Rome airport problems--share your experience please
 

Seeking tales of experiences traveling to the US but beginning in Rome FCO, hopefully to dispell my concern that what I recently experienced there is not "normal" and that I may hope for a better time on my next trip.

We returned to the US from Rome FCO on Sunday October 22. It was incredible. All persons flying to the US were prevented from going directly to their carriers for check in. Rather we were all made to go through a line initially, checked for flight/airline, etc., then sent to our carriers for check in, then put in yet another line for security. Lines were incredibly long and the whole thing took a couple of hours (it didn't help that we were too early for our flight and made to wait until the carrier started checking in for it--between the first and last lines) I noted lots of people with Carnival Cruise tags on their luggage. Thinking this was somehow a special problem due to cruise disgorgement, I asked our Delta check in person if there was some special problems that day, or if the airport was always like this. She replied the latter. Oh, woe! We have another flight through FCO on Jan. 3 and I'm already dreading it. My question: Has anyone else been through FCO recently bound for the US with similar or different experience. Is this truly the norm at FCO? Thanks for any tales you can relate to confirm of deny my worst fears.

The situation you met is not specific to Rome but to flights to the USA with the specific security rules, you will be faced with the same situation in most airports

Sounds like my embarcation experience at FCO back in Nov 2003. What about it??? "your worst fears?" My worst fear is lax security.

This has been standard procedure at Rome for a long time.

This is standard in Milan for most direct flights to the US, and I think all of those on US carriers. To avoid it, fly through some other European hub - but the same thing might happen to you there.

best regards,
Deirdré Straughan

beginningwithi.com

On a recent flight out of Brussels to the US, I was put throuogh 3 separate security checks, and the departure gate was so far away from the main terminal, I thought if I walked any further I'd be in Holland.

Milan/Malpensa also segregates passengers on flights bound for the US.

If you have any problems with this, don't vote for Republicans two weeks from now. The war has infinitely worsened the security situation for Americans abroad and at home.

First of all, I don't appreciate the above poster's silly political comment: the current more stringent aviation security policy has virtually NOTHING to do with the war on Iraq-that's just partisan political nonsense.

Julie-it's necessary to understand something here with respect to aviation security policy- THE THREAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN FROM OVERSEAS- NOT DOMESTIC. Therefore, it makes sense that more stringent security regulations and screening, which have almost ALWAYS been in effect for overseas flights inbound to the US well BEFORE 9/11 (yes, it's true!) have been greatly enhanced/accelerated, due almost specifically at THIS point to the British bomb plot, which was a pervasive plot to bomb American air carriers inbound to the US, the true dimensions of which have not been publicly released, as well as other threats to aviation security that are not necessarily made known to the traveling public-the recent change in EU security rules reflects USG policy-EU has to fall in line behind the USG's regulations on aviation security policy- the ban on liquids and gels has remained for US flights-US flights leaving the UK have been under more stringent security policy than British flights even. Non US flights not transiting US/UK have not been under these restrictions.

But the threat situation for European carriers has changed-now-ALL EU member states must enact the carry-on restrictions re liquids and gels as per the directive.

If you know anything about the so-called "no-fly" list, you know that has been in effect in the US for years, the EU was, at one time, at odds with the provision that data on European pax had to be given to the USG prior to the flight. Now, the EU has fallen in line, and that information is now provided to the USG without objection (remember it always WAS provided to the US-under objection-or else the European carrier did not fly to this country).

A roundabout way of saying that what you experienced at FCO is similar to what other pax are experiencing at other European airports on flights inbound to the US-Brussels being probably the most stringent now, as it is perceived to be at a greater risk of attack. And there is no way to "avoid" this by flying out of some other airport-ALL airports are enacting these stringent security measures.

Understand, the USG is far stricter, far more pervasive and really, has always been ahead of the rest of the world on aviation security policy because of our sad history of American aircraft bombings, starting from the mid-80's, then 1989, with Lockerbie -where a bomb was placed in a suitcase in the cargo hold of a Pan Am jet at Heathrow Airport-and continuing through to the 9/11 attacks.

HI JV,

Except that the sad story goes back to the 1970's, I agree with GST.

See http://tinyurl.com/ybz4ux and http://tinyurl.com/yav2um

You are going to have to put up with long lines no matter which airport you use.

