egrizz423

Hi all,

I am coming into Rome in mid January and was wondering how long a typical wait time was getting off the plane, going through passport control and getting our bags. I'm mainly concerned with the passport control, well January be a slow period (if its ever slow). If someone can give some insight on how long it should take that would be great.

Also I will be flying out of Rome to go to Monaco, how early should I get to the airport to make sure I get through security in time for the flight at 11am or so??

Thanks!

sarge56

Well, that will probably change somewhat on day and time of day. But I've come in before on a weekday, early morning and waited no longer than an hour for both, and that was mostly waiting on my luggage.

It shouldn't take too long. But I was coming from the US. If you are coming in from somewhere else, I cannot vouch for how long that would take..

Buon viaggio!

egrizz423

I am coming from US. Hopefully it doesnt take too long!

nytraveler

Can vary a lot day by day. But I wouldn;t think that Immigration is necessarily the biggest issue, although if a bunch of non-EU planes land at once the lines can get long.

Waiting for luggage can easily be the biggest hurdle. We have waited an hour or more a couple of times - landing in the early am when most flights from the US come in.

greg

You are concerned about the passport control, but in my experience at FCO, luggage retrieval limited how quickly we could leave the airport. I am happy if I can get my luggage in 40 minutes after the plane opens the door. Sometimes, it took about an hour.

However, are you looking at relevant parts of whatever are your concerns leading to this post? If you need to hit a certain time slot after arrival, there might you other areas you have not thought out as more critical major time sinks.

bvlenci

I've sometimes encountered very long queues at Fiumicino immigration, and sometimes no queue at all. When there were long waits, I got the feeling that staffing problems were the main issue. Once was just after a holiday, and maybe there were some of those back-to-work influenzas.

If you have a long wait at immigration, it will make the wait for your bag shorter!

Monaco is in the Schengen area, so two hours should be plenty of time. Some airlines recommend an hour and a half, but I allow lots of time for the unforeseen.

bilboburgler

don't worry about passport control etc, whatever happens you will still have to wait for your bags.

HappyTrvlr

Passport control: it depends on how many other international flights are arriving at same time as your flight.
Baggage:We carry on and get tp passport control before most of our flight's other passengers. If you are on a tight schedule this is recommended.

egrizz423

Thanks for the info everyone. By Passport control I mean the line where they stamp your passport. In the Dominican Republic I waited for 3 hours to just get my passport stamped. As far as luggage what makes it take so long?

Also how is the airports in Barcelona? I will be traveling their as well to fly back to the US.

thanks!

bvlenci

You'd never have to wait three hours in Rome. The longest <i> I've</i> had to wait was about twenty minutes.

Bags have always been a little slow to arrive at Fiumicino, but there was a big fire in Terminal 3 this year, where the international arrivals hall is. That has made matters worse. Still, I've never waited an hour there, not even counting the wait for passport control.

ekc

As a non-EU citizen, I have waited for up to an hour to get through Passport Control. I carry-on so have no issue with waiting for luggage. Just an FYI, the restrooms in the baggage area of FCO were recently renovated and are nice and clean (for now).