FCO departure Sunday June 28 Terminal 5

Your 8:00 taxi should be just about right. It doesn't take that long to get to FCO on Sunday a.m.'s.

Just be glad you didn't get suckered into one of FCO's famous 6:30 flights to the U.S. Those fliers have to fly to another European gateway city where they'll be sitting until late a.m. or early p.m. to fly to the U.S. And they didn't get any sleep the night before--getting ready to head for the airport @ 4:00 a.m.

I think three hours early is appropriate. I flew out of terminal 5 last year and it was very busy with long lines. I suspect it is busier now because they are picking up some of the flights from Terminal 3. Are you staying at a hotel? They should be able to arrange for a taxi easily.

I just flew out of FCO this past Tuesday. The current issue is that in May there was a fire in one of the terminals so they are one terminal less at this airport. I flew on American and Terminal 5 is where I checked in, got my boarding pass and checked in my luggage. There are no flights flying out of this terminal. I then took a bus to another terminal where my flight was departing from. Sorry, I don't remember the terminal (I was half asleep).

The night before my flight, a friend of mine who is a flight attendant asked me if my flight was cancelled/delayed. At that time, my flight was departing as scheduled. However, at 3 a.m. on the day of my departure AA said my flight was rescheduled to mid afternoon (original flight was at 11:15). On that particular day when I arrive at the airport at 11:30 a.m. there was no traffic and the check in lines were null. However, you never know. I had a 20 minute taxi ride from Fregene (along the coast) and once I got into the terminal where my flight was departing from, it was only an hour later.

Hope this helps.

Thanks so much! Am trying to get apt mgr to help with taxi 4 hours before departure to arrive 3 hrs early.

Thank you for all the comments and hints.

If anyone has experience with Air Canada, also interested!

Margaret,

Aside from the airport issues, I'd be interested to hear your impressions of Air Canada Rouge after your flight. They've been getting somewhat "mixed" reviews since they started, and I wonder if that's improved. I've flown a lot with the "regular" Air Canada, but haven't flown with Rouge yet.

You're not flying Air Canada. You're flying Air Canada Rouge. While they'll have the same check in desk I expect, they are definitely not the same experience. You might want to have a look at Trip Advisor's air travel forum for comments on Air Canada Rouge. We flew to Florida on Rouge a few years ago. It is the last time I'll fly rouge. I certainly wouldn't fly transatlantic on it. Super super small seats. No entertainment. Make sure you download their app because you can get entertainment through that if you have a ipad/iphone/ipod (if its working... it wasn't when we flew).

Just to be very, very clear since this seems to be a huge point of confusion. Terminal 5 is processing terminal for direct flights from Rome to the US/Canada and a couple of other countries. No flights actually arrive or depart from Terminal 5. A taxi can take you directly to Terminal 5. After check-in and security you are taken by bus to Terminal 3 for departure. Because of the fire, they may be using some temporary facility somewhere else. I think you taxi plan is fine. Three hours should be adequate.

Thanks for the clarification Frank. I didn't realize that we had traveled back to Terminal 3 when I was there.

Thanks again, all.

We arrived at FCO 3.5 hours ahead, as taxi only took 35 minute from near Pantheon (on a Sunday early morning).

We went to Terminal 5. We stood in a shortish line to enter the terminal but were told we needed to wait 30 minutes before entering the terminal and were pointed to wait in a different area. After that we entered and went to check in (some members of our party had checked in online but not all were able to). The line took about 30 minutes and the 2 of our party who had not attempted to check in online (we realized later) were not given seat assignments.

Then went to security. It's a bit of a blur now, but we were shuttled twice I think - the second time to a different terminal to catch the flight and board outside, climbing the steps old fashioned style. I think that was related to the fire and not the airline.

It all seemed like it was going essentially ok, a slow but ordered process. We did take off some 45 minutes late. The flight was fine for me; I don't typically care about the entertainment. Service onboard was efficient.

When we landed in Montreal however, we encountered poor service through customs and with Rouge. The one and only customs (?) or airline processing gentleman in the connections area seemed ill equipped to handle the very long line of passengers who were running late for connections. 2-3 times he spent several minutes each talking with passengers who were complaining or trying to get ahead in line, further delaying our progress. No additional people were sent to help him (during our 20 or so minutes there - we were near the front). The two members of our party who did not have a seat assignment were initially held up due to an error message on his screen that he did not seem to understand, and then were waived through. We were in a rush to board our connection.

Once downstairs we encountered further issues: the two without seat assignments were ultimately told that the first gentleman had made a mistake waiving them through and they would have to go out to the TICKET Counter to get it straightened out. Clearly, they would miss our connection. Their saga then included multiple people telling them different things, being directed here and there, and finally receiving some help to get on a Delta flight - which when they tried to board were told they could not because it hadn't been paid for! Somehow they were ultimately waived through and boarded with the door closing behind them.

The issues seemed to stem from the lack of seat assignment at FCO, and then some disorganization at Montreal determining what to do about it.

Something to keep in mind.