Flying to Florence from DC

If the airline says it's possible, it is up to them to get you to your destination. And if needed rebook you on a later flight. But an hour in Schiphol or Charles de Gaulle when connecting from a non-Schengen country is a bit on the short side.

Florence has a very small airport though so the selection of flights there will be limited. You can also look a flights to e.g. Pisa or Milan. Or take a direct flight to Rome.

I think it’s pretty short, too, but there are even fewer flights to Pisa. We only have a week for this trip, so the airport in Florence is the best option. Otherwise you are right— Rome would be preferable!

Are you using Google Flights to determine your routing?

Yes and Kayak.

Also… I noticed that many flights from Italy leave at 6:30 am or so. Im flying home from Venice in November and it’s the same there. Nothing to be done but it’s an interesting observation.

I haven't gone to Florence via AMS recently, but I've flown via Paris CDG many times, including twice in the last year alone. I can tell you that a layover in Paris of only one hour is too short, 1.5 hours is short but doable if all planets align (i.e. flights are timely and you can walk fast), 2+ hours is the adequate time.

Having said that, Air France from Paris CDG has the most flights to Florence (6 in each direction throughout the day) while KLM has only 3 in each direction from AMS to FLR. So if you fly on a Delta/Air France code share you are covered, and if you miss your close connection, they will book you on the very next flight (I can't even count how many times it has happened to me in Paris in the last 35 years). Since I presume that your DC flight will get to Paris in the early morning, you will have plenty of flights to Florence for the rest of the day.

When are you traveling?

Check the United website. They used to have quite a few flight options to Florence or Pisa with partner Lufthansa with connections in either Frankfurt or Munich.

I’ve taken the direct United flight to Rome and bought a train ticket on arrival. The last time I did this (pre-pandemic), I was at my destination in Cortona in time for lunch.

I found flights through CDG with longer layovers. Thanks everyone.

Our preference is United 884 from Dulles to Rome FCO. Then Leonardo Express to Termini and on to Florence SMN. Trains run constantly all day so connections are quick and easy. Better for body and soul.

Returning to the US from Florence always requires a connection in Europe first, that is why flights leave in the early morning to make the connection from that European gateway.

The same is true for Venice, although Venice has a few of flights non stop to the US (although outside of summer, there is only Delta from VCE to JFK).

Thanks Roberto. Always good to understand the rationale.

I did a direct round trip flight Dulles/FCO last March on United. I've also flown TAP from Dulles to Florence with a layover in Lisbon and I've got a couple more trips to Europe booked on TAP, again with layovers in Lisbon. I don't know if they're still offering it, but in March I'm doing a free 6 day layover in Lisbon so I can explore Portugal a little.

Even though I found the Lisbon airport to be very efficient (so far), I prefer not to take chances, so I'd rather have a longer layover than risk missing a flight.