I have a couple of questions.
1) Can someone please tell me the easiest, fastest, most cost efficient way to get from the Venice Airport to the Santa Lucia Train Station?
2) We have a noon reservation from Santa Lucia Train Station to Milano Centrale Train Station. If we arrive at the Santa Lucia Train station early, is it possible to take an earlier train to Milan & would it cost something to do that?
Thank you in advance for any information you can provide, Al
Take the bus or a taxi to Piazzale Roma, then walk less than 10 minutes to the train station.
If you have tickets on a Freccia train, then it is only good for the train leaving at the time printed on the ticket.
1) All trains to or from Venezia S. Lucia (the one on Venice islands) also stop at Venezia Mestre (the one on the mainland).
Venezia Mestre is nearer the airport. So I suggest you head to Venezia Mestre, and catch the train there. Look up the time it leaves there (a few minutes after it leaves Venezia S. Lucia).
2) If you have a reserved ticket, it is a fast train and your ticket is only valid on that train. Yes you can take an earlier train, but you then need to buy a new ticket.
This is why the usual recommendation is not to pre-purchase train tickets after an intercontinental flight. you ten don't get the discounted price, but you do get to travel on whichever train leaves first.
You don't always need to buy a new ticket, it depends on the kind of ticket you have purchaded.
Trenitalia: if you wasted your money paying the full "Base" fare in advance, you can change the ticket for free at the counter up to one hour after the departure of the booked train.
Italo, same waste of money, but the full fare is called Flexi and you have 2 hours.
For obvious reasons nobody buys Base/Flex tickets in advance, after a flight or not.
Discounted tickets are worthless one minute after the departure. The cheapest tickets can' t be changed and can't be refunded.
If you pre-purchased Trenitalia Economy tickets, you can make one change up until the time of departure of the train purchased but will have to pay the difference between the price paid and Base fare. So you could potentially travel earlier on changed Economy tickets but at Base fare. You cannot simply get on an earlier train; you must first change the Economy tickets to avoid stiff fines. If you pre-purchased Trenitalia Super Economy, then no changes are allowed and, as previously mentioned, you would need to buy new tickets to travel earlier. I presume Italo has similar rules.