((I))

We were at FCO in July to catch an Air France flight to Paris. The lines at the ticket counter were HUGE. We finally found the business class check in (which was shorter) and tried to check in. However, they were not checking in that flight yet so we were unable to get up to the Air France lounge. We went to Alitalia and changed our tickets (no charge) and went through security to the lounge.

Ditto GST....... The political remark was stupid, but that just goes to show.......

We flew home on October 3rd from FCO with no problems at all... The first line was a bit long, but aren't all airports at some time or another?

On 7/7, 2006, Zawahiri released the final tape of Shehzad Tanweer: Tanweer said,

"What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a string of attacks that will continue and become stronger." . . . Tanweer says in a Yorkshire accent on the film that attacks will continue "until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq".

http://www.juancole.com/2006/08/stri...-continue.html

Thanks for the replies. Not exactly what I was hoping to hear, but helpful. We flew out of CDG in September with nowhere near the problems we experienced in Rome in October. Guess we'd best just get used to things getting worse and worse. Perhaps Rome is just more disorganized which adds to the effect overall. At any rate, thanks for the responses.

I don't know if you folks will appreciate this comment but . . . El Al has always had the most stringent security regulations in the world. It is standard practice from anywhere in the world for them to provide an pre-check in security line before you can get to the carrier's own check in line.

With time the procedure has been improved, the kinks smoothed out, but the security remains.

From what I read here it appears to me that the rest of the world - with the USA leading - is now implementing what has been SOP for El Al for many years now.

This is the last remark on the political issue from me....... If I believed everything written by the biased media, we'd be in really big trouble..........

yes elal has been strict for a long time and the others are left in the dust.

Julie it sounds like you had hit the airport when tours from gigantic ships were just there too, not such good luck but can happen at any airport.

Be calm.

I don;t know what you're fearful about. While it is fairly irritating, this is the cost of security. I have gone through a variety of procedures - almost all time-consuming, which seem to vary by country and airport.

(One time taking off from Lisbon all passengers on flights to the US had to go through 3 separate security checks. We were then finally bussed to a plane at the far outskirts of the airport, with the bus being surrounded by army personnel carriers with machine guns. The plane too was completely surrounded by soldiers with machine guns - and we had to go through a final security check as we started walking up the stairs to the plane.)

But - better a little wasted time and irritaiton than blown to smithereens.

Girlspytravel, thank you. I agree with you.

Wow.We just returned from FCO October 18th and had no problem at all. We actually commented that the lines were not as bad as 2 years ago. We flew Continental to Newark and then onm to Houston.

What's silly is to imagine you can go on endlessly punching people in the face and none of them will punch you back.

It's pretty obvious to most people that US and British policy in Iraq has radicalized a lot more people who become motiviated to commit "payback" in the form of terror against notable, telegenic American and British targets.

Why deny it? The OP asked about a political situation. An answer explaining the current politics is in order.

Hard to believe there is anybody who supports the Iraq war anymore, or who refuses to hold Republicans accountable.

Ness, Please give it a break. Okay, we now know that you will not be voting for any Republicans. Good for you.

I come here to read about traveling adventures not to be lectured. There is enough blame to go around.

Now, to a more important issue. Anybody been to Italy lately?

ness probably can't even vote, but I would like to ask him who the terrorists would like you to vote for.

I read a recent post concerning Alitalia refusing to let you bring wine back from Italy in your checked baggage. This is a big concern for me. Since airlines have instituted the no-carry-on liquids policy, I've put wine in styrofoam cartons and in my checked baggage.

I'll be going to Italy next May and plan to bring back 2 cases of wine in my checked baggage, but I will be flying Continental, in/out of Zurich. I too will be anxious to hear new airline security measures in Italy/Europe. ((b))

