Flight suggestions? Italy in October
 

I've been tasked with planning a trip to Italy on or about October 1st with friends that will be attending a conference. Due to the dates of the conference I don't have much flexibility with my flight dates.

We hope to start in Venice for 3-4 days, spend 3-4 more in Florence(ish) & then another 4-5 on the Amalfi Coast before they continue on to Sabaudia (a bit south of Rome) for the conference on the 15th.

In addition to RT flights in & out of FCO I've searched a couple of open jaw routes flying into either VCE or MXP & returning from either NAP or FCO but just can't seem to find the right balance between $$ and time once you factor trains in.

The other challenge I have is that the 3 of us are starting from different parts of the US & would prefer to meet up somewhere on the east coast (ORD, EWR or JFK seem to be the options) & cross the ocean together on the same flight. We'll be departing from PHX, ORD & RSW (or any other airports in the vicinity if it makes more sense to do so.)

Based on our projected itinerary are there any other airports I should be considering that I'm missing?

Do you think we're just better off flying in/out of Rome & dealing with the trains to get to/from our destinations?

Let me know if I can provide any additional info to complete the picture.

Thanks so much!!
Erin

If you all want to fly TATL together, it really limits your choices and increases travel time, unless it is to a major airport (FCO or MXP). TATLs US-VCE are limited (DL only?) so such a plan would most likely involve a transit in the U.S. and another in Europe (does increase chances of a misconnect). Same with flying back from NAP.

Italian trains can be cheap, if you buy the tickets in advance (booking window is either 60 or 90 days, I forget). You will be limited to a specific train and missing or changing it would involve buying a walk-up ticket (expensive).

All your Italian destinations are served by high speed trains. In a few hours can get anywhere from Rome without have to deal with potentially more expensive open jaw flights.

Plus train tickets can be really inexpensive if booked at least 2-3 weeks earlier.

However, being October quite far and a low season, shouldn't be much trouble to price a decent flight as per your original (and ideal) plan:
XXX-VCE/FCO-XXX.

From NAP to US you're going to pay a tad more and have to connect to FCO/CDG/AMS anyway (if Skyteam), or MUC/FRA/IST (if Star Alliance).

American Airlines travels direct to Venice from Philadelphia. Perhaps you can meet up there.

My two cents: Fly in and out of FCO and take the train to Venice right from the airport (you can do it without a transfer). It's a 4 hour train ride and you can all sit together comfortably. There are two trains a day directly from FCO to Venice (through Florence, Bologna and Padua) - 11:08am and 3:08pm, but you should confirm these for your dates instead of relying on me here. You'll want to time your TATL flights accordingly (see below).

If you all really want to fly together, you'll all need to get to a hub, and I'll let you google those flights yourself. As far as the flights into FCO, you probably want ~2 hrs before the train just to be safe. These get you to the early train:

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...;ti=l0000-0908

These get you to the late train:

https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...;ti=l0909-1308

Then you can get your train tickets on the Trenitalia website.

As a practical matter, if you plan to sleep on the flight and can actually sleep on a plane, I'd suggest leaving from ORD for a slightly longer flight. If you just want it over with, the fastest is from BOS - but by the time meal service ends and they turn the lights down, you really only have ~5 hrs left before landing, as the total flight is just under 7 hours most days.

It sounds appealing to do an open jaw, but you can get to FCO from most places in the US, and the train station is connected to the terminal by skybridge. It's so easy. But if you do want to go to VCE, the few nonstops would be out of PHL, JFK and EWR. From VCE, you still have to take a boat or a water taxi to the island, whereas a train will take you right there.

Thanks so much everyone for your feedback!! I'll see what else I can come up with using your suggestions.

One more idea (though not without its own drawbacks): meet in Paris.

Air France flies from many US cities to Paris (CDG) and to many Italian cities from CDG. CDG is not a perfect airport (stuff happens, like delayed luggage) but you could all fly to Paris and meet up for a flight to Venice and fly back from Rome (or wherever).

This is what I am doing in Oct. Will travel via train from London to Paris, then CDG-FCO on Air France.

Meeting at a European city with a lot of routes from the US is a great idea. I didn't think of that.

Depending on all of the departure cities, though, may I suggest looking into Swiss to ZRH or Delta/KLM to AMS? I suggest those because they are probably the two easiest hubs in Europe to navigate and potentially sit around in. ZRH in particular is my favorite airport in the world. I actually like being there.

NYC to MXP
 

I suggest NYC to Milan. The price has consistently been much lower than to any other Italian city. And on several carriers... American, Delta, even BA for example. Train from Milan to Venice is only 2 hours OR do your Cinque Terre visit first, then Florence, then Venice...

Uggghhh.... remind me not to volunteer for this duty again. Crazy good airfare deals right now & I can't get the others in the party to agree/commit!! I'm half tempted to just book my own & let them figure the rest out :)~

Thanks again everyone for your feedback!!