We have a 6:00 am flight out to the US from Rome. What time should a cab pick us up? As of now our hotel is about 5 minutes from the Termini train station.

Assuming the airport is FCO? I would allow 30 minutes to the airport and 2 hours before your flight.

Also, factor in the train departure time. If your couple of minutes late, you have to wait another 30 minutes for the next one.

Sorry for my last post. The side bar cut out the "cab" word.

I would take the train from the airport to downtown Rome ! It is faster and much MUC MUCH cheaper !
Traffic jam might become a real disaster towards Rome !

ooops sorry you fly out of Rome !
I would pick up a taxi at 03:30, as sandi travelnut suggests

If you left your hotel at 3:30 am, you will be at FCO by 3:50. Nothing will be open, not even the ticket counter for your flight. That probably won't open until 4:30 or even 5 am for a 6 am departure. If you feel better about getting to the airport early, leave at 4:15.

Well, maybe it's a terminal case of nerves or my pathetic adherence to instructions, but if the airline tells me to be at the airport two hours before my flight, I'm going to be at the airport two hours before my flight. Even if the airline check-in desk isn't open yet.

I was at FCO at 4:45 am for a 7am flight. Even though the ticket counter was closed until about 6:00am there was a very long queue growing. I would get there and get your place in line when you should.

Hi sylviam, I agree with sandi. I go through this at the airport in Venice. The airline counters don't open up two hours before the real early morning flights but the passengers sure start lining up. Well not exactly "lining up", it is Italy after all, but they are there waiting for the counter to open up. I always prefer to be there when I am suppose to and consequently get checked in. One can than relax, go have coffee, go through security etc.

better is to have your seats blocked in advance by the airline or your travel agent so even if you come a bit later on queue you will get your preferred seats. It is called ASR, advanced seat reservation.

For sure it is not possible that all of more than 200 or 300 passengers check in at the same time 2 hours before flight departure. When the check-in counter open then some passengers will be still checking-in also 1 hour before flight departure so at the end it makes not much difference to be at the counter 1 hour or 2 hours in advance !! They will not leave you on ground !!

Sandi_travelnut: Yes the airport is FCO. Has anyone taken a reserved shuttle before? I know our hotel can book a car but it is 60 euro.

Fabio Our tickets are booked on line and I can't even get seat assignments until 90 days before the flight which is coming up on the 12th. I assume this is what you mean by ASR or are you speaking of something else.

Is it just 2 of you? If so, just pre-arrange for your hotel to call a cab. It might be cheaper. There were five of us with lots of luggage coming from the Piazza Navona area and requested the hotel to send the largest taxi they could find. A van arrived on time and only charged us 60e for all of us.

We used Limoservicerome.com to drop us off at the airport from our hotel. We paid $45 euro for two people but I think the price can include up to three people. It's listed on their webpage.

I, too, would leave early for the airport. We had a 10am flight and left Rome at 7:15am. I'm glad we did because there was some confusion when we tried to check in (they didn't have a reservation for me) which took some time to resolve.

we always have used Limoservice rome and have never been more than satisfied.Last trip in early morning we were at the airport in 25 minutes! But allow lots of time for check-in..FCO can be a horror!

sylviam

yes I ment advance seat assignment.
The only reason I see to be there 2 hours in advance, despite security measures, is to get better seats, but once you get your preferred seats assigned 90 days in advance you might also arrive at the counter line also a bit later, I mean 1:30 hour or 1 hour before your flight. Not all passengers will chec-in 2 hours before at the same time so it makes no sense to be all there 2 hours before !
That recommendation of all airlines to be there 2 hours in advance is to avoid that all passengers come later and too close to flight departure which would then be delayed ! But be sure that they start at 04:00 but will still check passengers in also at 05:00 !

I second or third the limoservice recommendation. Our driver spoke broken english, but it was a nice car and nice ride both to and from the airport.

At that time of day there is NO traffic at all on the streets. There were 6 of us in a cab for a 6 am flight and the ab hit about 160 kmh on th way. My knuckles were white. We made id in about 20 min. and I am not kidding. I think that the guy wanted o get back to sleep. Where are you staying near termini? We stay at he Hotel Des Artistes.

From FCO, at 4 pm - on Christmas day, no traffic to Via Veneto: 40 minutes.

jay hit on something that's bothered me - cabs driving very, very fast to and from airports. We've experienced this in U.S. cities as well as in European cities. The older I get (I'm 49), the more uncomfortable I've become with the speed in which they drive. Frankly, I don't feel safe. Has anyone ever felt unsafe and spoken up? How should I handle my discomfort? I welcome your thoughts...