Early flight out of Rome

[Scottee25]

I tried searching this forum for answers to my questions but nothing really seemed to apply since most posts about flights out of Rome typically related on those coming from Civitavecchia. After reading a great number of posts in this forum I am sure you'll will have plenty of good information.

 

We are planning on staying 6 nights post cruise at the Albergo del Senato. Currently our flight out of Rome is scheduled for 10AM on Sunday, May 15, 2022. It flies from Rome to Chicago so based on what I have read here, we should be at the airport 3 hours prior to the flight and it appears that the drive from our hotel to the airport is approx 30 minutes. 

 

Where my questions come into play is, it looks like we may be able to change to a different flight and get Business Class for a reasonable amount. However, that flight departs at 7am and makes a stop in Istanbul. Istanbul is technically Europe so would this flight be considered a domestic flight only requiring us to be at the airport 2 hours early? How difficult would it be to get a cab from our airport between 4-4:30AM on a Sunday morning? Is it safe to assume the roads to be relatively free of traffic that early? How about lines at the airport?

[steamboats]

Istanbul is not EU or Schengen and therefore no "domestic" flight. You need to go through passport control in Rome/Fiumicino.

 

steamboats

[Hlitner]

I am going to take a wild guess that you are talking about TurkishAir (we fly with them tomorrow) which actually has a great reputation for their Business Class.   If you are simply transiting (changing planes) through Istanbul the Turkish Government does not currently require and additional testing (other then the antigen test you need before you fly home.  

 

Getting a taxi in the middle of the night is something that should be arranged with your hotel.  Since you will be there for a few days you can have a chat with the Concierge or Front Desk about pre booking transportation and they should be able to get you a taxi or might suggest arranging a private transfer.   The only bummer about transportation that time of the night is you may well pay slightly more money for the transfer.    Getting from the center of Rome to FCO in 30 minutes would take a perfect situation of little to no traffic and this is very possible at that time of the day.  But best to figure on 45 min and I would want to be at the airport around 4am (I am anal about this kind of thing) although you will likely find that the airport is pretty quiet (at that hour) and your ticket counter (for check-in) may not even be open.  This has happened to me a few times in Europe where ticket counters do not open as early as one would expect.  But better to be early to the airport.  Besides, as DW would say, what difference does it make if you get to the airport at 4 or 4:30 or even 5!  It all sucks and you are not going to get much sleep that night.

 

Hank

[CruiserBruce]

Or you could stay the night before at the Hilton that is part of the airport. Nice hotel, and you can just walk over at whatever time in the morning. That is what we would do.

[cruisemom42]

Yes, the camp is pretty evenly divided among those who'd rather be close to the airport for an early flight vs. those who'd rather avoid the hassle of moving hotels. Count me in the latter camp.

 

Albergo del Senato can easily arrange a taxi for you at that time -- the fixed taxi fare should apply, even though you are traveling during the hours when taxis charge more by the meter. Be sure the driver knows you are aware of the fixed rate.

 

Rome Airport Taxi | Online Booking (rome-airport.info)

 

I would plan to be at the airport about 2.5 hours before.  I would venture to guess your ticket counter/check-in won't even open until 2 hours before.

 

[Scottee25]

13 hours ago, steamboats said:

Istanbul is not EU or Schengen and therefore no "domestic" flight. You need to go through passport control in Rome/Fiumicino.

 

steamboats

Thank you for the clarification! 

[Scottee25]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I am going to take a wild guess that you are talking about TurkishAir (we fly with them tomorrow) which actually has a great reputation for their Business Class.   If you are simply transiting (changing planes) through Istanbul the Turkish Government does not currently require and additional testing (other then the antigen test you need before you fly home.  

