travelnut265

Hi
No I had not registered with Trenitalia as you have to give an Italian address.The credit card registered fine and the purchase is on my statement.
I did not advise my credit card provider I was making any overseas purchases.
I don't always use Paypal,althought I like the system and service, as Trenatalia give a time limit of 10 minutes to complete the service ,and for my first transaction I didn't want to deal with another screen.Totally my choice .
Email confirmation sent with ticket as attachment.I did have a practise run up to the payment part.
Hope this explains better.

kybourbon

>>>I forgot to mention that choosing a flight to Venice with a less than 3 hour layover for the connecting flight costs $1600 more.<<<

That would be highly unusual. Usually flights are much closer in price ($100 or so). I don't think you are searching flights correctly. What is your departure city/date and airline? Are you only willing to fly a specific airline? Have you looked at flying into Rome and home from Venice (or Florence/Pisa)? I don't find non-stop as important on the way home as on the way over.

I also think you are ignoring the value of a day of vacation that you will lose on a r/t to Rome.

nomadder

kybourbon,I think I am checking correctly. However, I did not consider doing anything but a nonstop flight home from Rome. If I do a 1 stop flight home, then I have a normally priced option with less of a layover on the stop to Venice, such as below.

Depart
6:40 PM
United States

Stop 1
7:40 AM
Frankfurt , Germany
Frankfurt Int'l Airport (FRA) Terminal 1

Change of planes. Time between flights: 1hr 15min
Lufthansa
Economy Airbus A343
3,939 mi 8hr 0min

Depart
8:55 AM
Frankfurt , Germany
Frankfurt Int'l Airport (FRA) Terminal 1
Arrive
10:15 AM
Venice , Italy
Marco Polo Airport (VCE)
Lufthansa 324
Economy Airbus A320
352 mi 1hr 20min

Flight 2 Thu, Apr 3 Total time: 11hr 50min
Depart
10:10 AM
Rome , Italy
Fiumicino Airport (FCO) Terminal 3
Stop 1
12:10 PM
Frankfurt , Germany
Frankfurt Int'l Airport (FRA) Terminal 1

Change of planes. Time between flights: 1hr 0min
Lufthansa
Economy Airbus A321
598 mi 2hr 0min

Depart
1:10 PM
Frankfurt , Germany
Frankfurt Int'l Airport (FRA) Terminal 1
Arrive
4:00 PM
United States
Lufthansa
Economy Airbus A343
3,939 mi 8hr 50min

Is 1:15 enough time between the flights at Frankfurt on the way to Venice? - I would hope so, since usually the flights get from here to Europe earlier than expected. But going home there would be 1 hour between connecting flights. I'm fine with that if it is not cutting it too close.

Another option is 2:15 layover in Heathrow (terminal 5) to Venice and 1:45 layover between Heathrow and flying home. A tad longer than I'd like.

My flight dates are Sun Mar 23 to Thursday, April 3rd out of PHL.

Not too picky about airline. Have points with US Airway but actually prefer BA or Lufthansa.

Sorry for the mess -- I appreciate everyone's attention to detail.

jane1144

We had a similar connection in Frankfurt, having flown Air Canada to Germany and then Lufthansa to Venice. I researched the map of the Frankfurt airport to see where we had to go. The signage is very clear. You have to clear in to Schengen at this point. Our timing was very tight and we had to run to the other terminal. I did the following: sat near the front of our Air Canada flight so we could deplane faster, had maps of the airport, had carry on luggage only. It helped that our flight was early coming in from Toronto. You have to go back through security but it was much faster than Toronto. If you had less than 30 minutes to your next flight, there was an expedited line. ( we had about 40 minutes so we had to go to the regular line). Just make sure that your Venice flight is a continuation of your original flight. Then, if you miss your connection they have to put you on the next available plane to Venice which was around noon as I recall.

nomadder

For the first flight I listed with the 1:15 layover in Frankfurt to Venice, the plane lands in Terminal 1 and departs from terminal 1. Also, both flights are Lufthansa but there is a change of planes. Won't they automatically change my luggage to the connecting flight?

Aramis

They will automaticallytransfer your luggage

kybourbon

Delta has flights for your dates, but with changes at JFK for $990 (into Rome and home from Venice).

As for the Frankfort layover, I always allow at least 2 hours to change after a TATL flight.

Another option I see is PHL to Florence (change in Frankfurt) and home from Rome (non-stop) for $1035. It's very easy to get to the center of Florence from their airport (shuttle bus for a few euro or taxi). It's only 15-20 minutes to the center. You could start your trip in Florence and then the train to Venice for a few days(2 hours) and leave Rome for last.

Truffles

With respect to purchasing tickets from Trenitalia - register for verified by visa, or the mastercard option before you purchase your tickets, as the password is required to complete your purchase.

I managed to register for the website last year, but can't remember if I used my hotel for an address or an address wasn't required..

Trenitalia is less "buggy" if you are registered.

Italotreno is the other option - service is less frequent, but you can find promo codes online (I've just booked Florence-Venice for my travel companion), and it was easier to use than Trenitalia. FYI, they offered a low price option of €16.50 in economy (that may have been the result of the code)

Truffles

Also - is there a reason you aren't looking at taking the train directly to Venice, then Florence and back to Rome? It might be easier than Florence/Venice/Rome

dwdvagamundo

Truffles--I was thinking the same. Italotreno (https://biglietti.italotreno.it/Book...eno_A.aspxsays) it takes 3.5 hours from Roma Ostiense (right on the line from Fiumicino) to Venizia Santa Lucia.

nomadder

All great points. Thanks for your time and effort to all, especially kybourbon. Flying into Florence is a good option. Although there is a bit of a layover, it'll save me the train trip from FCO and then to Florence and likely average out to the same time. I'll still lose a half day at end of trip from Venice to Rome, so I'll take another last peak into arriving in Rome and train to Venice, too, and try to decide between the two options soon.

I'll be back if I have more questions.

sarge56

It's really simple. Fly into Venice. Spend your nights there. Train to Florence. Spend your nights there. Train to Rome. There should be no need for back-tracking.

Alternatively, fly into Rome. Spend your time there. Train to Florence. Spend your time there. Train to Venice and home from there.

I see no advantage to flying into Florence if you still want to see both Rome and Venice.

kybourbon

>>>I'll still lose a half day at end of trip from Venice to Rome,<<<

Why would you? Fly into Florence, stay in Florence a few days, train to Venice (2 hours), stay in Venice a few days, train to Rome (3:45), stay in Rome the rest of your time. That's only two train trips.

Your total train time doesn't change on an open jaw. You only have more train trips if you do a r/t in/out of one city because of the extra trip back to your arrival city.

dwdvagamundo

kybourbon--I think that's what nomadder is saying: if he has to take the train back to Rome from Venice, he loses 3.5 hours or half a day in travel. So if he is able to fly out of Venice after arriving in Rome, he has some more time in Venice.

Flying to Florence and planning to see both Rome and Venice doesn't make any sense to me, as sarge56 says.

nomadder

Just found some new flights, direct both ways. Will probably add one day to my trip to better accommodate the dates for a total of 11 days in Italy (which includes arrival but not departure day). I'll be back when I confirm, as I know I'll need to post questions about certain sites. Normally I have 4 months to plan my trips but I decided to go through with this one just recently.

Aramis

Sweet! Being dogged in searching doesn't always pay off but when it does.....!!!!!!