flight info Toronto to Venice Italy & Rome Italy to Toronto Canada

[patiolaterns]

Any suggestions for best air connections for flights Toronto Canada to Venice Italy and return form Rome Italy to Toronto Canada?

Have been looking at British Air and AirTransat - any other recommendations appreciated - prefer direct or one connector

 

Thanks Patiolaterns

[boone2]

We used AC in Sept and found them to be great, they code shared with Lufthansa and we really enjoyed that. I would avoid any with connections through the states, just not worth the hassle especially now We actually flew to Barcelona and back from Venice to TO. Previously going to Europe flew from Buffalo to NY and then on Delta, terrible experience!

Terry

[scottbee]

Any suggestions for best air connections for flights Toronto Canada to Venice Italy and return form Rome Italy to Toronto Canada?

Have been looking at British Air and AirTransat - any other recommendations appreciated - prefer direct or one connector

 

Thanks Patiolaterns

 

Only TS/Air Transat operate to VCE non-stop from YYZ, so that limits your choices. That being said, TS's premium class is pretty decent (think of it as coach+), and generally cheaper than other airlines.

 

My second choice would be to transit via AMS on KLM.

[Stelladoro]

In 2006, we flew Air France to Venice, via CDG in Paris ( returning from Barcelona, via CDG). Flights and food were very good. Getting around CDG can be daunting, unless you familiarize yourself with airport layout ahead of time.

Two years ago, our return Air Canada flight was from CDG. AC has self check-in kiosks, therefore, long lineups can be avoided. Flight was delayed approx. 45 min., but otherwise, flight was fine.

Last May, we flew Air Transat from London to Toronto. Be careful regarding your baggage weight, including carryons. Unless you book their equiv. of Bus. Class, luggage weight is restricted to 44 lbs. for checkin and only 15 lbs. for carryon. They weigh everything, as we found out the hard way and had to pay a hefty excess fee for our carryons! :eek:

I would avoid British Air, because of the connection at Heathrow.

 

I would opt for Air Canada, with a connection in Frankfurt or Munich. On return, you can do a connection in Zurich (small airport, very easy to navigate).

 

Enjoy your trip!

[jasl]

In November we flew to Rome and the flight was booked with AC. At the time of booking AC had a direct flight which seemed just perfect. About six weeks prior to our departure there was a notification from AC that they had changed the flight/times. They booked us instead with Lufthansa to Frankfurt and on to Rome with the same carrier. It turned out to be an excellent change, all flight departing on time (not always the case with AC) and we were very happy with the Lufthansa service and aircraft. Lufthansa probably flies to Venice as well from Frankfurt or Munich.

I believe AC is going to have a direct flight to FCO, but that they have encountered a delay in implementing this.

[iancal]

We also like Lufthansa. Be careful with AC. They used to codeshare (and may still) with Alitalia. We avoid Alitalia whenever possible and it would not be nice to get an AC ticket only to board a code share Alitalia flight. We try to avoid London Heathrow at all costs. Our favourite route is Lufthansa thru Frankfurt or AC/Swiss thru Zurich.

[jasl]

IANCAL............Is there any way to avoid having AC switch to a codeshare??? As mentioned our flight was supposed to be direct YYZ/FCO with AC, but they switched it to Lufthansa which turned out have better service than AC. So now I would prefer Lufthansa but Alitalia sure is a no-no. Trying to book YYZ/ATH for October with FF miles, but the offerings are horrible, connections via Heathrow and also Copenhagen with long delays. Maybe I'll wait for a Lufthansa seat sale and have a better choice of flights.

[patiolaterns]

thanks for the info everyone - we'll start checking into flights today -

[iancal]

Jasl...here is my experience with frequent flyer points...it is MORE expensive to use AC flights (or it was last fall). The reason is that AC flights (regular bookings) had a fuel surcharge. This fuel charge was ADDED to the redemption cost that you pay for Aeroplan points tickets. Lufthansa and other Star Alliance members price with fuel surtax in , ie not seperate, hence it cannot be added to that ticket redemption cost. Last fall we booked calgary-paris-rome-calgary. Original Aeroplan routing was YYC-YUL-CDG/CDG-FCO and FCO-ZUR-YYZ-YYC-all on AC flights with the exception of Paris-Rome, Rome-Zurich. We really wanted Lufthasa flights for the return trip as they fly direct to Calgary from FRA. We were told no seats available BUT check again 3 weeks prior to departure because if Lufthansa has extra seats they open them up to Aeroplan/Star Alliance. We knew that we would have to pay the Aeroplan change fee. Sure enough, on a whim, I called and seats were available on the return flight...FCO-FRA-CGO and this returned us home 6 hours earlier. The kicker...we each got a $175. refund (after the change fee) because we flew Lufthansa home vs the AC Zurich-YYZ-YYC route. The Aeroplan agent did not say much, other than it was a refund of surcharge. Our friends, based on our experience, changed their Aerplan European booking from A/C based to I think Lufthansa and saved even more because they got that Star Alliance Partner going and coming back.

