Flying into Rome, traveling straight to Venice?

Ugh! a 3 stage journey (US - London, London to Rome and Rome to Venice). Is there no way you could fly direct from London to Venice?
I am assuming you are doing this all on one booking, using the same London airport, and you will be checked through to Rome. If not, this will be a much more difficult trip.
1) You will stay "airside" in London (Heathrow?, Gatwick?), so no immigration and you will not see your luggage. Both immigration (the big time waster) and customs (no issue) will be in Rome.
2) 2 hours for de-planeing, immigration and check in for another flight. What is the minimum check in time for your second flight? And if your flight into Rome is late, you miss your onward flight. Chancy.
3) Which airport in Rome? The only flight I can see is Alitalia, Rome-Fiumicino to Venice. But if you are landing at Rome-Ciampino there are no flights.

We are already booked on British Airways for travel from the US to London to Rome (FCO). We had originally planned on doing Rome first, but now plans may be changing and we were considering reversing the trip to go straight to Venice then work our way back. If we have to do immigration/customs in Rome before getting on a flight to Venice, it sounds like there probably wouldn't be enough time between landing at 4 and taking off at 6? That Alitalia flight is the one that I was looking at. I'm not sure that we can change our already-booked flight from London-Rome to London-Venice without incurring penalties.

"I'd rather not waste that much time in FCO if I didn't have to" -- as the previous post advises, with the 6 PM flight you'd be taking a big chance that your arriving flight will be on time. And that there won't be a mass of other travelers lined up to get through immigration and check in for your next flight.

Hanging around an airport is MUCH less stressful than missing a flight, or cutting it close, if you ask me. After all, you're in Italy, you can experience the ambience of an Italian airport as opposed to one in the US.

Contact BA to change your ticketing from LHR-FCO to LHR-VCE. This will most probably cost you, but would be worth it for sure.

I just looked at flights from London Heathrow to Venice and the only flight that departs after we arrive at Heathrow is much later in the day and arrives at the exact same time as if we took the late flight from Rome to Venice. So we'd be arriving at the same time whether we did either of the following 2 options:

USA to Heathrow (2hr layover) to Rome (4hr layover) to Venice
or
USA to Heathrow (9hr layover) to Venice

Reconsider starting your trip in Rome. At least you'll be able to settle in to your hotel, have a good meal and relax after a very long day. You might find more convenient connections from Venice back to Rome either by air or rail. On a recent vacation I started in Rome, went north and ended the trip in Verona. Then took a 7PM flight (1 hr., $58) to FCO and stayed at a hotel near the airport overnight for a morning flight.

Yeah we may have to reconsider and go back to starting in Rome, this is seeming like quite a headache.

The reason we were thinking of reversing it and starting in Venice was that our flight out of Rome is at 11am, so we'd probably have to come back to Rome the previous evening, right? It just kind of seemed like a wasted evening having to come back so that it was easier to get the flight the next day and we're trying to maximize our time.

I hadn't thought of flying though (for whatever reason, in my head I was thinking flying would be much more expensive than the train), so with a 11am flight leaving Rome, perhaps we could get an earlier flight from Venice to Rome that same morning.

What are your wider plans?
Florence (or even Orvieto) directly by train after arrival in Rome would be an option. Then on to Venice, before heading back to Rome.

BA has only one daily from LHR to VCE, and it may not be at the right time depending on when you land at LHR coming from the US.

If you can change the ticketing see if BA can change your flight from LHR to Bologna (BLQ), which has 3 dailies or to Milan Linate (LIN) which has many dailies from LHR.

Bologna or Milan are much closer to Venice than Rome. Bologna in particular is only 90 min away.

We were planning Rome-Florence-Venice (or vice versa if we reversed the order as discussed). But those are the 3 cities we're planning to hit. I was thinking Florence would be a nice break in between the 2 bigger cities, but perhaps hitting that first would be a good option.

Florence is significantly bigger than Venice.
40% more in population in fact.

the only flight that departs after we arrive at Heathrow is much later in the day and arrives at the exact same time as if we took the late flight from Rome to Venice. So we'd be arriving at the same time whether we did either of the following 2 options:
USA to Heathrow (2hr layover) to Rome (4hr layover) to Venice
or
USA to Heathrow (9hr layover) to Venice

So, whichever way you arrive in Venice at the same time, but with plan A there is a risk you miss the connection, with plan B you are 100% sure you get to Venice.
Plan A = hassle, need to pick up your luggage in Rome, check in and hand over your luggage again, risk and hassle.
Plan B = relax.
I vote Plan B. Leave your luggage to get to Venice, exit Heathrow and head to Windsor for a few hours, and chill out.

