Hi all, I'll be leaving Rome for Amsterdam via FCO at 10:25 am and have arranged to be picked up by car at my hotel in the Campo de' Fiori area at 7:00 am. I figured on being at FCO by 8:00 am. My final destination is Boston. Have I allowed enough time--2'25"--for an international flight? Judging from some of the horror stories concerning FCO on this forum, I begin to think not.
Thanks for your help, Jocund

Well every airport has a "horror" story so don't think FCO is any different. I would give myself three hours at the airport just so I wouldn't be tense.

Hi J,

I would leave 3 hr.

On a recent domestic flight out of ATL, I called for a limo to get us there at 09:15 for an 11:00 flight.

The dispatcher said that I was getting there much too early. TSA website said that wait time on a Sunday would be 10 min.

So I changed our departure time.

Arrived at ATL at 09:45. Arrived sweaty and out of breath at the departure gate at 10:57. Fortunately, they held the plane for 3 other passengers who had been held in the security lines.

Moral: It is better to stand around an airport for 0:30 hr than to miss a plane.

I agree with the 3-hour leeway for an international flight.

But the OP is flying to Amsterdam. Would that make a difference? (I'm facing the same question next spring.)

A couple of weeks ago we flew from Rome to Paris and then on to Atlanta. I allowed a little over two hours from arrival at FCO to departure and as it happened we had over an hour to wait.

I think you'll be fine unless there are some unusual circumstances on the day you leave.

Do you think it was the intra-Europe flight that made the difference?

Wow - 3 hour leeway. This sheds new light on my 5:50a.m. departure from FCO to DTW via Amsterdam on Nov. 18!!

That early the counters won't be open 3 hours before but there will be a line of people forming.

The trip to FCO at that hour should be very quick, perhaps 30 minutes. It's the unknown craziness at FCO that often causes delays and nervousness.

So if you had a flight that early from there, how early would you plan to arrive?

We flew from FCO to Toronto earlier this month. Our flight was at 12:30 ish. We arrived at the airport shortly after 9:00 and were glad. It was a long experience to get to the gate. The line up for our Air Canada flight was huge and slow. Compounded by the fact that one agent was alternating between checking in people for our flight and for the Lufthansa flight to Germany next to us. We probably waited in line for an hour just to get boarding passes.

Our wait was compounded by the procedure to claim back the VAT (visitors tax). In order to get the magic "stamp" you must present your receipts, passport, luggage (so that they can examine the goods if they need to) and boarding card. So we waited for an hour for our boarding cards, then lugged all of our luggage to the tax refund station. Luckily we were 3rd in line at this station but very shortly afterward the line behind us grew to about 15 or so other people. There were 2 agents working at the tax station - one agent petrified us as she was insisting on checking every single item that a young couple was claiming a refund on ("PRADA!" she would shriek "show me the Prada!" Then "GUCCI! Show me all the Gucci!&quot. Luckily she was still preoccupied when it became our turn and the man who helped us was very quick and expedient and we did not have to display the goods.

Then we took all of our luggage back to Air Canada. WE didn't have to wait in line again but could go straight to the front. however the conveyor belt had stopped working so they were having people just pile their luggage on the floor in front of it. We weren't comfortable with that and waited 5-10 more minutes to be sure that our luggage actually got on a moving belt.

Then we went through security. Then passport control. Then after that we got in another line to have our refund processed - we were able to move fairly quickly because we had obtained the "stamp" and followed the correct procedure. However, there were many folks causing the line to move slowly who had not followed all of the steps. We then had time to down a big beer (needed it after all of that) and a quick (terrible) hamburger (don't even ask why we chose hamburgers) and by the time we got to the gate the plane was boarding.

I honestly thought that 3 hours was sooooo much time andthat we would be sitting around the airport for hours! I have no idea how typical our experience was. Certainly the steps to claim back the tax added time to our journey through the airport. However, I would agree that it is likely best to sit around the airport with extra time than have lots of stress if you don't have enough time to jump through all of the necessary hoops!

Hi Jocund,

Last year my flight FCO-CGD-Chicago-SLC left about the same time. I had planned to arrive at FCO by 7:30, but my driver was 20 min late picking me up.

They only had TWO agents checking in people for 3 morning international flights. After standing in the check in line for an hour and still not getting to the front, agents finally started pulling passengers for our flight (which was at that point starting to board and 50 minutes from departing)to go ahead of later passengers in line.

Then I had to correct the luggage tagging that the agent did incorrectly not just once, but 3 times. Finally, she got it right!

Go early.

Thanks, everyone. I think I'll shoot for three hours early instead of two. It's great to have access to your collective experience. I'll post a trip report upon my return and offer mine. Warmest Regards, Jocund

Hi-- I flew FCO to JFK on a Delta/10:15am flight this morning. We arrived 2 hours early and despite the confusion, made it without issue.
There were, however, long lines and if I had to do it again, I'd give myself another 30 minutes just to be able to get breakfast before boarding. (Because the flight had everyone going through additional security searches at the gate, we ended up being just on time.)

Have a great trip!