Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Destinations > Europe > Italy
Reload this Page >

Fire in Rome FCO / Fiumicino airport terminal 3 (06 May 2015)

Fire in Rome FCO / Fiumicino airport terminal 3 (06 May 2015)

Old May 11, 2015, 11:01 pm
  #16  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,298
Originally Posted by Perche
But not departures to the USA. They leave from T5.
Then why is DL offering a waiver? Its flights would come and go from T5, right? OTOH, if someone has a DL ticket with AZ (or AF/KLM or even VS) segments to/from Italy, rebooking if possible would make more sense.
MSPeconomist is offline  
Old May 12, 2015, 8:32 am
  #17  
Moderator: American AAdvantage
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Matre-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
TiggyWinkle posted elsewhere:

The BA rep said that they are still canceling flights Out of FCO through the week and most likely through next week. And be prepared entering immigration a because lines are up to an hour or more wait time.
I'm reproducing that part of the post here as it may have broader implications for other FCO flyers than the original post, and of course we don't cross post here so we'll share the information.

I've taken the liberty of moving Joanna2360's informative post here as well.

Note the title has been modified for greater specificity and searchability.

Grazie for sharing your experiences and observations.

JDiver, Senior Moderator
JDiver is offline  
Old May 12, 2015, 9:36 am
  #18  
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 3,968
Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Then why is DL offering a waiver? Its flights would come and go from T5, right? OTOH, if someone has a DL ticket with AZ (or AF/KLM or even VS) segments to/from Italy, rebooking if possible would make more sense.
Check-in for departures is at T5, but baggage claim and the exit to the arrivals hall are at T3. The planes dock at the G satellite, which can be accessed from both T3 and T5. T5 is a check-in facility, not set up for arriving pax.
rove312 is offline  
Old May 13, 2015, 12:09 pm
  #19  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: San Diego
Programs: United Silver; Marriott Silver
Posts: 44
Originally Posted by Perche
No doubt this was a big fire, but it shouldn't be called chaos and panic.
Nope, it was chaos (no panic, though). We landed at FCO on UA at 0842 Thursday morning, 07 May. The fire in T3 was still smoldering. Initially, they considered diverting to Milan or Geneva, but decided to let us land. No jetways of course, we deboarded via stars and were bussed to T1. That was the extent of the assistance and information. After that we were on our own. We eventually discovered that ALL luggage was being offloaded and had to be recovered, regardless of final destination. The baggage carousels did not display flight numbers, and when they did, they were wrong - the carousel that displayed our flt number had luggage from other flights, our bags showed up on the next carousel over.
Once we exited the secure area we joined the large group of folks who were just sitting or milling about with no idea of what the next step was. We eventually asked an Alitalia employee and she told us to call our airline and work it that way...they could do nothing for us. Full disclosure here, my wife's family comes from Italy, she has most of her relatives still there, speaks fluent Italian with a Roman accent, and is very aware of Italian cultural nuances. As expected, any airport employee we tried to talk to acted like we were asking for the moon and couldn't be bothered to help...they were too consumed with their own little dramas to be concerned with passengers. There was no traffic being allowed into the airport, but taxis were going out. We were eventually rebooked thru our airline (via phone) to fly out the next day.
When we returned the next day (3 hours before our flight just to be safe) the T3 ticketing area was operational for check-in, but no gates were being used. After we checked in we had to go to T2 and clear Security there. We were told to keep checking the boards for our flight since a gate wouldn't be assigned until shortly before boarding. Again, chaos ruled. Our flight eventually boarded an hour late. No jetways were in service, we were all bussed out to hardstands for boarding.
The only thing I thought the airport staff did well was keep handing out free water the two days were there. Hopefully things got better over the weekend.
swodog94 is offline  
Old May 13, 2015, 12:39 pm
  #20  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SEA
Posts: 3,944
Sadly, that doesn't sound all that different than a normal day at FCO

Were you connecting to an Alitalia flight?
PWMTrav is offline  
Old May 13, 2015, 12:49 pm
  #21  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: San Diego
Programs: United Silver; Marriott Silver
Posts: 44
Originally Posted by PWMTrav
Sadly, that doesn't sound all that different than a normal day at FCO

