terravision Shuttle bus (about the same amount of time - 5€). Pisa is a small airport.

http://www.terravision.eu/florence_pisa.html

OK, so it is not the country of layover but rather the ease of the airport.

I had not heard the term "codeshare" before but looked it up and I get it. For anyone interested I've copied from Wikipedia below.

There is an all Lufthansa flight with a stop in Frankfurt that is only 10 1/4 hrs which beats the Rome/Train time. So thanks for the FRA tip.

Sassafrass I think you're right - "Travel is always a pain in some way or other..."

A codeshare agreement, sometimes simply codeshare, is an aviation business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. A seat can be purchased on one airline but is actually operated by a cooperating airline under a different flight number or code.

Connecting flights: This provides clearer routing for the customer, allowing a customer to book travel from point A to C through point B under one carrier's code, instead of a customer booking from point A to B under one code, and from point B to C under another code. This is not only a superficial addition as cooperating airlines also strive to synchronize their schedules and coordinate luggage handling, which makes transfers between connecting flights less time-consuming.

Shared responsibility between the carriers: When flying between two cities without a single-airline connection, the passenger can pick a codeshared flight over two airlines or two flights booked separately. If the flights are not codeshared, then the second airline has no responsibility if the passenger or luggage misses the second flight due to a delay with the first. Under a codeshared flight, the second airline is unlikely to charge extra fees or deny boarding should the first, cooperating airline cause a delay.

Kybourbon you may have hit on something. It appears possible to get to Florence close to an hour sooner and $150 cheaper.

Bologna is another possibility, but not quite as easy transit to Florence and you would still have a connection in Europe. Two options, there is a bus service from the airport which drops sort of behind the Florence train station (takes a bit longer than the other Bologna option) or you would take a shuttle or taxi from the Bologna airport (about 15 minutes)to the Bologna train station and catch a train (fast trains about 35 minutes I think).

Fly to Pisa, the choice of connections (via all major European hubs) is much bigger. And there are direct Delta flights to Pisa, as kybourboon told you.

For me the issue is whether I am checking a bag and if I am not staying in the Italian city of my arrival. I generally do carryon, but if I need to check a bag, then I do not fly from NYC and switch planes anyplace in Europe except in Italy. If my bag is going to get lost by airport handlers, I would rather it get lost in Italy than in a distant European city.

But I generally do everything I can never to check a bag.

I think Emirates is presently having a sale on air fares from NYC to Milan. I am unaware of a flight to Florence from Milan, but I've never really looked. You can get from Milan's airports to Florence very easily. I don't find anything intimidating about Milano Centrale train station. If you have the option to fly into Pisa, it is a shorter (and cheaper) train trip to Florence.

Thanks to all. As recommended we booked flights from NY to Pisa.