Early flight out of Venice...HELP!

I calculate 135euro for a 1 way private water taxi from Venice hotel to airport early morning so it’s not quite as bad as your estimate. But it is what it is. If you don’t want to pay that then stay closer to Pzl Roma where it will be easy to catch a bus or a land taxi to the airport. Or stay at an airport hotel, or change your flight.

If you plan on using public transport...stay near the airport. If you book a private taxi...stay in Venice.

As noted in one of your other posts, its regrettable you did not plan your trip in reverse, in to Venice and out from Rome.

Early departures from Venice are an expensive hassle.

One option is leave Venice late on the day before your flight and spend the last night near the airport.

I can’t say it was good advance planning but a few years ago, I was in the same situation (almost). My friend and I had a 6:30 flight out of Venice but we were staying very near the San Marco stop. We took the 3:50 Alilaguna (€15) and were at the airport about the time it was opening around 5:30. It was a little spooky waiting on the boat - almost no other people anywhere. But it was also one of those very memorable moments - we literally had Venice to ourselves, it seemed. The trip itself was easy, though. The ride was a little over an hour but on time and easy. Here’s the link to the schedule. https://www.alilaguna.it/en/lines/linea-blu/orario. In your case, you would have to check walking distance or vaporetto night schedules to San Marco or San Zaccaria based on your hotel location.

For a 7:50 flight, getting there by 6 am should be plenty of time, since it is obviously a connection to another European gateway for the flight to North America (my assumption, you don't say where you are going).
So that means you need to be on the 5:40 bus from Piazzale Roma, that gets to the airport at 6:01.
There is a No 1 vaporetto that begins its run at Lido at 4 :36 and hits all the stops along the Grand Canal and gets to Piazzale Roma at 5:34, enough time to walk 100 ft to the waiting bus. Cost is 14 EUR for a combined Boat+Bus ticket. If you are getting a multi-day vaporetto pass while you are there, you can add a single airport bus ticket onto your pass when you buy it for 6 EUR.

PS, I see from previous post, you are going to Los Angeles, 2 adults and 1 child age 11. If you are departing at 7:50, that indicates you are on the British airways flight to Heathrow for a connection on American to LAX. With 3 people, the Water Taxi will run about 135 EUR, about 45 EUR per person, not that bad. With the vaporetto and bus, its 14 EUR per person. Take your pick. I don't know how the Brexit is going to effect your check-in time. Nobody does right now. There is also a bus from Piazzale Roma at 4:35 that will get to the airport at 4:56. You can use the N boat along the Grand Canal in the wee hours of the morning to get to Piazzale Roma.

my daughter tends to be a night-owl.

Saw this in another of your posts. I will wish you the best of luck and am happy its you, not me, dealing with the situation.

May be a reason to have late dinner in Venice and then get to a hotel near the airport.

That's my $0.02

Hi Sam in Greenbay - super helpful info about the bus and vaparetto. I’m going with that scenario!!

I looked for hotels in Tessera - that appears to be the town closest to the airport. They all had very mixed reviews about transportation to the airport. I guess if I was closer maybe I could get a taxi (??). I think I’m going to stay on the island.

Traveling solo with my daughter. I’ve prepared her for a REALLY long trip back home. I’m hopeful we’ll have had such an amazing time in Italy that we will be numb/immune to the crazy trip home.

Full disclosure:I’m catching the early flight to LHR so that we don’t have to worry about our connection. The afternoon flight from Venice could work but it only gives us under 2 hours to make our connection in another terminal at Heathrow. That will stress me out more than getting to the airport early. Planning early to reduce the stess. At the very least we have another option to catch our long haul flight.

Thank you again everyone. I’m grateful for this travel forum.

Wish me luck!!

A few years ago we stayed our last night in Italy at the Titian (Best Western) near the Venice airport and took their shuttle for an early-morning flight. Worked fine.

we have a similar issue with getting to the airport early, but because we are spending only 2 or 3 nights in the area, wonder if there is a hotel that works both for easy-access to Venice, and also close to the airport? don't want to move hotels for such a short stay....

There is a Marriott Courtyard at the airport. We took an early Alilaguna when we had a flight out of Venice.