Sorry this is long winded but it may save you some coin that you can happily spend in Italy! We are about to use points tickets for next fall and this time we will call Aeroplan (there is a fee for calling vs. using the web) and specifically ask for non AC Star Alliance routings IF AC still impose fuel surcharge on top of the normal fares. I believe that if they do, this type of routing will save us $300. or so per ticket in Aeroplan award redemption fees. As for switching to codeshare, I think they can tell you which flights are codeshare BUT things can change especially because of the business challenges that Alitalia have. We have had the misfortune to fly with them a few times on several continents and our experiences were consistently bad. We avoid Heathrow like the plague when switching planes. It is OK if you are ending or starting your trip...just our experiences over the years but prior to the new terminal opening.

[Fred&Lily]

In June 2008 we flew Sunquest from Toronto directly to Rome - we were going on a 12 day Grand Princess cruise that went to Venice. Well, the same Skyservice flight picks up passengers in Venice going back to Toronto.

 

So basically it was direct air to Rome and direct air back from Venice and it's twice weekly service all summer every summer. Full cost return air was $900

 

We did exactly the same Sunquest return air in 2005 including a 7 day western Mediterranean cruise on Costa Magica where total for air and cruise was $1,499 CDN each.

 

Here's a tip: Any air carrier that spends $50,000 on full page newspaper advertising every week - even to announce sales - is not giving passengers a fair deal. Use Buffalo and Detroit for real savings. Here's an example: Next week I fly DTW to SJU (San Juan) from Detroit for $99 each way. That's less than the YYZ Toronto airport departure tax. !!!

[jasl]

IANCAL...........much appreciate your input. Have been working on the Aeroplan website for some routes and they are terrible. Leaving from my hometown at 0600hrs (a one hour flight to YYZ) to connect at between 1800hrs & 2000hrs. There are flights about every two hours, so 1400hrs would be the earliest I would want to leave. Most routes take 24 to 36 hours, with three stops for what should be at most a 14 hour travel time. Also, they show several connecting at Heathrow which we too avoid at any cost. You make an interesting observation on the fuel surcharge when booking an AC flight and I will keep that in mind once I have found the desired flights. Am trying for business class which comes to 100,000 miles each and some of the flights to overseas show up in economy and then the short connection say from FRA to ATH will be business. Might as well save the extra 25,000 and take economy all the way. Many thanks for your suggestions.

 

FRED&LILY........ Thank you too for the advice, if the flights using FF miles do not work out, I will definitely look into Skyservice. We will be traveling October 7,8 or 9 and return November 8, so they may not be offering flights that late in the European Season, believe that ends mid September.

[iancal]

jasl: Our experience is that the Aeroplan web site does NOT list all options. Invariably when I call (I usually try off hours) the agents go thru scenerios and flights that just don't seem to make to the web site response list. Good luck with J class...we can get it to LHR on an AC flight but seldom to other European destinations unless we pay major point premiums. Past two times the business option gave us one leg or two legs only. We gave up and went cabin class. Besides, it is harder to accumulate points these days. Just think, one of our first point redemptions was on CP Air about 23 years ago. 75K points ( a special 2 for one deal) got us two economy return tickets from Vancouver to Rio (and we got upgraded to first class without asking), five free days of Budget car rental, and a two night stay at a CP Hotel. And that was when we got triple points for going CP, Budget, Delta, and using Amex. Boy, has it changed. We did Vancouver-Istanbul/Athens-Vancouver a number of years ago. As I recall it was on Lufthansa. We had business class but it was only on the Vanc-Franfurt legs. Once in Frankurt, the flight to Istanbul and the flight from Athens-Frankfurt did not have any J class seating. We only found out when we boarded.