I am planning on flying from Houston to Venice, but will be flying out of Florence coming back. I will have one stop each way. Going over, I plan on flying the first leg into Europe, then onto Venice. The thought process is that once I get to Europe, if there is a delay, there should be several flights I can catch from Europe to Venice. My question is regarding coming back. Should I make the connection in Europe or the US- what would be the pros and cons?
Thanks!
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
8017 posts
There are no direct flights to US from Florence so you will have to change somewhere in Europe on your return
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
533 posts
Since IAH is a United hub, finding flights with their partner airlines would be good if issues. Lufthansa flies direct from Frankfurt, and UA flies direct from both Munich and Frankfurt, so maybe focus on that as an option and see how many flights per day would get you from Germany to IAH in case of issues. From FLR you'd fly to either Munich or Frankfurt with Air Dolomiti, which is a subsidiary of Lufthansa.
Wikipedia is a great option to see what airlines fly to/from a particular airport. Just Google the airport name or code and wiki (So IAH Wiki) and you can see all the airlines and destinations.
Posted by
SoCal
1704 posts
Google Flights is your friend.
Posted by
Texas
80 posts
A few months ago we did this...
United airlines Houston-Munich- Venice and on return
United airlines Venice - Munich - Houston
We had been in Florence but when I booked the flights, it was cheaper to take the train back to Venice and fly out from there. So that's what we did. One last wonderful night in Venice, then a water taxi to the airport.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16631 posts
From Florence (FLR) to Houston (IAH) you have the following options which entail only one layover:
Star Alliance option:
- Via Frankfurt (with Lufthansa/Air Dolomiti)
- Via Munich (with Air Dolomiti/UA)
Sky Team Alliance option:
- Via Paris CDG (with Air France)
- Via Amsterdam (with KLM)
All of the above entail one layover only at the aforementioned European gateway hubs. Then a direct flight from those hubs to IAH.
The same options also work in the reverse on the way to Venice (VCE), which has even more flights than Florence.
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
8017 posts
Make sure ypu are pricing and booking “multi city” flights
In to one, out of another
Not 2 one way tickets
Posted by
Chicago
9030 posts
We flew into Milan for Florence (if we hd realized we could not do Bologna we would have flown into Rome) and out of Florence to Paris and then from Paris to the US. The US/Italy and Paris/US legs were booked as a multi city ticket. I booked a budget airline for the florence/Paris flight. It was cheaper than adding the middle leg on the same ticket.
Posted by
OP
16 posts
I am looking at flying from Florence or Bologna into Munich, then on to Houston coming back. Is 1 hr 20 min layover sufficient?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16631 posts
Munich (MUC) is very efficient. It is my favorite airport to layover when I fly from Florence to San Francisco. It’s the fastest to connect. Both Bologna and Florence have flights to Munich. If you are in Florence the last days of your trip, you will save time and money if you fly out of Florence, even if the flight itself may be cheaper from Bologna, because you will need to sleep at a hotel in Bologna if you fly out of there (flights connecting in Germany leve very early). Consider Bologna only if a day visit in Bologna is in your plans.