LAX to VCE non-stop?

Sadly, no non-stops from LAX to VCE (oh, how I wish there were!) You'll need to make at least one stop somewhere to get to VCE from LAX.

You're probably not missing anything. Sadly, non-stop flights from the west coast to cities in Europe are relatively few and far between. You can find some, but generally only to the biggest European hubs - which is what you're finding. Venice is not one of those, it's a secondary market. So you will probably have to live with one stop. This is generally the case for all but the largest hub cities. If you were flying from the east coast, you would have more options.

My suggestion is to get a nonstop from your west coast departure city all the way to someplace in Europe, connect there, and then do the relatively short hop from that hub to your actual destination. You want to maximize the flight time on the outbound redeye - to allow you to sleep. The worst option is to fly to the US east coast, connect there, then fly to Europe - that breaks up the trip into two long flights, neither of which is long enough to give yourself much chance at meaningful sleep. Fortunately, once you reach that major European hub, the connecting flight to your actual destination (in this case, Venice) will be pretty short and easy.

Don't feel too bad, though: those of us living on the west coast have it easier when going the other way -- to Asian destinations. East coast folks usually have a lot more misery in that case.

There are very few direct flights from US to Venice. AA from Philadelphia on a seasonal basis, and other airlines out of NYC.

Virgin is showing incredibly cheap multi-city flights into Venice and out of Rome, but with plane changes at Heathrow. There are also low price direct r/t to Rome by Norwegian, and spend a night in Rome (sneak peak) then a train to Venice.

No, you're not missing anything.

Venice has only a few nonstop flights from North American, and they are all "seasonal" (about 5-6 months of the year, roughly April through September, although exact dates vary for each route). These run from JFK, Newark, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Montreal, and Toronto. There are none from the west coast.

From LAX, the only nonstop to Italy is to Rome on Alitalia.

For any other destination in Italy, you have to change. The usual recommendation is to change in Europe rather than North America, for three reasons. First, it's a shorter total flight. Second, this gives you more choices of final Italian destination (nonstops from North American only go to Rome and Milan year-round and Venice in season, whereas from a European hub you can also go to Pisa, Florence, Naples, Turin, Palermo, etc). And third, you have many more options if there is a problem with the connection. For instance, there will be only one flight from JFK to VCE a day, so if you miss that you have to wait a full day. From, say, Munich to VCE, there will be more than one flight a day, so even if there's a problem you will probably get to Venice later the same day.

A great trick I learned from this forum: to find out who flies where from a particular airport, look at that airport's Wikipedia page.

To find flight options, use a multi-flight search engine like Kayak or Google Flights. Be sure to select "multiple destinations" or "multi city" rather than "one way" or "round trip." Put in LAX to VCE and FCO to LAX, and see what comes up. Try to book directly through the airline; if you are thinking of using a third party, ask here first (some are much more reputable than others, and if there's any issue, you have to deal with whoever you bought the ticket from).

In terms of where to connect, from LAX you will have lots of options. People usually have good things to say about changing planes in Amsterdam, Munich, and Zurich. They do not usually have good things to say about Paris CDG and London Heathrow. Other airports get various reviews; for instance, I like Frankfurt, but some others do not. Note that if you connect through Dublin or Shannon on the way back, you go through US customs and immigration in that airport; your arrival back in the US is then like a domestic arrival, which can be easier. Aer Lingus often has good fares, too. Turkish Air is very nice, but check the total flight times carefully, and I don't know what connecting in Istanbul is like.

I was cross-posting with the others. David correctly pointed out a fourth reason to connect in Europe rather than the US - better chance at sleep!

You won’t find it. Two relatively easy sites are Google Flights and Kayak. Choose the multi city option. Flight number one is LAX to Venice. Flight number two is Rome to LAX. See what the prices looks like, layover times, etc. Keep in mind a 3-4 hour layover is not necessarily a bad thing. Inexperienced travelers jump at those 55 minute layovers, which the airlines deem safe, and often miss their next flight. Flying home you’ll probably see a direct flight pop up.

If you go thru London be careful about which airport you land in and depart from. Many British Airline flights will land in Gatwich then you flight out of Heathrow. Be sure you are in and out of the same airport with plenty of time between flights.

I’m taking an RS tour in May. Because I live in Phoenix, I’m flying Phoenix to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Rome. Return is from Venice thru Atlanta. I wanted to avoid London because it was too confusing the last time I flew thru — in 1992!

I don’t know what airlines you’re looking at. I chose Delta because the flights I wanted on American were full. Price was not my main consideration, but I wanted easy since I seldom fly.

