Terminal 5 Rome airport question

Forget number 4; flying first you need 3 hours or less.

Depending on when your flight is... American does not open more than 3 hours in advance for the 11:30 flight. This has been my experience 2x this year and once last year.

1. ok. Make sure you tell the taxi you want T5.
2. Two hours prior to departure are sufficient. Two and a half will give you plenty of time to spare. Three hours ahead for the worry freaks. More than that, and it won't even be open for check-in.
3. First you check in, then go through security (metal detector). Once you are on the sterile area (after going through metal detector), there will be a bus on the airside of T5 which will bus you to T3, where the actual airplanes dock (T5 is just a hangar for processing check in and security for US airlines and Israeli airlines). Once the bus drops you off on the airside of T3, enter inside the T3 and look for your flight. It probably departs from area G of T3, which can be reached via people mover. There are no customs to go through until you land in the USA, both T3 and T5 are in Italy, you don't cross borders.
4. see above.

Our flight is 11:20 and my wife gets really paranoid about missing the flight. She believes in the get there early and wait theory. That's why we were leaving so early. We were leaving from by the Pantheon at 7 to get to the airport. Supposedly takes about 35-40 minutes. We heard so many people on this forum talking about giving themselves 3 hours and still almost missing their flight. So maybe if we leave at 7:30, and walk into T5 at around 8:15 that will work. The American Airlines desk will open up a few minutes later then we'll have about 3 hours from that time. We may just get through and still have an hour or two at T3 but that's okay. At least that will make the wife happy.

When you fly first or business class, you will have a separate line for checkin, so make sure you take advantage of your flight class. Four hours at the airport is overkill, three is sufficient. (Your hotel can arrange for the taxi or car service in the night before.) There is some food and some shopping once you're near your departure gate, but it's somewhat limited compared to the other terminals. The usual duty free megastore is there, also a cute shop for trendy fun silly little things like metal miniature Vespas.. backpacks, kids and young teens fun stuff.

Be sure to look up at the catwalk inside T5. You'll know why when you're there.

When flying first class (or business class) on American, you'll be able to take advantage of 3 shorter lines at Terminal 5. When you first enter the terminal, there's a separate line for the initial screening and that line is usually very short. There's also a separate line in the next area where you check bags or get seating assignments (and check in if you didn't check in online). Finally, there's a separate line for the full security screening, although sometimes it's not a lot faster than the regular line which has more screening stations. After that, you go through customs (very quick) and then board the shuttle bus to T3. I don't think you'll need 4 hours, but you'll have access to the lounge area and that's a nice place to wait. Do keep an eye on flight status while you're in the lounge, as they're sometimes not timely in announcing the start of boarding. I'd suggest leaving the lounge 5-10 minutes before the scheduled boarding time unless the monitor shows a delay. One last thought, I don't recall there being much seating at Terminal 5 if you have to wait for the initial screening line to open.