fasteddie1971

Received this email on Friday evening:

"per garantirti un’esperienza di viaggio sempre più confortevole ed efficiente, a partire dal 25 gennaio, inizieranno i lavori di rinnovamento della Lounge Alitalia situata nell’area partenze del Terminal 1, all’aeroporto Leonardo Da Vinci di Fiumicino.
La Lounge sarà nuovamente a tua disposizione dal prossimo 6 marzo.
Durante i giorni di chiusura, potrai comunque beneficiare dei servizi a te riservati utilizzando le Lounge situate presso le aree di imbarco D e G.
In alternativa, potrai usufruire di un voucher da utilizzare nei punti di ristoro.
Per ritirare il voucher ti aspettiamo presso i “Welcome desk” situati all’entrata della Lounge Alitalia al Terminal 1, dove il nostro personale è a tua disposizione per fornirti informazioni e assistenza.
Inoltre, il Programma MilleMiglia riconoscerà ai Soci Freccia Alata e Freccia Alata Plus in partenza da Roma Fiumicino, che non potranno accedere alla Lounge nel periodo di chiusura, un bonus straordinario di 500 miglia quale ulteriore gesto di attenzione per il disagio arrecato. "

For the non-Italian speakers, they're saying that the T1 departures area lounge at FCO is going to be closed for 6 weeks from tomorrow. The D (Borromini) and G (ex-Giotto) lounges are always available, alternatively they'll give you a voucher to use in bars/restaurants at the airport, and all CFA/CFP people flying from FCO during the period of closure will receive 500 miles.

My question is: is it the Dolce Vita lounge that's going to be refurbished? It doesn't seem five minutes since it opened....

If I were AZ, surely the priority should be (re-)opening a lounge near the B gates? I connected through FCO last night, and once again found the huge walk from the Borromini to the B gates very tiresome. (I disliked FCO intensely even before the fire....now it's doubly annoying). (Liked the improved food in the Borromini though, and the fact that they left bottles of red, white and sparkling wine out for self-service).

Did I read something about AZ/EY wanting to build a dedicated terminal at FCO? Is this a serious proposal, or just wishful thinking? Bring it on....

erik19283

"La Lounge sarà nuovamente a tua disposizione dal prossimo 6 marzo." (The Lounge will be available from next March 6.)

Great! I'm scheduled to go through FCO exactly on March 6 . . . but I don't really think they'll be done by then.

AlicorporateUK

It isn't really a huge walk - unless it's summer and you basically need to fight in order to make your way through, Borromini (now simply Lounge)-B29 is 6/7 minutes walk as a maximum.

Montezemolo, every now and again, tends to come up with things like that - and it's very typical of AZ senior people to taunt ADR (the airport's operator) in order to remind them how crap FCO is.

G

AlicorporateUK

I think at LIN they finished revamping pretty much on-time.

G

thesaints

La Dolce Vita is the best lounge AZ has at FCO. The only improvement worth doing would be a direct channel through security a-la-Virgin Atlantic.

Hard to understand why they are not improving G. and B. first. Although G. too was refurbished in the recent past...

Sounds like LCDM is up to no good once again.

erik19283

In that case, I'll keep my fingers crossed!

fasteddie1971

OK, yes, I'll concede I'm being a bit of a diva here...in absolute terms it's not that bad, it's just that, particularly now that the airport is divided in two post-fire, it feels like you're being obliged to walk the entire length of the terminal, especially if your boarding gate is B2x. And, as you say, the route you have to take can be quite crowded if you're passing through at the wrong time.

Going back to the Dolce Vita lounge, if they did open up a direct channel through security (which I guess would need to start in the corner next to the flight simulator, just past the row of check-in desks) that would be a major improvement. At that point, when connecting from a non-Schengen flight it would definitely be worth exiting to landside, using the Dolce Vita and then going through security from there, rather than having to pass through that awful re-screening area for transit passengers. (Had yet another negative experience there the other night, due to overcrowding and general incompetence of the personnel).

AlicorporateUK

That's true. The real pain is when you use the lounge for a flight departing from the G area and you have to get the timing right because of the walk down to B29, the passport checks (extremely busy at certain times, especially after 8PM when all the ALG, BEY, CAI, LHR, SVO, TLV plus the South America bound flights leave) and the bus transfer which doesn't seem to have a specific schedule (and, as such, you never know when it's going to leave)...

G

raistlin

Confirm. It's Dolce Vita.

Confirmed. Pier F. Should be in the works already, supposed to open in October, and the reason why they would not work on a lounge in the B gates instead.

jerry_greece

I am not familiar with lounges @ FCO. Is this lounge used for all flights or for Schengen/Extra Schengen? So does it affect all flights?

AlicorporateUK

The Dolce Vita lounge is located land-side in T1 and, as such, it can be used for all flights. It goes without saying that, for a flight departing from satellite G (or H), you would rather clear security and reach the former Giotto.

G

BA6501

What about if connecting from a Schengen flight to a flight departing G or H, with 3 hours between flights? I went for Borromini (I believe, near D gates) last time. Is that recommended? Is it easy to get from G to H?

AlicorporateUK

I've not transferred between the 2 areas since the fire hence I'm not sure whether you'd be allowed [to do G-H & vice-versa] as we speak. If your flight departs from G, then you are obviously better off heading straight there and use the former Giotto lounge. If you share your flight number or destination, I'll be able to tell you where this is more likely to depart from.

G

jerry_greece

Well, i will take AZ160 to BRU, which as far as I see from the adr.it website usually departs B09

BA6501

It's the 824/826, which have been a mix of G and H for me.

How often do gates change? I presume I could go straight to former Giotto if it's showing G, and if it's showing H (or no gate, or likely to change) it's better to go to Borromini and then hop off to H before boarding? This is what I did last time, but don't really fancy 3 hours in Borromini!

Also, a bit off topic, but do you know how good the legroom is in the front rows of A320? I presume the J legroom continues for a few rows into the Y cabin, do you know until where? Debating between 06A and 12A. I prefer 06A if the legroom is similar as the exit row, otherwise will stick to 12A.

I presume however 12A is more likely to have a couple of free seats next to it as it's a paying row?