Arrived at FCO today via Delta from Atlanta. Flight was delayed taking off but made up most of the time (not all) in route. Arrived at the gate at 12:55 pm local time, and went through passport control/EES, had our 2 checked bags and were in the hired car on way to our bnb by 1:55. I was stunned; quite grateful, but stunned.
I believe others may have mentioned that time of arrival is important and our flight was scheduled to arrive after noon, which I think helped significantly.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
9589 posts
One big key is also how many people they have working. The activity at the kiosks (if they are using them) is quick, a few minutes, what takes the time is having to wait in line for a person, if directed that way, or if that is how the airport chose to handle EES.
If you hit the kiosks, and then the e-gates, it takes little time.
Posted by
Seattle
451 posts
Did you use the EES kiosks?
Posted by
Milan Italy
129 posts
Hi, Giangilberto from Milan, Paul is quite right to say that it depends on how the airport manages the EES, in the case of Fiumicino, the operator itself, Aeroporti di Roma, confirms this.
The EES has been active at Fiumicino since October 12, 2025, is fully operational as of April 10, 2026 and applies to non-EU citizens on short stays. The process involves two steps: first, the self-service kiosk (accessible to those with a biometric passport who are over 12 years old), and then the e-gate; the arrival e-gates are also open to US electronic passports.
At the e-gate, you place your open passport on the reader, and a camera compares your face with the photo stored in the chip, if recognition fails, you proceed to a border police officer.
There are 77 e-gates at Fiumicino, and the process takes an average of about 20 seconds per passenger.
But IATA warns of queues of up to six hours at several Italian airports, including Fiumicino.
We still need to consider two aspects, one positive and one negative. First, the European Commission says that biometric data collection can be suspended when exceptional circumstances result in excessive waiting times.
The second is that there is a pre-registration app, "Travel to Europe," that would reduce waiting times, and Italy hasn't activated it.
At the moment only Portugal and Sweden have activated it.
So a six-hour forecast doesn't mean six hours of queues, border police can turn off detection to let people pass.
It is not a question of landing before or after noon, there is no official data on this, the only fact is that, as mentioned above, the system can be suspended at the discretion of the border police to avoid long wait times.
https://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en/pax-fco-immigration-and-customs
https://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en/e-gates
Posted by
OP
Northern Gulf Coast
360 posts
So, take this with a big grain of jet lag… a LOT of kiosks were roped off. There were very few staff but they directed us straight to the e-gates (hubby and I were side by side). Passport scan worked the quickest it has ever worked for me (in 2023 my husband and I had to be manually processed) and then into the picture and hand scan corral and then out the gate.
I should also note we deplaned at a gate, we have done the bus and tarmac shuffle in the past - must admit, not a fan, but sometimes that is what it takes to visit such lovely places.