VirginiaBeach

We are picking up a rental car in La Spezia and will be driving thru Tuscany to Rome (FCO) on our last day of the trip. We have a flight leaving at 9.40AM next day from Fiumicino to Atlanta. Have a Marriott hotel booked near the airport. We also have to put our friends on the flight at the Terminal 1(or B) that same morning.
Avis Rental drop off doesn't open until 7.30AM. Should I drop off the car off a night before?
How long does it take to get from Terminal 3(Term B) to T5.
Is there a drop off box?

kybourbon

I would drop it the day before. Once you arrive at FCO, you have to take a shuttle bus to check-in/passport control/screening which can take a bit of time. From there you have to take another shuttle bus to T5. Most airlines have times listed on their websites for international flight check-ins or for specific airports. Typically 2-3 hours.

VirginiaBeach

So you check your bags in at T3 and then take a shuttle to T5 to go thru passport control and board?

kybourbon

No, you arrive at T3 area, but you don't go in. You catch the shuttle bus (with your luggage) outside to take you to check in. Sometimes it's very crowded and you might have to wait for the next bus. You get to a building for passport control, check in and check your luggage, etc. and then you catch another shuttle bus to T5.

If you look at these maps, page 6 shows the check in area. Look in the bottom left corner of page 6 and you will see all the airport building in blue. This check in area has a red dot on it. T5 is the building off by itself shown connecting to the others by a line (page 10 on these maps).
http://www.adr.it/c/document_library...&groupId=10157

VirginiaBeach

I think I got it. Looking at Red and Green arrows on page 6. Looks like once you are done with T5 the actual boarding terminal is Area G. That's what I was missing.
What a mess. Definitely dropping the car off a day before.
Thanks for the help!!

VirginiaBeach

Reporting back. Avis is located in the parking lot on the 4th level. There is a key drop box, so car can be dropped off at any time.

charnees

Virginia, there are several parking lots, so be sure you know where yours is! We had a hard time finding ours. It's not well marked, and the only signs give you little time to make any lane changes to get into the garage.

As for the Marriott, beware when you check out! We had to leave the hotel at 3:30 am and were sleepy and inattentive. They ran our bill through the credit card as dollars, not Euros, which meant that they also charged us an extra fee for currency conversion and gave us a terrible exchange rate.
this is known as dynamic currency conversion, and is not permitted. Insist on getting the bill paid in euros!!! Do not sign the bill until it is in euros,