New to AZ - Flying AZ611 JFK-FCO
Aug 22, 2014, 3:32 am
#31
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Paris
Programs: FB Plat, *A Silver, Volare Exec (LOL), some hotels (Gold)
Posts: 621
Aug 25, 2014, 8:06 am
#34
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Italy
Programs: ITA Executive for life; AZ CFP "per sempre" (ST E+); LH SEN; BA Bronze
Posts: 1,948
Aug 28, 2014, 8:28 am
#35
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC, MSY
Programs: DL DM, 1.5MM, NEXUS, Sky Club Lifetime, Admirals Club Lifetime, LowValueCustomer everywhere
Posts: 6,447
We've been on th go almost continually and I finally have a few minutes to update a couple of things.
Since we had carry-on baggage and the flight landed early, we were able to clear immigration and customs quickly and follow the signs to the rail terminal. We made a train that left only 58 minutes after we touched down on the runway.
Our TA had used RailEurope to purchase our tickets on the Leopold to Termini and then to Florence. We entered the PNR at a machine in the FCO Rail Station and it spit out all of our tickets. (You can use any ticket machine.) The Leopold is a walk up situation and our ticket for the 15:38 were fine for the 13:08. There was an employee at the entry gate who validated each ticket.
As we'd been told, the train got into Termini late. If we'd been relying on an on-time arrival for a connection, we'd have been in trouble. Then the fun started. We found the main ticket office and an employee who was answering questions told us to use a ticket machine to change to an earlier express to Florence. The machine wouldn't change our RailEurope purchased tickets so we took a number to wait for an agent who could do it for us. Our number was 150 from the next number called so we figured that we'd be in Florence before it was called. We wandered around for a few minuted and discovered a set of free standing attended booths which had a sign above them "Last Minute Frecciarossa Tickets. One of the agents tried to change our tickets unsuccessfully and told us we'd have to do it at the ticket office. we told her that the line was so long that we'd be in Florence before we could change them. She laughed and called her supervisor over, and the supervisor approved the change with an override code so we did make an earlier train to Florence.
We followed the direction we were given to leave the station in Florence and had an uneventful stroll to the hotel. We walked everywhere day and night and never felt unsafe or threatened. We were never approached by anyone looking for a handout.
Again, all of our experiences with people have been great. Everyone has been helpful.
Now we're back at FCO about to fly to PMO for 9 days.
Since we had carry-on baggage and the flight landed early, we were able to clear immigration and customs quickly and follow the signs to the rail terminal. We made a train that left only 58 minutes after we touched down on the runway.
Our TA had used RailEurope to purchase our tickets on the Leopold to Termini and then to Florence. We entered the PNR at a machine in the FCO Rail Station and it spit out all of our tickets. (You can use any ticket machine.) The Leopold is a walk up situation and our ticket for the 15:38 were fine for the 13:08. There was an employee at the entry gate who validated each ticket.
As we'd been told, the train got into Termini late. If we'd been relying on an on-time arrival for a connection, we'd have been in trouble. Then the fun started. We found the main ticket office and an employee who was answering questions told us to use a ticket machine to change to an earlier express to Florence. The machine wouldn't change our RailEurope purchased tickets so we took a number to wait for an agent who could do it for us. Our number was 150 from the next number called so we figured that we'd be in Florence before it was called. We wandered around for a few minuted and discovered a set of free standing attended booths which had a sign above them "Last Minute Frecciarossa Tickets. One of the agents tried to change our tickets unsuccessfully and told us we'd have to do it at the ticket office. we told her that the line was so long that we'd be in Florence before we could change them. She laughed and called her supervisor over, and the supervisor approved the change with an override code so we did make an earlier train to Florence.
We followed the direction we were given to leave the station in Florence and had an uneventful stroll to the hotel. We walked everywhere day and night and never felt unsafe or threatened. We were never approached by anyone looking for a handout.
Again, all of our experiences with people have been great. Everyone has been helpful.
Now we're back at FCO about to fly to PMO for 9 days.
Aug 31, 2014, 2:19 pm
#36
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC, MSY
Programs: DL DM, 1.5MM, NEXUS, Sky Club Lifetime, Admirals Club Lifetime, LowValueCustomer everywhere
Posts: 6,447
The Italian tourists are taking over Italy.
Nov 15, 2015, 11:51 am
#39
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Italy
Programs: ITA Executive for life; AZ CFP "per sempre" (ST E+); LH SEN; BA Bronze
Posts: 1,948
