T5 at FCO Rome

Yes, I returned from Rome last October through Terminal 5. Yes, the airport is open at 06:30 (they open at 04:30 officially). If your airline is telling you to be there 3 hours early, be there.

I did not check luggage, still took an hour to check in and clear the multiple security checks in Terminal 5. Then you get bused back to Terminal 3 to get on your plane. It takes time. Good news is there are multiple options for food and drinks while waiting.

Understand that T-5 is not a true terminal with arriving and departing flights. It is a processing terminal for direct flights to the US and, I think, just Israel. Are you sure you have a direct (non-stop) flight to the US and not a connecting flight in Europe first? 9.40 is on the early side for non-stop flights. If you don't come by taxi, there is a shuttle bus pick up point (well marked) outside of the main terminal entrance on the left to T-5. You are bused there, do check-in, luggage check and security. You are bused back to terminal 3 for your departure but since you are now behind security so you go directly to the departure area. I would plan on three hour although at that time of day it should not be that busy since most non-stop flight leave closer to noon and early afternoon. If pressed you could reduce it by 30 minutes or so.

Frankie,
We went through Terminal 5 on May 25. Got there at 8:45 am and began the journey.

Passport was checked outside terminal, first stop inside, after a bit of a line wait, was to discuss your entire trip to an airline person. they also checked your passport. They gave you a clear plastic bag for your electronics and you then proceeded to check in with your airline. We checked our carry-ons (why not - we deserved it). Then on to everybody's favorite...the main security check - dump everything in bins, X-ray, the whole deal. After passing through all that you go into the next room and do passport control.

Finally---they put you on a bus to, I believe, Terminal 3 to wait for your flight. The entire process took less than an hour, but it was not crowded at the time we went through.

So we ended up waiting around 2 hours for our flight. Find a comfy chair someplace close to your gate.
Enjoy,
Gene

Frankie - Gene describes it well. It's kind of a gauntlet. We had a really long conversation, discussing our trip, the highlights of living in Seattle, what kind of work I do, what kind of books I like to read...with a security person. We were really early for our flight and had no waiting...but if you got there pressed for time and had to wait while a security person elicits the life story of everyone in line, you could be there awhile.

Thank you everyone for your quick and informative replies.

Yes, we do have a direct, non-stop flight out of Rome to NYC. It is AA's first flight of the day at 9:40 AM.

The T5 experience sounds quite interesting, long, and involved! Chatty security people? Not like here in the states!

We'll get there using a cab from Rome and will be there early, I don't mind sitting at the gate.

Apparently, I didn't "chat" good enough because I got sent to the "special" security screening in a private room. The questioner there just could not understand how I had spent nearly a month in Italy with only a single carry on bag and had no other luggage to check. I showed him my Rick Steves book and explained the RS philosophy of traveling light. He was not impressed. Everyone was polite, I was not strip searched or anything like that, and this only added about 15 minutes to the entire process. And then again right before boarding I was searched once again because they marked my boarding pass to alert them I was questionable for whatever reason.

Come on, Mark, that is a good story for this site but a little hard to swallow. We have come home from Rome four times and never had anything close to that. If you were getting that much attention it was become of something else. We have bumped into "chatty" security personal before but it is part of the routine. Actually they are asking very specific questions and looking for variations in responses as a part of the screening process.

Mark is not telling us that his full name is Mark Al-Pakh Al-Tokbull and only had a copy of the Quran in his carry on. That probably raised the suspicion of the security staff.

Going through T5 has been fast in my experience, but you have to take the shuttle airside back to T3, where the actual gates are.

T5 is just a former warehouse which they converted to highly secure area where they house the check in and security process for the 'highly sensitive' airlines (US and Israel, and after the fire, also temporarily some other Asian airlines). If you want to know why and when they decided to separate those airlines' check in areas from the rest (first within T3 and more recently in T5) read here.

Maybe it was the huge bundle of €500 notes in my bag or the gold bars? ;-/

Just reporting what happened. I don't know why or what triggered the "special" treatment. I do admit to being a bit grouchy that morning due to the early flight causing me to miss breakfast and the rough ride to the airport. There were actually about 12 of us on the same flight, none traveling as part of the same group or with any other connection we knew of, who got the same treatment.

Everyone has been very helpful, thank you. I have another question about T5. We will need to print our boarding passes which I hope to do at our hotel but, if for some reason we are unable to do so, are there kiosks in T5 where we can print boarding passes?

We will need to print our boarding passes which I hope to do at our
hotel but, if for some reason we are unable to do so, are there kiosks
in T5 where we can print boarding passes?

Frankie, if you have a smart phone and if you can't print your boarding pass, can you check-in with your phone on the airline's app? A Bar Code will be provided. I have done this in the past and took a screenshot of the bar code in case I couldn't access the app quickly. Just a thought as a backup plan in case you can't print at your hotel.

At one of the various security-type stops we encountered in the T5 building, someone walked us over to a kiosk and stood there pressing buttons for us and boarding passes were printed on-site.

There are also check in counters where they will print the board pass for you when you check your luggage. You don't a boarding pass to get to T-5, if that is what you are asking. There is nothing mysterious about T-5, it is just like walking into any airport check-in counters. The bus drops your off, walk through the sliding glass doors, get in line or walk up to the ticket counter, check-in, drop luggage (if checking), walk pass the counters to the security check area. Typical set up. The only difference I remember is the clear plastic bag for all electronics, cameras, etc., show passport, walk through screening, walk through another set of glass doors, wait for or board shuttle bus to T-3. Your done.

Thanks Frank for the information. We do not have any luggage to check so I wasn't planning on going to the counter to get my boarding pass. I was wondering if there are machines that I could use to print my own boarding pass and then move on to security.

Yes, there are machines.

Thank you Valerie.