Alitalia MilleMiglia - Rome FCO: Sky Priority available from April 3rd 2012

Source: AZ newsletter

http://www.alitalia.com/IT_IT/your_travel/at_the_airport/SkyPriority.aspx

...I can check in at the Magnifica check-in lounge? Or is it the usual Magnifica desk and the priority screening lane (which as far as I can tell I was eligible for already?)

This is interesting. I just booked a Business trip to firenze. I have to connect in FCO, so I'll be on the lookout for any change....I'm sure it's minimal.

...I can check in at the Magnifica check-in lounge? Or is it the usual Magnifica desk and the priority screening lane (which as far as I can tell I was eligible for already?)

You can check in at the lounge, as you could do for ages before now :-)

You can check in at the lounge, as you could do for ages before now :-)

Last time I tried, they said you had to be Plat to use the lounge, unless you were traveling Magnifica.

Last time I tried, they said you had to be Plat to use the lounge, unless you were traveling Magnifica.

Maybe that was before GM was Elite+, or the staff simply was unaware of the change in Delta's Medallion equivalence.

...I can check in at the Magnifica check-in lounge? Or is it the usual Magnifica desk and the priority screening lane (which as far as I can tell I was eligible for already?)

Skypriority does not add any new benefits, it only makes the Priority/Lounge benefits uniform across the alliance. Plus better signage of course :)

At FCO no sky priority at immigration, emigration and security check (after the landing).

Min. one hour to take a correspondence between T1 & T3 !!

At FCO no sky priority at immigration, emigration and security check (after the landing).

Min. one hour to take a correspondence between T1 & T3 !!

Depending on the time of day the connection between T1 and T3 can be very short (walking time is 20 minutes). If there are queues you need more than 20 minutes, eg. a 40 minute queue means you need 1 hour.

FCO airport is a complete joke. By far the worst airport in Europe. There is nothing related to Sky Priority, you need 1hr to transfer... And the Lounge in G terminal is also very poor

Last month, I flew FLR-FCO-LAX. I wouldn't classify FCO as being the "worst" European airport, that's a tad dramatic!

My connection was only one hour and I made it from the antequated tarmac unloading bus process to the G satellite with enough time to get an espresso from the lounge prior to boarding. Security was a breeze, actually. The only wait was for the monorail to the G concourse.

There are Sky Priority signs posted at the gates and the AZ/DL check-in counters. There was NO enforcement of Sky Priority policies...in fact, boarding was such chaos (FCO-LAX), there were Y passengers boarding before J passengers..people crowding all over the place, GA's not enforcing organization.

It was like rush hour in Napoli!

And I agree, I remain underwhelmed with AZ's lounges at FCO. Poor food offerings, service is indifferent and unfriendly...worst of all, the attendants at the front desk remain confused with who is permitted to enter. G satellite lounge is superior to the Borromini lounge.

By far the worst airport in Europe.

You've been to all of them I suppose?

I think you'll find at the very least that CDG is far worse in terms of connecting time. I would recommend there at least 2 hours and a half, preferably 3 hours, and if possible don't connect there at all!

At CDG, unlike FCO, there is also nowhere to eat, nowhere to sit, and no idea where to go, if you are unlucky like I was one time, you will have a one hour walk, four passport checks (I counted them accurately), two security screenings and at least an hour and a half of queuing before getting to your flight which will be delayed for the simple reason that passengers weren't able to arrive yet, and a plane can't leave empty, nor can the airline ask to start checking in passengers 4 or 5 hours in advance as would be necessary.

So obviously you can't say that FCO is the worst airport in europe. I personally enjoy connecting there very much.

I could then go into a list of airports that I like or don't like, but in many cases that may be subjective. I believe that most passengers would hate CDG when they've been there, at least.

G satellite lounge is superior to the B lounge.

In particular because there's no B lounge. When was your last visit to FCO? ;-)

FCO airport is a complete joke. By far the worst airport in Europe.

Ah, I see you've never been to MXP. Or to CDG. And I could continue :)

FCO is far from perfect, but it's decent.

You've been to all of them I suppose?

I think you'll find at the very least that CDG is far worse in terms of connecting time. I would recommend there at least 2 hours and a half, preferably 3 hours, and if possible don't connect there at all!

At CDG, unlike FCO, there is also nowhere to eat, nowhere to sit, and no idea where to go, if you are unlucky like I was one time, you will have a one hour walk, four passport checks (I counted them accurately), two security screenings and at least an hour and a half of queuing before getting to your flight which will be delayed for the simple reason that passengers weren't able to arrive yet, and a plane can't leave empty, nor can the airline ask to start checking in passengers 4 or 5 hours in advance as would be necessary.

So obviously you can't say that FCO is the worst airport in europe. I personally enjoy connecting there very much.

I could then go into a list of airports that I like or don't like, but in many cases that may be subjective. I believe that most passengers would hate CDG when they've been there, at least.

I fully agree with you that calling FCO the worst airport in Europe is really absurd, but I must say that your experience of CDG is more than extremely unlucky. The only way you can have had to go through 4 passport controls is if you went to the wrong place in the first instance. Otherwise, you will have no passport control if you go Schengen-Schengen or international-international and a single one if you go Schengen-international or international-Schengen. There is also no additional security check if you connect from a Schengen flight (except from terminal G) and only a single one if you come from a non-Schengen flight. I can't think of a single case when you would need more than 1h (real time) to connect although I like to count 1h15/1h30 in case the first flight is late.

If you are Skyteam Elite Plus, your connections are also significantly facilitated by the Acces no1 system. You get fast track check in, fast track baggage drop (if no check in required), fast track security, fast track emigration and fast track immigration. The only part which is hit or miss is priority boarding (great at 2E and apparently some gates at 2F but some other 2F gates are not that good) but the bad cases have the same system as FCO.

Finally, I should add that things should further improve significantly from this summer when all AF operations will be transfered to terminal 2E (all international), 2F (all Schengen flights except regional aircraft) and terminal 2G (regional aircraft flights for Schengen destinations). Terminals 2E and 2F both have multiple eating, drinking, and shopping options and numerous seating areas.

So in short, I don't think that either FCO or CDG are currently bad airports to transit at. When AZ was using it, I used to dislike MXP, in part because it is often prone to severe fog delays in the winter but MXP connections are now almost unheard of on AZ. To me, this leaves FRA as my least favourite airport to connect at as it often includes walking for durations that far exceed what you need to do at CDG or FCO alike. BRU is also very bad if it involves a Schengen-non-Schengen connection especially considering its size. The easiest 'medium-sized' airports to connect at in my mind would be CPH and PRG and the easiest large sized one would be LHR T5.

I have had a few displeasing experiences at CDG, but it's true that there are reports of improvements and it basically works as an airport. I think I would probably class CDG as my least favourite airport so far, although BRS was also quite bad.