zooey1118

my departing flight out of pisa airport leaves at 6:45 a.m. and i just found out that the car rental does not open until 6 a.m. and does not have a drop box (which they only JUST informed me of when i decided to make a change on my existing reservation from an economy to a compact car today).

on autoeurope's site, btw, it says that there is a drop-box, but an email from someone at the company today said that they do not.

pisa's airport looks quite small on the map, but is it really possible to be able to drop off my rental car at 6 a.m. and make a 6:45 flight??

(i called delta and they were not able to help me)

tuscanlifeedit

Is it possible to drop the car off the night before and get a taxi or shuttle to the airport?

zooey1118

we're driving in from near san gimignano (and we've already paid for our hotel there) that morning, so there would be no way to drop the car off the night before.

Steve_James

Hi Zooey - I think you have a problem. For a 6.45 flight they would probably start boarding at 6.15.

Even if you checked in before dropping the car you'd still have to go through security ...

I wouldn't risk it.

Steve

zooey1118

i agree - it seems crazy... but one note - the airport itself doesn't even open until 6 a.m. so i'm not sure how they can get everyone checked in and through security in 15 or even 30 minutes.

has anyone taken such an early flight out of the pisa airport?

janisj

If it were me - I'd change my last night's hotel. There is little chance you can drop off a car and make that flight. 06:00 is when the agency opens - does not mean all staff are in place, the computers fired up, or anything else. Unless I've used a drop box - every time I've returned a car in Europe it has taken at least 15-20 minutes - and sometimes nearly an hour.

lincasanova

i donīt think i would like to have to drive ( possibly with FOG) at that time of the morning. certainly leaves no margin for any type of error.

zooey1118

UPDATE: spoke with someone at autoeurope today and he assured me that as long as the airport itself is open, that there is access to a drop box because it is inside the terminal. since the airport opens at 6, there is no access to the drop box before that. so, it appears as though i will be alright. (still slightly nervous... especially with the idea of early morning fog - hadn't thought about that!)

KatGio

FYI as I remember the Pisa Airport was very compact and the rental car lots were right outside the terminal. I much preferred the Pisa airport to the Florence one which seemed kind of chaotic.