Everything You Need To Know

Last year, ITA Airways launched a new service in conjunction with AccesRail and FlexFlight. The service combines air and rail travel on a single ticket, ensuring travelers arrive seamlessly across Europe and significantly expanding the airline’s destination network. Here’s everything you need to know.

One transaction but separate check-ins

Passengers can purchase a combined plane and train ticket in a single transaction. Thanks to AccesRail technology, it is possible to buy air and rail routes on a combined ticket and travel to more European cities by switching from train to plane and vice versa. AccesRail is a Canadian company and IATA partner that facilitates intermodality in the travel industry by providing seamless access to an extensive network of rail and bus operators worldwide.

Tickets for the combined plane and train service can be bought on the ITA Airways website and app, through travel agents, at ITA Airways ticket offices at the airport, or via their Customer Center. However, the combined ticket service is available only for international and intercontinental flights operated by ITA Airways. It does not include domestic routes.

Furthermore, while you will have one combined ticket, it consists of two distinct transport sections, one for each part of the trip. Therefore, separate check-ins are required for the plane and train journeys.

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Integrating two modes of transport.

Check-in procedures

As explained on the ITA Airways website, for your plane trip, you can check in at the airport or online via the web or app 48 hours before the flight departure. For flights to/from the USA, online check-in is available 24 hours prior. If you booked your train ticket with AccesRail, you can log in to the AccesRail website 72 hours before departure, enter your ticket number or ITA Airways PNR, and check-in.

Photo: Santi Rodriguez | Shutterstock

If you booked your train ticket with FlexFlight, a WorldTicket company (global provider of information technology and software to airlines), you can log in to the website before the train departs, enter your ticket number or ITA Airways PNR, and check in up to 3 hours before departure.

After the check-in, you will then receive the train boarding pass and assigned seats. When available, transfers between the train station and the airport are included in the ticket.

ITA Airways strategy

In October 2023, ITA Airways signed a partnership deal with GO7 so that it can sell train tickets for Deutsche Bahn (DB) connected flights from Frankfurt Airport (FRA). That means you can use just one ticket coming from Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO) or Milan Linate Airport (LIN) and go on with your journey in Germany and Switzerland, including Cologne, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Munich, Leipzig, Berlin, and Basel.

This new offering aligns ITA Airways with Lufthansa’s ‘Rail&Fly’ service, which covers over 5,600 train stations. ITA Airways also provides this ‘Plane + Train’ service at several European airports, including Madrid, Barcelona, Zurich, Geneva, London, Amsterdam, and Brussels.

The Italian airline also introduced a new Rail+Plane service in partnership with Trenitalia, the primary train operator of Italy, in April 2024. This service integrates flights with Trenitalia’s high-speed Frecciarossa trains, allowing passengers to book both modes of transport in one transaction.

Currently, this service is available at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport (FCO), with plans to expand if well-received. The ultimate goal is to implement check-in counters capable of processing these combined tickets at all airports connected to the Frecciarossa rail network.

Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock

Intermodal transport in Europe

This model is supported by the EU and individual governments’ push for sustainability, with Europe’s vast high-speed rail network facilitating access to airports. The competitiveness of rail over short distances and the role as a feeder for long-haul flights by major airline groups such as Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have been key to the adoption of intermodality.

In France, rail is mandatory for routes of less than 2.5 hours away. In April 2024, Spain became the latest country to restrict domestic air travel between destinations that are less than 2.5 hours away, although Spanish airlines said poor rail links invalidate a domestic flight ban. However, it won’t be the last.

The Lufthansa Express Rail program facilitates connections between Frankfurt and various German cities with high-speed trains. MSC has experimented with a different model of intermodality by purchasing 50 percent of Italo NTV, one of the leading high-speed train operators in Europe.

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Through collaborations with train operators, these European airlines offer passengers seamless connectivity.

Swiss and Austrian, part of the Lufthansa Group, have initiated similar programs: Swiss’s Air Rail connects Zurich airport with several cities, while Austrian’s Rail and Fly connects the Vienna hub with Linz, Salzburg, and Graz.

Air France-KLM has plenty of experience in integrated transportation, offering combined train+air travel to/from Brussels, Amsterdam, and various French cities. Iberia has the Train & Fly program for connections in Spain via Madrid. Delta Air Lines, the only non-European airline mentioned, has expanded its Air+Rail program to include rail connections in Italy and other European countries.

Have you ever purchased a combined plane+train ticket? Tell us your experience in the comments below.