 

Getting a taxi in the middle of the night is something that should be arranged with your hotel.  Since you will be there for a few days you can have a chat with the Concierge or Front Desk about pre booking transportation and they should be able to get you a taxi or might suggest arranging a private transfer.   The only bummer about transportation that time of the night is you may well pay slightly more money for the transfer.    Getting from the center of Rome to FCO in 30 minutes would take a perfect situation of little to no traffic and this is very possible at that time of the day.  But best to figure on 45 min and I would want to be at the airport around 4am (I am anal about this kind of thing) although you will likely find that the airport is pretty quiet (at that hour) and your ticket counter (for check-in) may not even be open.  This has happened to me a few times in Europe where ticket counters do not open as early as one would expect.  But better to be early to the airport.  Besides, as DW would say, what difference does it make if you get to the airport at 4 or 4:30 or even 5!  It all sucks and you are not going to get much sleep that night.

 

Hank

 

Yes this is Turkish Air. After I saw that a Business Class flight out of Rome to Houston was pretty reasonable compared to other United family flights, my girlfriend began looking at videos of their Business Class and the Business Class Lounge in Istanbul. We have never been on Business Class on an International Flight so we wanted to give it a try 🙂

 

We have sent an email to our hotel to see about a transfer service (we will be going through our hotel for transfer from port to hotel when we first arrive) which I am sure they can offer. Otherwise, we'll let them know when we arrive (and a again the night before we leave) that we will need a taxi for around 3:30am or so. As far as sleep goes, I have no problems sleeping on the plain. My girlfriend, not so much. The flight from Istanbul to Houston has the lay flat seats. Hopefully she can get a nap in then 🙂

 

We have never flown Turkish Air before but we did download their app this morning. Are they like most other carriers where we can get our boarding pass on our phone? Also, if we get there prior to the ticket counter opening, how do we get our bags checked? Or do we simply need to wait until the ticket counter opens?

[Scottee25]

7 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Or you could stay the night before at the Hilton that is part of the airport. Nice hotel, and you can just walk over at whatever time in the morning. That is what we would do.

 

I am in cruisemom's camp 🙂 I am not a huge fan of changing hotels. We are staying in one of the Penthouse suites at Albergo del Senato so we want to get as much out of our stay as we can though I completely see your point about how staying at the airport can definitely simplify getting to the plane in the morning.

 

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Yes, the camp is pretty evenly divided among those who'd rather be close to the airport for an early flight vs. those who'd rather avoid the hassle of moving hotels. Count me in the latter camp.

 

Albergo del Senato can easily arrange a taxi for you at that time -- the fixed taxi fare should apply, even though you are traveling during the hours when taxis charge more by the meter. Be sure the driver knows you are aware of the fixed rate.

 

Rome Airport Taxi | Online Booking (rome-airport.info)

 

I would plan to be at the airport about 2.5 hours before.  I would venture to guess your ticket counter/check-in won't even open until 2 hours before.

 

 

I am definitely in your camp. Definitely want to enjoy our room as much as possible at the Albergo del Senato. Getting up 3 hours earlier isn't going to be fun but getting up at 3 or getting up at 6... is it really that big of a difference when you need to get up earlier than you want? 🙂 Our trip home on the earlier flight should definitely be a lot more comfortable and it will definitely be nicer to land in Houston at 7pm rather than 10pm when we are both working the next day.

 

Thank you for the information regarding the Rome taxis. I will definitely bookmark that page. I know that Albergo del Senato contracts with a transfer service for pickups from the port so I am assuming they do the same for airport transfers. We have sent an email to them asking them. If their service doesn't operate at those times then we'll work with them when we check in to arrange for an early morning taxi.

 

The same question I had for Hank, if ticket counter is closed when we get there, we pretty much have to wait until they open in order to check our bags, correct? We need to do all of that before going through security?

[Hlitner]

48 minutes ago, Scottee25 said:

 

Yes this is Turkish Air. After I saw that a Business Class flight out of Rome to Houston was pretty reasonable compared to other United family flights, my girlfriend began looking at videos of their Business Class and the Business Class Lounge in Istanbul. We have never been on Business Class on an International Flight so we wanted to give it a try 🙂

 

We have sent an email to our hotel to see about a transfer service (we will be going through our hotel for transfer from port to hotel when we first arrive) which I am sure they can offer. Otherwise, we'll let them know when we arrive (and a again the night before we leave) that we will need a taxi for around 3:30am or so. As far as sleep goes, I have no problems sleeping on the plain. My girlfriend, not so much. The flight from Istanbul to Houston has the lay flat seats. Hopefully she can get a nap in then 🙂

 

We have never flown Turkish Air before but we did download their app this morning. Are they like most other carriers where we can get our boarding pass on our phone? Also, if we get there prior to the ticket counter opening, how do we get our bags checked? Or do we simply need to wait until the ticket counter opens?

