Time needed to get through Rome Airport to train to Florence

14€ is the regular cost of the Leonardo Express train to Termini. That price does not go up or down so you can buy it from a machine there or online.

I am a gambling man when it comes to discount tickets whether they be trains or flights; in your shoes I would give myself 4 hours (til 13:00) if I were arriving Rome at 9:05 am to get to catch a train to Florence from Termini.

There is a direct train at 11:08 you could make, but it only has 1st and 2nd class. Other trains from Termini have the 4-class seating distinction and some are also just 1st or 2nd. If you change trains at Termini, you have to take the Leonardo Express which always the same 14 EUR. Its considered a all 1st class train. You can also change trains at Tiburtina by taking the 2nd class Regionale for 8 EUR, and a little saner train station.

Each Freccia train has a certain number of deep discount SuperEconomy tickets. When they are sold out, then only Economy and Base fares are available, When all the Economy tickets have been sold, then only Base is left. There is no "penalty", but they only sell Base fares at the station. pricing is all done by "yield management" software.

Thank you both, Jazz + Travels and Sam, your answers are very helpful! If the base amount shown online is the amount paid in station, that's not terrible. I think I'd rather pay the base amount and know I'll make the train vs. having to potentially miss a few if I'm early or pay for a 2nd ticket if I'm too late.

oh and I do not know if you've been to Termini; if not it can be a little overwhelming finding your way the first time

I was just looking at the Oct 3 trains. The 11:08 direct is 34.90 SuperEconomy (nonrefudable), and 55 EUR Base. Trains from Termini are all 47 EUR Base. So if you take the Leonardo Express for 14 EUR, You'll end up paying 61 EUR total, but if you take Regionale to Tiburtina it is 8 + 47 = 55 EUR, same price as the direct. I generally do it your way, pay full fare and take the first available train. The discount is not big enough for me to roll the dice on whether my flight will be late or not.

There is a train directly from the Rome airport to Florence. But it appears that options are more limited for that.
We are in a similar situation, so this is a good question for me also. If our flight arrives in Rome around 9:30 am and we have only carry on luggage, could we potentially make the 11:08 direct to Florence train? How long is customs and such? Curious what answers you get and I will be following the thread. Thank you

It is quite fruitless to speculate on how long it will take to get through customs. How did the song go? Que sera, sera. If you make it, you make it, if not, you either take the Leonardo Express to Termini and get the next Freccia to Florence, or the FM1 to Tiburtina and catch it there.

My guess is that if you land at 9:30, you have a very good chance of making the 11:08, but if you don't, you have a plan "B" or "C".

Just a note that if you do go to Roma Termini, you can buy both the LE ticket and the Roma Termini-Firenze Santa Maria Novella ticket at the airport.

There are two Frecciargento trains leaving from the airport station (at 11:08 and 15:08).
All other options require a change at Tiburtina.
It makes no sense to go to Termini. It's more expensive and not faster because the trains to Tiburtina take a shortcut therefore you will get there on time to make the exact same train. All trains from Rome to Florence stop at both Termini and Tiburtina.
Tiburtina is also more modern, less crowded, and you are less likely to be robbed by the gypsies.