Perhaps "bigger" was the wrong word to use. We were just thinking that Rome and Venice would be much more touristy - waiting in lines, dealing with crowds, etc - than Florence, as I don't think we'll be going to any of the major art museums in Florence. So we thought it'd be a nice break of just wandering around and exploring vs. checking tourist destinations off the list. But maybe we have the wrong impression altogether!

Picking up on something you mused about in one of your earlier posts:

Do not plan to fly back to Rome on the same day you're flying home. If the intra-Italy flight is late or is canceled, you will miss your trans-Atlantic return flight and have to buy $$$ replacement one-way tickets at the last minute.

Yeah, I think you have the wrong impression of Florence. The last time I visited happened to be in mid-May and I was really surprised at the huge crowds of tourists in the historic center. If you're going to Italy between May and October, expect crowds in all 3 cities - not just lines at a few sights.

In general I recommend starting in Venice because it's slower paced and the best of the city is just being there, not the sights in themselves. It's easy to get to Florence from FCO, frequent fast trains, and you may even catch a train that goes directly without having to change in Rome.

Rather than worrying about booking a connecting flight and enduring an airport wait, or missing a prebooked train on the day you arrive because of flight delays, I would just head to Orvieto on my first night - €15.40 by regional trains from Fiumicino (no booking necessary). Then lock in your train to Venice the following day.

I like David's advice, in fact Ijust booked a flight from Milano to Palermo the day after I arrive on Milano, since my first flight has a connection at the notorious flight-delays at JFK. Couldn't pass up the ticket price.

Regarding getting an early flight from Venice to FCO in the morning. DON'T do it! The flight will land at terminal 1 and most likely depart from terminal 3. Since your bags won't be checked through, you'll have to wait to claim them, take a pretty long walk to terminal 3 and then check in to your flight and go through security. When I last flew out of FCO, I arrived at 8PM, spent the night at a hotel in Fiumicino, had a great meal overlooking the sea and had a simple shuttle bus to the airport for my 11AM flight. Sitting at the seaside on my last evening there, relaxing with fantastic wine and a great meal allowed me to take in the joys of the time I just spent in Italy. After all, it's a vacation, not a race. Far niente!

Going by train is also convenient if you want to spend your last night in Rome. There are frequent departures on the 3 hr 45 min trip to Termini. Though it takes longer than a flight, consider that you will not have to get to the airport in Venice and go through security and then travel from the airport to your Rome hotel.

Thank you so much for all of the advice! Are there trains that go to Orvieto or Florence that leave directly from FCO airport? And that don't require a reservation?

David, I think that's what you meant in your comment, but wanted to double check. If so, where would I find information on those trains?

Most trains to Florence will require a change at ROMA TIBURTINA or ROMA TERMINI stations. There is one in the morn at 11:08 that goes from the airport, but all others will take you to the Rome stations where you pick your train to Florence. Trains to Orvieto all require to pick them up in Rome.

Check schedules at
www.trenitalia.com

The station names are:
FIUMICINO AEROPORTO
FIRENZE SANTA MARIA NOVELLA
(or ORVIETO)

Take the train.
My plans in August are arrive Rome then take the first feasible train to Florence. You could also take it straight to Venice and start your holiday stay there.

You're discovering why it can be so much better to do "open jaws" where you fly into one city and the fly home from another. ("Multiple Cities" or similar on airline website.) I'm assuming that's not an option for you, but maybe for other potential travelers reading this.

so, a few years ago, on our second trip to Italy, we had booked RT in and out of Rome. The we wanted to add Venice. So, we flew into Rome and spent the first night at http://www.bbqueen.it/eng/index2.asp right by Termini for one night. It was a great place and actually a terrific location. We bought ahead a train ticket for Venice for the following day. We spent that afternoon and evening in Rome > We went to the Baths of Diocletian and the Palazzo Massimo alla Terme (one of the National Museums in Rome), as well as Santa Maria Maggiore. Julia, our host, suggested a place she likes to eat and made reservations for dinner there for us. A great meal in a decidedly non-tourist place; the food was great and since they all knew Julia we were sort of adopted. Then the next morning we walked our selves back to Termini, a 7 minute flat walk, and got on the train. We left Rome about 8 AM and got to Venice about 11:30, $56 per person. And thus officially started our trip in Venice. I can only say it worked well for us, at least partly because after a long flight we did not have the pressure of wondering if we could make a booked flight or even train after landing, given the nightmare that clearing passport control/immigration can be at the Rome airport.