Michigan ->Venice then Rome-> Michigan - best flight questions

I think that the floor of European fares this year is $1250 unless you are flying from a major hub (DTW is not that). How you get there doesn't really matter, there are advantages to connecting in Europe, and also in the US.

Some advantages connecting at JFK:
Free seat selection and movies on the short flight (since both legs Delta).
Less to do at the connection (no immigration)
More likely your baggage will make it if the connection times are the same.
No terminal change at connection as there is at CDG (but not AMS)

Some advantages to connecting in Europe:
Arrival will be later in the day (usually) so can check into hotel right away
More likely there will be a later flight that day if you misconnect
Immigration handled at connection so arrive in Italy and then just go
If you are working you do not have to take vacation time on departure day since it will be 7:30 pm or later

Do you review your flight options through a consolidator website? I like the old school Matrix ITA site. It is what travel agents used to review flight options 'back in the day'. You can include a number of airports (so if you can leave from several near home, add those in). Does Milan or Florence fit into anything in your itinerary? If so, try them too. Also look at filters for an extra day either end and see what comes up. Sometimes Matrix includes airlines not listed elsewhere - because it doesn't have the same relationship as selling consolidators. I just find this site the most flexible for variables than Skyscanner or Google Flights.

Strongly suggest you make the connection in Europe. Once you leave the U.S., it is highly unlikely you will encounter any problems before landing in Europe. You will be there. You can make adjustments (if necessary) due to any delay enroute. On the other hand, if you encounter delays before leaving the U.S., it will be more difficulty to make adjustments and you might still be here trying to get there. Just offering food for thought.

Also, you can fly direct to Rome and then take the train to Venice. We did that several years ago and purchased our train tickets at the airport.

Flights are definitely more expensive this year than last. There is huge demand to travel and the prices reflect that. A month ago I saw people complaining that the lowest fare they could find was $1400, so prices may have softened a bit.

I strongly advise you to book directly on the airline’s website after finding a fare you can live with. There are so many uncertainties about air travel this year—-schedule changes, flight cancellations, and delays, plus strikes going on in Europe. Most of this is related to staffing shortages, which continue to exist. Booking directly with the airline at least ensures that you can deal directly with them if something goes awry.

Fly nonstop roundtrip between DTW & Rome to avoid the hassle of flight connections. Take the train between Rome & Venice.

Always book your flights with the airline website or app.

$1250 sounds good to me. It's hard to juggle flights starting from the midwest. I'd counsel making convenience-of-connections, and flight time, more of a deciding factor over cost in this kind of situation. I haven't been through JFK in a long time, but automatically cringe when I hear that as an option. Maybe look at Air Canada via Toronto.

I would fly into Milan and take the train from there rather than Rome. Much quicker. When you factor in all costs, we rarely find open jaw/multi -cities ticket to be more expensive. Most of our trips are open jaw.

We flew RT DTW to FCO (Rome) recently on Delta, we paid about $1100 each. So, what you are seeing is just what it is right now., especially out of DTW. There were no direct flights to Rome from DTW (someone on this forum suggested that is a "seasonal" route, and we flew in March, returned in April). When I was booking many, many routes had either ridiculously short layovers (45 minutes at CDG, riiiight) or ridiculously long (9 hours at AMS...I mean, it's nice, but not that nice lol).

We connected through JFK on the way to FCO, I think a 3-4 hour layover and that was fine. On the return, we connected in Atlanta. We had a 3 hour layover and barely made it due to flight delays in Rome, very long customs line in Atlanta, and a security delay (carry-on got flagged due to a forgotten corkscrew).

I would suggest the train to Venice. We had several regional flights while in Italy and none of them worked as expected. All were delayed, one was cancelled. It was a mess.

Wow, thank you all for such helpful information! It's somewhat reassuring to hear that the prices I'm seeing are what the market is bearing right now - even if I do wish they were less $$$. 😊

If I need to make a connection whatever I choose (thanks to my midwest home), it seems like my DTW-AMS-VCE plan is the simplest and fastest, without needing to connect by train from Milan or Rome. It's not any cheaper for me to make the trip round trip DTW-FCO, then add a train to VCE.

I was frustrated to find that that route with the timing I wanted isn't available through Chase Travel - only direct through Delta. So, giving up some points to get the timing we want seems to be the only choice...but the benefit is booking right through Delta for simplicity (hopefully) if anything goes awry. So many considerations!

Thanks again for helping me wade through these possibilities with your collective experiences.

Laurie😊

Hello. We are trying to make the same type of travel arrangements as Laurie, only going to Venice from Milwaukee. We are wondering if all you seasoned travelers would know if 2 hrs and 40 minute is enough time to go through customs in Frankfurt? And in Frankfurt, do we have to go through immigration and customs. Thank You! Sandy

Only immigration. Do customs when you have access to your luggage.

I’m happy to report I finally was able to book our tickets and we will have the layover at JFK rather than CDG. When all was said and done through the Chase travel portal, the only layovers were in Paris and we decided we’d rather not do that. It literally took us the full three hours we needed to get through all the lines coming home through Paris last fall, and it was stressful.

The layover is a little more than two hours at JFK and that should be fine, I hope! I if anyone has advice specific to that airport, I’ll be glad to hear it.

I like the idea of arriving right in Venice after the overnight flight. Now it seems more real!!

Thank you again for your advice, everyone!

Laurie😊

The layover is a little more than two hours at JFK and that should be fine, I hope! I if anyone has advice specific to that airport, I’ll be glad to hear it.

JFK is my local international airport. You’ll be landing at terminal 4 and taking off from terminal 4 so that is easy. Depending upon where the gates are, it can be a long walk (there are moving sidewalks) so once you arrive, go to your departure gate and then think about getting something to eat. The gate agents will probably start the boarding process 30 - 45 minutes before departure.