I am not so sure what your reference was to the Carnival Tags, as i myself had them on my suitcases on Oct.10th.Cruise passengers typically will go through some airport of somesort!
We arrived at the airport at 8:am for a 1pm. flight. We were told we cannot get in line for our Air France flight untill 10:30am. We got in line at 10:20 am only to barely catch our 1pm flight!
Here was the problem as i saw it.The line was not that long to begin with.They are understaffed and the staff itself seemed to not be in any major hurry besides.They move slow.Passengers are not prepared when they reach the ticket agent. I saw more people shifting their stuff around from one suitcase to the next because they were overweight in one but not the other.This was taking place at the ticket counter.Passengers need to be completly ready with everything they need in their hands, not rifling through bags looking for there identification, tickets etc.
The second problem was, for the people late standing in line, ( the line was getting longer the longer we stood in this now slow moving line) if they had the 12:15 flight, they were taken first above and beyond the 1pm people. So because they arrived late, they were taken first.
As it stood, we were late out of Rome, It was crazy in Paris but the agents took us Atlanta bound passengers in a van, through a private security only for the Paris flight to end up being late. Missed our connecting by 5 mins!! but our luggage did go ahead to Charlotte. Delta put us up for the night and ended up home safe and sound the next morning:)

Ness:
<i>Hard to believe there is anybody ...who refuses to hold Republicans accountable. </i>

Most people assign accountability to the terrorist thugs. It amazes me how we never hear some people denounce the ones who actually encourage and carry out atrocities, whatever their &quot;cause&quot;.


<i>What's silly is to imagine you can go on endlessly punching people in the face and none of them will punch you back.</i>

This argument might have made sense if there hadn't been so many attacks prior to and including 9/11. The U.S. took a lot of &quot;punches&quot; before striking back.

One more thing. Are you suggesting that, if the election goes your way, the Congress will loosen security checks on inbound flights? If so, I'd like to know that before I vote!

cafegoddess,

People come here to discuss all sorts of things affecting travel, and how to make it more pleasant.

Don't people who travel follow the news? They should. I just did a Google search for &quot;Iraq war increased terror, and the first item to top the list was this:

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: September 24, 2006, New York Times
A stark assessment has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The substance of that article was in most newspapers and TV news shows:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A classified intelligence report concludes that the Iraq war has worsened the terrorist threat to the United States, U.S. officials told CNN Sunday.

Some intelligence officials have said as much in the past, but the newly revealed document is the first formal report on global trends in terrorism by the National Intelligence Estimate, which is put out by the National Intelligence Council.

Like I said, I can't believe people want more of the same: increased terror. That's what you'll get if you return the same people to Congress to rubber stamp what the Bush Administration does.

Budman,

Close to your flight, you shuold check with your airline if you can bring liquids on the plane.

<i>Don't people who travel follow the news? </i>

No! We're all clueless twits who wouldn't know a thing if it weren't for condescending elitists telling us how to read the &quot;news&quot;!

Give it a rest. Your position is perfectly clear.

If at all possible, try to book the
earliest morning flight possible even
if it disrupts/changes your last night
in Europe plans.

We flew out of Malpensa on a 7:55 a.m.
flight that necessitated us staying in
a less than desirable hotel near the
airport BUT the line-ups were manageable
and the staff unfazed so boarding was a
relatively pleasant experience.

Ness, the sources that you quote aren't bias? NYT and CNN are doing everything in their power to embolden the terrorist to ensure we lose the war on terror solely because of their pure hatred of George W. Bush. They should be held accountable for their treason!!!

I spent a week in Switzerland, and the only English TV news outlet was CNN International. It was God Awful!!! Then this past October on a cruise to Bermuda, CNN was the only news outlet on the ship. It was one week of nothing but Bush Bashing. No alternatives, no ideas, just Bush bash. One of the other passengers on the ship said he couldn't wait to get back to the States so he would watch something other than the Communist News Network (CNN).

And you wonder why Europeans don't like us -- they are spoon fed by the liberal news media of nothing but negative propaganda.

Until people band together to send these Islamic Fascists to greet their 72 virgins, this problem will continue. ((b))

Good grief, Budman. The report was done by the BUSH administration, not the NY Times and CNN!

I think most people would like to see their government taking actions to *decrease* terrorism, not *increase* it.

Europeans don't dislike us. They dislike the Bush Administration. They aren't watching CNN international. They are watching how it behaves.

But speaking of Switzerland, try looking at it this way:

What if a poster came onto Fodor's and put up a post saying &quot;Swiss mountain trail closures? Share your experence please&quot; -- and then went on to relate how upset they were that so many hiking trails and peaks were closed to tourists because of slippage and sliding and the resultant danger. If they whined &quot;Is this going to keep happening next year too?&quot; then wouldn't you expect SOMEBDOY to inform this poster that warmer global temperatures are causing the ice masses in the Alps to give way, and unless people act to stop it, well, YES, it's going to keep happening next year, and the next, etc.

