Trenitalia

You are correct. I thought it was 90 minutes but it states an hour then it is an hour. There really is no need to purchase before. Train rarely fill up - especially in first class - so don't purchase till you get there. All seats reserve - first or second class - are guaranteed. I mean, what is the purpose of the reservation. Or is there another question you are trying to ask?

Thanks, Frank. The same same web section on ticket changes sates "-- after departure only at the ticket desk, the self-service or on the platform (for the Frecciarossa and Frecciargento trains) in the departure station of the train indicated on the ticket." This statement repeats most of the previous section. So, I am still confused. Seems like a rather restrictive policy. I would prefer to have a reservation in hand on arrival, but don't want to go through a hassel on a refund.

If you are not sure you will make the train then you should wait and purchase those tickets once you get to Italy. The tickets are restrictive because there are a lot of people using the train. The seats are all reserved so if a lot of people changed seats it would be chaos and very hard to tell who was actually supposed to be on the train and who isn't. My best suggestion is buy all the tickets, except the one for day of arrival, before you leave to take advantage of the discounts and get the tickets for your first trip when you get there. This way if your flight is delayed you won't have to worry about changing a ticket or getting a refund. Donna

I am confused about what you are confused about. If might help if we knew your schedule. If you have a ticket with a seat reservation on a train and you miss it, you have one hour to go to a ticket window and exchange it for another seat reservation on another train. I don't know about restrictive. It is a much better policy than our airlines where you would simply lose the ticket. Again, if you want first class, I will guarantee that it will not sell out because few locals opt to first class. You will find a few business men and mostly American tourist in first class. Second class rarely sells out either. And trains are very frequent so skip the need for advance reservation.

You actually can change your ticket before the train departs but that won't do you any good. As for the Trentailia one hour exchange policy, like it or not, it's their system. After one hour, your ticket is toast. One of the worst times to have a reserved train ticket in any of the EU countries is for a train departing shortly after you plane is scheduled to arrive. This is a very risky ticket. There is always a moderate risk of the plane being late. There's nothing you can do to change that. Control of the events are out of your hands. If you are coming into Rome, Pisa or Milan, do worry about your reservations on the train. I realize that this disturbs your comfort level but you don't yet fully understand how many train runs there are in Italy. If you are heading into Rome Termini, you will join 480,000 other people each day going through there. You will not have trouble getting a reserved seat on a train. Each high-speed holds about 400 passengers and they don't run full. As mentioned above, it would help if you would identify what airport into which you will be arriving and where you intend to quickly go to. We can provide better info.

Thanks to you all, Frank-Donna-Larry. I can see the logic in the one-hour after departure rule. Our plane arrives in Milan (Linate ariport) before 1200, and from there we go to Florence. SInce you all agree that waiting until we arrive is best, we will pruchase the train tickets when we arrive in Milan. The trains run almost hourly so we should be ok. I will purchase tickets for the remainer of our Italy destinations on-line in advance. After 4 nights in Florence, we will be going to Siena for one night and from there to Rome for for 4 nights 3 nights. We depart from Milan after Rome. Any suggestions?

I would be in Milan the night before the flight. I would not risk a train ride on the day of the flight. Another thing about the tickets and changes, if you buy tickets with the mini fare and you miss the train the tickets are worthless so make sure you will be able to catch the train before you buy those tickets. Donna