FCO Rome Fiumicino Airport [Merged thread]
 

I'm flying this summer from AMS to ATH via FCO.
The first leg is operated by KL and the second by AZ with a transfer time of 45minutes. What I see on the website of FCO is that both AZ and KL use T1 for their Schengen flights.

Will my transfer be manageable or too tight?

Your help is appreciated.

Absolutely manageable, provided the KL flight is on time. But more than 15-20 min delay and you're in trouble. Why don't you fly non-stop AMS-ATH?

Agreed - but I would still move fast. Fortunately our flight ends in Rome.

Thanks for the assurance.
What is the chance my checked bag will make it?

Because it saved me a few hundred Euros with my return that includes a stay of 8 days in Venice.

No personal experience with that, but this would be very, very, very close. Luggage from planes arriving at FCO usually make it to the belt about 20-30 min. after landing (10-20 min. after de-planing). Now, although your two planes would be using the same terminal, I'm sort of certain that your bag would first go to a "central" place from where it would have to go back to T1, rendering it very unprobable that it will be onboard the flight to ATH. But this just a guess.

Given the real risk of summer delays in European skies, you have a rather high chance of having plenty of time to visit the shops at Terminal T1 and even T3 (including several cups of espresso/cappuccino). I'm actually anything but re-assuring!

I'm flying out of FCO on USAirways. No bags, and I assume I can check in on line.

Where should I go when I get to the airport? Will I be able to go through security from the other terminals, or must I go to T5?

Transiting in FCO today :(
 

I'll arrive on KL1597 from Amsterdam at 0935 (Terminal 1), and my onward flight is AZ808 to Tel Aviv at 1100 (Terminal 3). I will have no check-in luggage.

Do I need to clear immigration (I am leaving Schengen?) and/or customs?

Another problem is that I might not have my FCO-TLV boarding pass yet. The flights are on the same e-ticket, but not the same PNR. :confused:

I'm only Flying Blue Silver, so I don't think status would make much of a difference.

Yes, you'll clear passport control for leaving Schengen. I don't hear of any customs check on departure. I'd expect a transit desk would issue a boarding pass if you don't have it yet.

I'd like an answer to this too. I'm in exactly the same situation with my family. flying on UA, no checkin bags.

I've heard of people who've parked at T5, checked in, then drove to the rental return and cleared security at T3. Based on that, it would seem you could do that, unless the BP needs some kind of security stamp at T5.

IMO, you take a pretty big risk by going straight to T3.

If you have an electronic boarding pass on your phone issued by a US airline, you are assuming that the security staff at T3 will understand/accept these and let you through. If they don't, then you have to go to T5 and lose a lot of time.

In addition, there is random add'l security screening done by the T-5 airlines. This is not done on a passenger by passenger basis, but rather on a day by day basis. If you happen to be traveling on one of these days - and are successful getting through T3 security, you may encounter problems at your actual gate w/your carrier.

It's a pain but the last time I dropped a rental at FCO, I drove to T5 to drop bags, my wife waited while I returned the rental car and then hopped a bus back to T5. It was a pain and the buses are infrequent but it works.

T5 security is significant - while I don't know for a fact, it wouldn't surprise me that they wouldn't exactly make it easy to go airside elsewhere and then do an airside transfer to T5.

If you can clear security at T3, there's no need to get to T5: you would go to the G satellite gates, which I believe the AZ TATL flights use: people on these flights check in at T3 and go to the G gates, which those who check in at T5 also use. So there's just the "big if" of whether T3 security will accept boarding passes from U.S. carriers. When I flew intra-Europe out of T3 last month, the one BP check at security was a scan of the barcode on the printed pass.

I'd say definitely only T5.
Never tried the T3 when direct to US, but if the T5 is specific for flights bound to States and Israel, there's a reason for that.

Exactly. If you leaving on a T-5 assigned carrier, then you need to deal w/T-5 security/check in b/c the carriers who operate out of T-5 have add'l security/screening procedures.