I do not know if we get a boarding pass via the app since it is still more then 24 hours before my flight.  As to what happens if you get to an airport before the ticket counter is open it is really a bummer for most but not too big a deal since you will be Bus Class.   Normally folks just start forming a line in front of the counter to wait for them to open but with Business you might just try to find a place to sit and wait since your line would be pretty short.  We have flown with several airlines out of Europe that do not open their counters until about 1 1/2 - 2 hours before a flight...and if you are on the first flight of the day you may need to wait.  

 

Hank

 

 

[Scottee25]

11 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I do not know if we get a boarding pass via the app since it is still more then 24 hours before my flight.  As to what happens if you get to an airport before the ticket counter is open it is really a bummer for most but not too big a deal since you will be Bus Class.   Normally folks just start forming a line in front of the counter to wait for them to open but with Business you might just try to find a place to sit and wait since your line would be pretty short.  We have flown with several airlines out of Europe that do not open their counters until about 1 1/2 - 2 hours before a flight...and if you are on the first flight of the day you may need to wait.  

 

Hank

 

 

 

If you get an opportunity after you check in to let me know if their is a boarding pass on your phone, I would really appreciate it. Though I am sure you'll be getting ready for your trip so completely understand if you cant. I may have to reach out to Turkish Air as I created an account on their app but I can't seem to properly get this flight associated with my account. I can view the booking by entering the confirmation number and and my last name so I was able to choose my seats. My girlfriend was able to to the same. However, the interface of the app is a bit different than a lot of the other airline apps I have.

[Hlitner]

22 minutes ago, Scottee25 said:

 

If you get an opportunity after you check in to let me know if their is a boarding pass on your phone, I would really appreciate it. Though I am sure you'll be getting ready for your trip so completely understand if you cant. I may have to reach out to Turkish Air as I created an account on their app but I can't seem to properly get this flight associated with my account. I can view the booking by entering the confirmation number and and my last name so I was able to choose my seats. My girlfriend was able to to the same. However, the interface of the app is a bit different than a lot of the other airline apps I have.

I will try and remember (hard at my age) to post here :).  Our first flight with that airline is from Dulles to Istanbul and we will need to interact at the ticket counter since we need to get our TSA Precheck numbers input into their system (they can only do this at check-in).  To be honest I actually prefer to have a paper boarding pass since I get tired of pulling up my "wallet" on the phone to get past TSA, the Gate, etc.  And now we have to have our Greek government QR Code, sometimes vaccine info, etc. all on the phone.   One poster on the Silverseas blog said she recently (last week) carried paper backups of everything and found it was faster getting through the folks in Athens.  As folks were fumbling with their phones trying to pull up various documents she just handed them paper and walked through.  

 

A couple of months ago we watched a similar situation when flying home through Cancun.  Everyone had their boarding passes and negative antigen test stuff on the phones.  They were stuck in line as folks were trying to switch between documents to get through the Passport check.  We had it all on our phones but also had paper backups.  We ended up using the paper and got through faster.

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Scottee25 said:

The same question I had for Hank, if ticket counter is closed when we get there, we pretty much have to wait until they open in order to check our bags, correct? We need to do all of that before going through security?

 

Every time I've flown out of FCO, I've had to wait for the counter to open to check my bag. The caveat is that I've never flown Turkish Air. It's usually Delta for me.

 

As Hank says, if you are flying Business you should have no worries time-wise. You could probably arrive closer to 2 hours (about the time your counter will probably open) and still be through easily. 

 

[bennybear]

When we last flew out of FCO business class pre Covid,  we needed the whole three hours as there was huge line for immigration passport control.   So one can never be certain.   Better to have the time,  IMO I’d stay at the Hilton Airport, then no worries. 

