How early to get to Florence airport early am?

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/airport-hotel-florence

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/what-is-the-best-way-to-get-from-florence-city-center-to-the-airport

At that time you can call before going and a taxi will show up with in 5 minute or so. Or you can book in advance. Depending on where your Airbnb is located the taxi journey will be between 15 and 25 minutes. Generally I try to be at the Florence airport at least 90 minutes or so prior to departure, but sometimes I’ve gotten there only 75 min prior. But the check in positions for your flight will open 2 hours prior to departure, at first with only one agent (therefore the line will move very slowly), then as the departure time approaches more agents will show up, and after they are done talking to their boyfriend, putting on the make up, and booting up the computers, those additional agents will finally start working too, and after that the check in line will go very quickly. The lines at security are, in my experience, very short.

Last October my Airbnb hostess recommended booking a cab in advance in case all were busy.
Maybe not likely at 4 am.
A taxi will get you there in 15 minutes tops.
I ended up taking a bus and a tram as my flight was later.
I would get there by 5:15 at the latest.
As Roberto said, the agents don’t go out of their way to be speedy at that time of day!

. At that time you can call before going and a taxi will show up with in 5 minute or so. Or you can book in advance. Depending on where your Airbnb is located the taxi journey will be between 15 and 25 minutes. Generally I try to be at the Florence airport at least 90 minutes or so prior to departure, but sometimes I’ve gotten there only 75 min prior. But the check in positions for your flight will open 2 hours prior to departure, at first with only one agent (therefore the line will move very slowly), then as the departure time approaches more agents will show up, and after they are done talking to their boyfriend, putting on the make up, and booting up the computers, those additional agents will finally start working too, and after that the check in line will go very quickly. The lines at security are, in my experience, very short.

Thanks so much for your straight talk there. It’s a really small airport, which actually is a nice thing! Getting there too early seems pretty counterproductive. If the flight is 6:45 am, that would mean getting there at least by 5:15 am, or leaving Centro Storico by 4:50 am.

The big question is whether I will make my Paris Seattle connection with only 90 minutes to change planes.

I hear CDG is supposed to be tough for connections but with 90 minutes and no immigration processing I’d think you’ll be okay. Or, you could start planning for a bonus night in Paris! :-)

Good luck!

I can guarantee you that unless your FLR-CDG flight is badly delayed Air France will make a great effort to make sure you board your flight to the US. They don't like to pay for your hotel and food for an extra night.

In some occasions, my flight from FLR was a bit late and even docked on the tarmac away from the terminal. Air France employees showed up on the plane as soon as the door was open and asked if anybody was going to San Francisco. There were maybe a handful of us. They put us on a small van and drove us at full speed through the runways all the way to the terminal where our SFO bound flight was leaving from, they told us to go upstairs, go through the passport control the security and to the gate. We made it in minutes.

I had a flight from Florence to Paris/Orly last fall and when we got there two hours before the flight the line consisted of all flights for our airline and was over 100 people long. I would definitely get there two hours ahead and book a cab the night before. I had thought 'small airport, early flight, we have boarding passes surely it will be nothing much but someone on line warned me it was not so, so we got there two hours ahead for our 7 am flight and I was grateful that I had. There was no luggage drop separate from check in and everyone going everywhere was in the same line. They were pulling people with earlier flights and pulling them to the head of the line -- but I'd still not chance it.