Which airport is better for layover (to Venice)

Atlanta is more direct and you won't have any trouble changing terminals like you might at JFK. Just my thought.

Never been to JFK, but in Atlanta there are trams to take you between the enormous terminals. You may find more to do to bide your time on your layover at Atlanta.

One thing to keep in mind, from Atlanta you MIGHT get an Alitalia flight. Alitalia is notorious for being the worst in the skies right now from a customer service perspective. Your chances of getting a Delta operated flight are better at JFK.

Hi Hazel, I am flying on Delta through Atlanta to FCO and then returning from Venice through JFK. This open jaw ticket afforded me the most comfortable layover times (2.5 hours from JFK to SFO).

While true that Delta code shares with Alitalia (who has received very negative reviews everywhere), I have check these flights daily recently, and have seen no more than 30 minutes arrival delay - only on the arriving point in Italy.

If you would like, please pm me and we can discuss further.

Ciao

Why don't you fly direct to Europe (SFO to Frankfurt or Munich) and then transfer to Venice at one of these major hubs. You can plan plenty of layover time for the last flight, since they have so many options at these hubs.

Are you trying to break up the 11 hour "over the pond" flight? If you do this then you will drag out the "total flight time", and add another stop.

( I can understand not wanting to do an 11 hr flight. I have an 11 FRA to SFO on my way home in Dec., and I dread it.)

I would be more concerned about the liklihood of a delay or disruption of schedule. While Atlanta is a concern, JFK is much more likely to experience delays.

I thought about having the layover in the States instead. Wouldn't it be easier? (I don't mind a long flight - if I can keep myself busy with movies then it's all good.) How are the airports in Germany? If it's easy to transfer in those airports then I will look into that. I looked at layover times and so far JFK and Atlanta had 3 hour max layover. Some layovers in Europe had only 1 hour - not sure if that's enough time. I dont want to be rushing from one plane to another.

Hazel: 1 hour connection time for Europe travel is cutting it pretty tight. Hopefully you have a better option than that. If you miss your connection going over it can have a domino effect that is not good

Hazel, there are more flight options in Europe than between Europe and the US. Get across the pond first before you connect. It could be the difference between waiting an hour or two in Europe vs. the potential of 6-20 hours for a connection in the US.

I have connected through Frankfurt and Munich from SFO everytime I have flown to Italy. Frankfurt is huge and can be a bit confusing your first time connecting there, but there are plenty of people to help you out. Just be sure to allot at least 2 hrs for your layover. Munich I found to be a breeze - newer airport, good signage, etc. Be prepared for an extensive security check on your return flight home. Last time I was checked 4 times. From reading others posts, this doesn't seem unusual.

Hazel, Jarrod has some great advice for you. Get over the pond, and then make your connection! Lufthansa has some great direct flights from SFO to Frankfurt, and then they offer lots of times for flights to Venice. (We love flying Luft)

Last June we flew Luft over the pond into FRA, and then took them to Rome. We got a better price by booking the FRA to Rome trip ourselves (and more flight options!).

FRA,Munich, and others, are wonderful airports to make a connection. All of the flight agents speak excellent english, if that is one of your concerns. Sometimes we look for overnight options in FRA, ......beautiful old town, great restaurants, easy 15 min train trip from the airport to downtown (like BART), and the some very reasonably priced hotels. We did an overnight in Munich once. We stayed in a major chain hotel in a small town 5 min from the airport.......it was fun!

Plug the different european destinations into your airline search engine, and look at all of the options

Delta is a good airline to get to Europe. However, United has a flight on Star Alliance Partner Lufthansa from LAX that leaves about 6:00pm and arrives in Frankfurt about 2:00pm their time. You fly through the night. It's a 10.5hr. flight. United will fly you down to LAX from SFO. From there, it's an easy transfer to Italy. We did this from Sacramento this past May. From Frankfurt, we flew to Florence (Amerigo Vespucci Airport). Our flight left Sacto at 2:00pm so we had a couple of hours in LAX to make sure we were on time. Very easy and Lufthansa was GREAT.

I will check out flying into FRA. Thanks to everyone!!!!!