Reelecting the oil industry's puppets is is a stupid idea if you didn't like the effects of global warming, no? It's also a stupid idea if you don't like increased security risks in the air.

Ness, <b>WRONG AGAIN.</b> It was a bipartisan report that was classified and not to be released. It was &quot;cherry picked&quot; and released in a &quot;partisan&quot; way, not really telling the whole story. I'm surprised that the person who leaked the classified information is not in jail -- the investigation is ongoing.

Now I understand where you are getting your news.

Your premise that we are increasing terrorists by killing terrorists is completely false and unfounded. The report was declassified so the &quot;whole story&quot; could be told. Read the entire report, not just the &quot;cherry picked&quot; portions. ((b))

Oh, and the second part of your post -- global warming. I don't buy it. ((b))

Budman,

We had the same experience with not being able to get any thing on the TV except CNN, and they played the same biased news over and over again, day after day.....

I'm &quot;ditto&quot;ing you again and again. The only people responsible for the terrorists attacks, are the terrorists.... Period...........
And I for one am not going to let them keep me from traveling and living my life to the fullest....

bblount,

CNN is the American version of Al Jazeera, especially after showing the latest terrorist video of a sniper killing one of our soldiers. I consider them an agent for terrorists.

I've requested a laptop for my birthday so when I travel to Europe again, I can get my news on line.

Ness, your statement &quot;Reelecting the oil industry's puppets&quot; only goes to show you are spouting &quot;talking points&quot; and you really need to get a better command of the issues. ((b))

I do my best to avoid TV news. I usually succeed, too.

FCO was a dreadful experience. I showed up 2.5 hours early and needed every minute of it. The line to check in was awful.

two cases? OMG! that's amazing.

For anyone who cares about the issue of the post, we recently flew KLM to Istanbul through AMS and had none of the major problems we experienced in Rome. I think the answers that suggest what we experienced there is universal are wrong, but I am still concerned about going back through FCO after New Years. My plan is just to avoid FCO in the future if we have the same problems in January that we had in October.

We flew out of FCO this year Oct. 11 and I actually thought it was better than the last few times I had gone thru there over the past 8 years. For one thing it was much more orderly! in the past the &quot;lines&quot; have been a free for all, this time it was more controlled. I guess we did have to go thru three lines tho - one at the entry to the Delta area, one at the ticket counter and then on to the gate area. We flew out on a Delta flight leaving about noon - I think we got to the airport about 2 hrs before flight. We have medallion status so that helped alot in moving thru at least the first two lines. I had told the other couple we were travelling with what a mess the airport would be and it turned out to be much better than I expected - maybe we jsut hit it on a good day!

Hi Julie;
The Italy Forum is really something isn't it!!! Anyway, we flew out of FCO on October 26, 2006 and did not have to get into a pre-line before going to our carrier or so it seemed. I say that because even though we arrived 2 hours in advance they told us that we were late! We were asked some questions by some sort of Italian airport authority person but it was directly in front of the carrier and not a seperate area. By the time, we made it on the plane almost everyone was seated and it looked like they'd been there for awhile.

What did we do wrong? Well, next time I would get there 3 hours in advance so there's time for some shopping! Two hours in advance didn't give me a minute to spare. We had to go to customs to get our VAT forms stamped and then to the different VAT companies. There was so much misinformation with regards to that as well. No one ever wanted to look at the merchandise. But that's another subject.

I will say this: In 1972 when flying out of Rome it was awful and chaotic and in 1986 when flying out of Milan, the same. I don't know if it's any worse than ever before flying out of Italy. I find all of the airports worldwide very testy and weird, anymore. Our experience when we flew into Chicago from Rome, this time, was worse than anything foreign. And that, too, is another story! I have more horror stories from CDG and the Air France people then anything Italian as well. If you can have a more peaceful experience flying through another airport then do so because I think that flying out of Italy is generally problematic.

Jane

Just a quick note to say that we flew through FCO again on January 3 returning from a holiday trip to Florece and Rome. A completely different experience from the one we had in October. No problems. Easy security. Little wait. Night and Day difference. I just have to think that there was something major when we first flew through there. For sure there was cruise traffic. Perhaps there was some special security alert as well. At any rate, if my experience in January is a better indicator, I'd say FCO is no worse than other airports for waits and may indeed be better.