Fiumicino to Vittorio Veneto, north of Venice

[HarveyK]

Each Sept., I take a group for a painting week in Vittorio Veneto. My wife and some other couples join me at the end of the week and we go off to a destination for a week. Next Sept. it will be the Amalfi Coast, so I booked my air roundtrip Boston-Rome through Delta for just 50,000 miles. It's an Alitalia flight that lands, I think in Terminal 1, at 11:50 a.m. There's a 1:20 flight to Venice that departs from, I think Terminal 1. My question is: is that enough time? I probably will have 1 checked bag, The next plane to Venice leaves a few hours later, and if I can't make the 1:20, I might consider taking the train. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Andrew]

Your arrival would clear customs at Terminal 3. I think the connection is tight, especially if it isn't booked as a connecting flight. Often on these questions the answer is that it should work if your inbound is on time, but you have no room for a delay, and Alitalia doesn't have a great reputation for punctuality. With checked bags I think it's tight even with an on-time arrival. There is a direct train to Mestre and Venice, under current schedules, leaving the airport at 15.08, or earlier connecting at one of the Rome stations.

 

[Andrew]

Other things I meant to say are:

1. Booking this far in advance, you shouldn't count on the schedules staying the same; don't make firm plans based on current schedules.

2. For a long time, people have questioned the long-term survival of Alitalia. It's been talked about for so long and there have been interests keeping it going such that they may be o.k.. but it's possible that they'd drop the Boston route. Getting the trip on a Delta award they may take responsibility to get you to Rome on their own flights (as in point 1, with a different schedule), but they could just redeposit the miles and leave you on your own without great options. We can hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[HarveyK]

Thanks, Andrew.
I'll wait and book the later flight at 4pm. A friend from London will be meeting me at VCE, and we'll take a car service to Vittorio Veneto from there.