Luftansa through FRA or Delta/ITA through AMS/FCO

...but am a little leery of the ITA via FCO return as both the airline and airport as a connection have very mixed reviews.

Here is a very positive review of both ITA and FCO. In November flew ITA nonstop from Los Angeles to FCO on a relatively new A350 - arrived an hour early; paid a bit more for extra legroom seats. FCO is very high tech and easy to navigate.

The return to LAX was ITA FCO to Boston then Delta to LA. ITA check-in was effortless and security was a breeze. Plenty of dining options for breakfast waiting for our flight. I had booked premium economy to BOS - it was the "old" Alitalia premium economy on an A330, but a very spacious seat and an excellent meal - much better than the Comfort+ segment to LAX on one of Delta's aging 757s.

Navigating Logan in Boston from the international to Delta terminals was clunky, and an antiquated immigration check compared to FCO.

Delta and Logan were the less positive aspects of the trip. You shouldn't have any problems with a 3-1/2 hour layover at FCO.

FRA is a big airport. And often the planes don't pull into the gate, but park on the tarmac and bus the passengers in. Leave yourself plenty of time if you are changing planes there.

Nothing works with Tutkish Air?

Otherwise anything can go wrong with any flight so I would choose the one with 2 to 4 hour layovers that is the cheapest.

@markcw - Good to know FCO is high tech now. I haven't been through there in 10 years and don't remember that being the case. I'll be there again in September when we finally return to Italy. Looking forward to a positive experience! Funny about your experience with Delta and Boston. Boston is my home airport and Delta my preferred airline so I'm very comfortable here, but of course I have never transited through here. ;p)

@Mr. E - No, Turkish Air only shows combos with Air Albania which would require two separate tickets. I rather not do that, so they are not an option this time. As far as the cost, the fares are comparable.

@coralk - Thanks for the heads up.

Separate tickets? When I went they code shared. There also is a deeper relationship as the two companies have the same logo styles. Same uniforms, same little bags with the eye covers, socks, etc. On Air Albania you would swear you were on Turkish Air. Which is great, as TA is great.

EDIT: just checked, yes, they are codeshared. You will get one ticket.

Mr E - Well that's odd. I've gone on both Albanian Air and Turkish Air and neither show flights BOS-SPU/TIA-BOS or vice versa. Checked Skyscanner again as well, and that also shows flights need to be booked separately. Thanks for checking though. I'm waiting for my daughter to get out of work and will let her decide. She's very frugal, so may take the chance as the LH flights have gone up about $400 since yesterday when we spoke.

Always appreciate the help.

I didn't check your trip. I just checked if they codeshare..and yes. They do.

But I would and have gone out of my way to fly Turkish Air / Air Albania. Exceptional airlines.

As someone said above, anything can go wrong with any airline, but either FRA or FCO are both large, fairly well managed airports, GIVEN enough time. If you're nervous, I would skip FRA with only a 2 hour layover, remote gates and longer lines for non-EU citizens to clear immigration can make a big difference.

I've heard equally bad things about Lufthansa & ITA, in fact I think some people actually prefer ITA.

Personally, I would take a look at the details beyond airports & even airlines. Have you checked the carryon restrictions? I understand it's 8KG on Lufthansa, don't know ITA's nor KLM inside Europe. Do you want a seat assignment? I sometimes go all the way through the booking process just to see what ALL the fees are for travel. Good luck!