Venice Marco Polo airport check-in/Security

You must have completed your check in at least one hour prior to departure and be at the gate at least 45 min prior to departure for boarding.

The Venice airport suggests to arrive 3 hours prior to departure for an intercontinental destination. Given the small size of the airport you can probably get away with a little less, but I wouldn't arrive less than 2 hours prior to departure.

I flew home out of Marco Polo in October, on the AA flight to Philly, so I had to go through the same thing you'll go through.

First of all...if you have a smart phone with you, check in before you get to the airport if you can. I did so using the AA app. This saved me the time (and uncertainty) of needing to wait in another line at the airport. And since I had only carry-on bags, I was able to enter the airport and go directly to the US security line.

Some people cautioned me to arrive many hours early - but I arrived just over two hours before departure. They warned me that Marco Polo can be a mob scene, that cruises ending near Venice that day can make for huge lines at the airport. And I'm sure this is true sometimes. But in my case, there were no big cruise ships disembarking that day (in Ravenna now), so there were no lines at all, anywhere, for me. No one in front of me at security. No one at passport control (which is semi-automated). I had more than enough time to stop for food (in between security and passport control - not much in the gate area pass passport control). It also helped that my AA flight was the last US-bound flight of the day (leaving a little after that Delta flight you are taking). And this was October, not the summer.

So, I would check the cruise ship schedule that day and see how many are disembarking at Ravenna (where big ships now dock instead of in Venice). If one or more big ships are disembarking that day, or you traveling at peak season, plan for more time. If you can't check in prior to getting to the airport, allow for more time. If you have to check bags, allow for even more.

Thank you both for the replies.

I checked and there is a Royal Carribean cruise that is ending that morning in Ravenna. I also found that Viking has a cruise that is ending in the city of Venice on the same day as our flight. I suppose we will be trekking to the airport early in the morning.

Did the dedicated US section also have Fast Track lanes to use?

If so, I was debating buying the Fast Track for the security lines, but after learning this and it being in the summer.

Some cruise ships are apparently docking at Chioggia which is much closer than Ravenna, so that could indeed have an impact.

We flew out of Venice last September, on the 19th, and the airport was extremely crowded, with long lines for check-in and security. We were only going to London, so we did not have to go through the separate security screening, just the regular one. But the line to check bags with British Airways, was impossibly long and moved very slowly—lots of people returning from a cruise with lots of luggage to check. We ended up re-packing into just our carry-on size bags and going straight to security with our mobile boarding passes, as did the Canadian couple ahead of use. The security line moved fairly quickly through the entry gates, but we had trouble scanning our boarding passes to open the gates and there was no staff person around to assist. It was 20 minutes before we could get help and enter the screening area.

My suggestion would be sure to pack so you have carry-on only, and check in online in advance so you can get your boarding passes—if you can. Sometimes for a US-bound flight you can only get it in person because they have to inspect your passport.

But don’t show up more than 3 hours in advance, as you won’t be able to go through the security gates until then. And if you get there 2.5-3 hours ahead and go through smoothly, count yourselves fortunate and go have a celebratory beverage with your extra time.