Say you're arriving on United Airlines 42 at 8:10 am on a weekday, you pick up your bags, go through customs and walk to the Leonardo Express terminal, buy a ticket and ride to Roma Termini. If everything went smoothly, what time would you think you might get to Roma Termini. I've done this a couple times before, but can't recall how long it took.

I don't think this is something you can accurately predict.

Your flight could be delayed, the immigration can took longer than last time if there are too many passengers and few border police, your suitcase may be the last to arrive on the carousel and sometimes it all comes together.

Instead of asking us to look into a crystal ball you should tell us what are your plans.

I presume you want to take a train somewhere directly after arriving to Rome. Where is that? Knowing this we may be able to figure out what could be your best option.

The train journey is 32 minutes. That's the only thing you can know for sure.

If you are thinking of buying tickets in advance for onward travel, I wouldn't unless you add lots of time between trains to accommodate any of a number of possible delays as BDKR mentioned.

If you're meeting up with an apartment manager, etc., I would tell him/her when your plane is scheduled to land and then call as you're boarding the Leonardo Express train. That would give the person 40 minutes or more to reach the meeting point.

I agree with Jean. I also suggest that you give th person who is meeting you the flight number, so they can see if the flight has been greatly delayed.

I once arrived at Termini station in about 45 minutes from the touchdown of my flight. There was no queue at immigration, my suitcase was already on the baggage carousel when I got there, and I arrived at the airport train station just in time to catch a departing Leonardo Express, which didn't experience any delays en route to Rome. This is rare good fortune.

I've done it in just under an hour (no checked luggage to collect and was younger and faster), and I've done it in just under 3. There's really no way to tell - the only invariable being that the Leonardo takes just a bit more than a half hour. To play it safe, though, I'd probably allow 3 hours if you're catching a train to elsewhere, but then I really have no issues with hanging around train stations if I get there earlier than expected.

I always buy my train tickets when I arrive at the airport train station. Some tickets cost more if bought on the day of travel, but this avoids two unpleasant possibilities:

• Your flight is greatly delayed and you miss your train, even though you allowed a cushion of several hours.
• Your flight arrives early (which flights from the US often so, because they pad the flight time). You end up sitting around for hours in an exhausted state waiting for the train whose tickets you bought.

If you want to buy the tickets in spite of this, I suggest you buy the Leonardo Express tickets separately from the tickets from Termini to your final destination. If your flight is supposed to arrive at 9 AM, get a ticket for a train leaving around that time. These tickets can be used onn any Leonardo Express train in a three-hour window starting at the departure time of the train you've selected. If your flight is early, you won't have long to wait around the airport, and if it's late, the tickets are still good for several more hours. The high-speed train tickets are for a specific train, with no window of opportunity.

Once my daughter bought a ticket to my home which departed from Termini about 4 hours after her flight was scheduled to arrive. (Trains on that line are very infrequent.) She also bought a Leonardo Express ticket at the same time. They scheduled her for a Leonardo Express which left the airport 45 minutes before the other train left Termini. So she got to the airport train station, which is a tiny affair like a metro station, four hours before the time on her Leonardo Express ticket, and they wouldn't let her use it on any earlier train, just on later trains. Their website also won't let you request an earlier Leonardo Express train unless you buy the two tickets in separate transactions.

Termini station has lots of shops at the track level, and a very nice food court on the upper level, with ample seating. Instead of enjoying some ice cream or pizza comfortably seated in the food court, she was forced to sit on her suitcase at the airport for three hours.

she was forced to sit on her suitcase at the airport for three hours.

I don't follow. How much does the Leonardo Express cost if you just walk up and buy a ticket? 14 euros?
What's the advantage of buying that ticket in advance only to have to sit on your suitcase for 3hrs?
Was she forbidden to spend another 14 euros & hop on a train/