You are all such a wealth of information and I really appreciate all of your responses and wonderful tips! I have learned so much already just in the last 45 minutes reading your replies! I can't thank you enough.

I was considering flying to NY and then to Europe- glad a few of you mentioned that wasn't a good idea.

What on earth is going on with Heathrow and Gatwick? That just doesn't make sense to me.

Great tip on looking at the Wikipedia page!
Thanks again!

Nothing is going on with LHR and Gatwick. Or LaGuardia and JFK. Software will give flights in and out of different nearby airports, so be alert!

I get the recommendation to fly to Europe and change there so there is some hope of sleep but what about those of us that carry-on? If you change on the east coast you have some hope of having being allowed a US-sized carry-on and/or 20ish lbs. If you change in Europe, the last leg will be within Europe and the carry-on must be either the smaller European size and/or more like 17lbs. I can meet the US requirements but I just can't get down to the European requirements. (I only check on the way to Europe. On the way home I usually have wine or other liquids to bring home and I don't care as much if my suitcase is "lost".)

Frankfurt is also fine since they changed the gate configuration of the Terminal,used by Lufthansa into two levels. It used to be a long walk from the arrival gate from the US to the departure gate to VCE. Now you just have to go from upstairs Zgates to downstairs.

What I like to do when looking at a variety of flights connecting through a bunch of different airports is make sure the connection I'm choosing gives me at least one hour longer to change planes that what seems to be the minimum for the airport. For example, if one option is to change planes in Munich and I see 55-minute connections, I look for a connection that gives me at least 1 hr. 55 minutes. As long as you're on a single ticket, your airline has to get you to your destination if a delayed first flight causes you to miss the second flight, but it is much better to start out with reasonable connecting time so you are not likely to have a problem.

Some airports are hairier than others for changing planes. So far I have been successful in avoiding Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Munich have seemed manageable to me, but I would never want to take flights with their minimum connecting times.

hi eurostacy
no ridiculous question here, if you don't ask you don't know. these posters here will tell you the good bad and ugly. you have received lots of advise about flights, i've used a few kayak.com, justfly.com, fareboom.com, googleflights.com and put alerts out for flights you're thinking of. you will be going during high season and the heat. you may be lucky and find a nonstop to rome with norweigen, maybe seasonal. i look at layovers and how long and arrival times. not too early unless you can check in early or leave bags, or late night arrivals with issues of transportation. you'll be dragging suitcases acorss cobblestones, bridges, uneven pavement, wear comfy shoes. play around with cities to fly from to LAX. amsterdam was good for us last year, paris (CDG) was crazy as was heathrow. when booking look at what is available (economy, premium, first/business) the price difference, extra cost, pay for a seat, baggage, food, it's a nickel and dime era nowdays. before you book come back and ask the group here and they will help you out.
aloha

If you get to NYC, JFK. Delta airlines flies non-stop to Venice I believe all year round.

"If you get to NYC, JFK. Delta airlines flies non-stop to Venice I believe all year round."

No, unfortunately. From JFK, Delta flies to Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa year round, but to Venice only "seasonally" (roughly April through September).

You've received good advice from the others so I won't belabor their points.
My wife and I will be doing something similar next May - in our case flying to Pisa from Denver. Faced with the option of a 20+ hour slog with another connection after the long overnight flight we've opted instead to just fly non-stop to London, spend one night there, and continue on to Pisa the next day refreshed (hopefully) after sleeping in a real bed. There's a Premier Inn at Gatwick that has reasonable rates, and BA has several flights direct to Pisa at a cost we could afford. We originally considered delaying in London for a few days but we're instead just going to spend the one night at the airport hotel. We've reached the age where we try to baby ourselves on these trips as much as possible, and so have opted to break the trip up (each way) with stopovers in London. The reduced stress and increase in comfort and convenience are worth it to us - might work for you too.
I suppose you could do something similar going thru Frankfurt or Amsterdam if you wanted to spend a day or two there.

Air Canada to Toronto and then AC non-stop to Venice. Could that be it?

Air Canada to Toronto and then AC non-stop to Venice. Could that be it?

For anyone thinking of this, the non-stop AC Toronto to Venice is a Rouge route. If you're not familiar with the product, I suggest Googling it before booking so you know what you're getting.

Oh, Eric, you are so right. I had forgotten that, even though earlier this year my sister and I suffered that flight to Venice from Toronto. My apologies.

No need to apologize, Norma. I would have tried to erase that experience from my memory as well!

Thank you all so very very very much! :)