Were you connecting to an Alitalia flight?
Sorry, should have included that info in my initial post. We flew UA metal from IAD to FCO and were connecting onto Austrian Air for our FCO->VIE leg.
swodog94 is offline  
Old May 16, 2015, 5:15 am
  #22  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NC
Programs: AAConciergeKey/1MM, DL DM/2 MM, UA Gold,Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 11,914
I flew out the other day from T1 and while hectic, things were slowly back to normal. Are US-bound airline pax being given lounge access again if eligible? Reports from some pax were that all lounges were closed although the AZ lounge I went to on May 9 was open and running fine.
SkyTeam777 is offline  
Old May 18, 2015, 8:44 pm
  #23  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA, AA, BA, US
Posts: 22
I finally flew out on Thursday afternoon with BA from Terminal 3 and the air was still very very smoky and it was hard to breathe for a considerable period. The airport staff were wearing respirators and handing out water. A lot of people were waiting outside instead of inside. After about 10 minutes I began feeling a headache coming on. After going through security you enter into the main area that suffered the main damage and the smoke filled air is very bad in that area. Walking through that area is awful. From there caught the train to the satellite gates. Arriving off the train, you get cleared by passport staff there. BA does not have a working lounge at terminal 3 at this time because of the smoke damage.
I hope this info proves to be of help.
TiggyWinkle is offline  
Old May 19, 2015, 4:07 am
  #24  
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,555
Originally Posted by TiggyWinkle
I finally flew out on Thursday afternoon with BA from Terminal 3 and the air was still very very smoky and it was hard to breathe for a considerable period. The airport staff were wearing respirators and handing out water. A lot of people were waiting outside instead of inside. After about 10 minutes I began feeling a headache coming on. After going through security you enter into the main area that suffered the main damage and the smoke filled air is very bad in that area. Walking through that area is awful. From there caught the train to the satellite gates. Arriving off the train, you get cleared by passport staff there. BA does not have a working lounge at terminal 3 at this time because of the smoke damage.
I hope this info proves to be of help.
Let's get a small thing straight: it's not smoke but smell (of smoke and burnt material, etc.). Smoke emanates when something's burning and that is over! Other than that, to the point.
KLouis is offline  
Old May 19, 2015, 12:43 pm
  #25  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: EWR
Programs: Mucci, AA EXP, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 587
Originally Posted by TiggyWinkle
. BA does not have a working lounge at terminal 3 at this time because of the smoke damage.

Perhaps this might be the time to finally upgrade this lounge?? Let's hope!
handspring088 is offline  
Old May 20, 2015, 5:56 pm
  #26  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Ithaca, NY
Programs: AA Platinum
Posts: 147
Arrived at FCO on US/AAL 718 on the morning of Wed, 19 May, debarking as usual at the remote terminal where the American carriers go, then taking the monorail to T3. In T3, I did not smell the bad air on the way to Passport Control but did see some airport employees, though not many, still wearing white masks.

The exit from Baggage Claim between Carousels 9 & 10 was blocked off. The current exit was just across from Carousel 5, an exit not identified on the current map of Baggage Claim and T3 posted on the AdR's website for FCO, so if you are meeting someone outside Baggage Claim, you might want to be sure they know that the exits may or may not be where the map says they are. I'm guessing that the far end of Baggage Claim, the part blocked off, is closer to the fire damage than the part near the current exit. Near the current exit, there also are hand-made signs pointing the way to Terminal 1/T1 for those with connections.
Joanna2360 is offline  
Old May 22, 2015, 5:56 pm
  #27  
TA
 
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: if it's Thursday, this must be Belgium
Programs: UA 1K MM
Posts: 6,480
I just flew out of FCO today on LH, what a crowded, disorganized scene. I suppose the loss of many gates has caused them to have to stack up departures at the ones left, and many flights are being bused to remote stands. (I don't know if this is just standard procedure though even before the fire).

But it seems like the buses are straining to serve the flights since now there are so many more requiring buses, so every gate is packed with people, delayed, etc.
TA is offline  
Old May 22, 2015, 8:02 pm
  #28  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SEA
Posts: 3,944
Originally Posted by TA
I just flew out of FCO today on LH, what a crowded, disorganized scene. I suppose the loss of many gates has caused them to have to stack up departures at the ones left, and many flights are being bused to remote stands. (I don't know if this is just standard procedure though even before the fire).

But it seems like the buses are straining to serve the flights since now there are so many more requiring buses, so every gate is packed with people, delayed, etc.
I'm not sure about intra-Europe, but remote stands for long hauls are pretty common at FCO. To/from the US and Canada, I'm not sure that I've ever used a jetbridge.
PWMTrav is offline  
Old May 23, 2015, 7:59 am
  #29  
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,555
Originally Posted by PWMTrav
I'm not sure about intra-Europe, but remote stands for long hauls are pretty common at FCO. To/from the US and Canada, I'm not sure that I've ever used a jetbridge.
...and the gates to intra-Schengen flights were not directly affected by the fire!
KLouis is offline  
Old May 23, 2015, 11:02 am
  #30  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SEA
Posts: 3,944
Originally Posted by KLouis
...and the gates to intra-Schengen flights were not directly affected by the fire!
It's funny and sad at the same time that we have reports of things being chaotic at FCO when some of them have nothing to do with the fire - it's just a normal day at Fiumicino!
PWMTrav is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.