[Scottee25]

5 hours ago, bennybear said:

When we last flew out of FCO business class pre Covid,  we needed the whole three hours as there was huge line for immigration passport control.   So one can never be certain.   Better to have the time,  IMO I’d stay at the Hilton Airport, then no worries. 

What time of day is that? And is the line for immigration passport control after check-in at the ticketing counter for the airline? If so, based on what everyone is saying, there's a good chance the ticket counter for Turkish Air won't open until about 5AM anyways. Would the lines for immigration passport control really be that busy that time of the morning on a Sunday? I completely understand your reasoning for staying at the Hilton Airport but we fully intend to stay put at the Albergo del Senato the night before 🙂 

[Scottee25]

On 7/28/2021 at 4:55 PM, Hlitner said:

I will try and remember (hard at my age) to post here :).  Our first flight with that airline is from Dulles to Istanbul and we will need to interact at the ticket counter since we need to get our TSA Precheck numbers input into their system (they can only do this at check-in).  To be honest I actually prefer to have a paper boarding pass since I get tired of pulling up my "wallet" on the phone to get past TSA, the Gate, etc.  And now we have to have our Greek government QR Code, sometimes vaccine info, etc. all on the phone.   One poster on the Silverseas blog said she recently (last week) carried paper backups of everything and found it was faster getting through the folks in Athens.  As folks were fumbling with their phones trying to pull up various documents she just handed them paper and walked through.  

 

A couple of months ago we watched a similar situation when flying home through Cancun.  Everyone had their boarding passes and negative antigen test stuff on the phones.  They were stuck in line as folks were trying to switch between documents to get through the Passport check.  We had it all on our phones but also had paper backups.  We ended up using the paper and got through faster.

 

Hank

Can totally understand how having printouts can work better in the current environment of COVID. Not sure things will have changed by next April but time will tell. I tend to always print a lot of things out and I definitely would for any required paperwork. However, I have been very accustomed to using boarding passes on my phone. I tend to just add them to my Wallet on my iPhone and set them to show from the lock screen so I don't have to go digging for them. I'll still probably need to reach out to Turkish Air as I can't seem to find a way to associate this trip with the account I created on their site. Have plenty of time to get it worked out but I tend to be the type of person that wants to fix it now so I don't have to worry about it later 🙂

 

Hopefully you're having fun on your trip!

[Scottee25]

On 7/28/2021 at 4:55 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

Every time I've flown out of FCO, I've had to wait for the counter to open to check my bag. The caveat is that I've never flown Turkish Air. It's usually Delta for me.

 

As Hank says, if you are flying Business you should have no worries time-wise. You could probably arrive closer to 2 hours (about the time your counter will probably open) and still be through easily. 

 

 

Everything you say makes sense. As far as the immigration passport control line everyone keeps talking about, I am assuming this takes place after you have checked your bags at the ticket counter? So if I have to wait for the ticket counter to open, it doesn't really matter how early I get there as long as I am there prior to the ticket counter opening?

[bennybear]

32 minutes ago, Scottee25 said:

What time of day is that? And is the line for immigration passport control after check-in at the ticketing counter for the airline? If so, based on what everyone is saying, there's a good chance the ticket counter for Turkish Air won't open until about 5AM anyways. Would the lines for immigration passport control really be that busy that time of the morning on a Sunday? I completely understand your reasoning for staying at the Hilton Airport but we fully intend to stay put at the Albergo del Senato the night before 🙂 

The line is after checkin,  it was later in the morning and was a complete zoo. Took well over half an hour.   
 

Completely understand about staying in Rome.  As we did it for just one night, we made use of the Hilton free shuttle  into Rome and back for the evening.  

[Hlitner]

We are sitting in our Athens hotel after flying TurkishAir from IAD to Istanbul to Athens.  All our flights were on time and service in Bus Class was good (not great).  Regarding boarding passes everything was hard copy.  
 

I cannot comment on Coach since we did not see that part of the aircraft.  Food in Business was good although they do not currently offer their large online pre flight menus.

 

Getting into Greece was efficient as long as you had your Passenger Locator QR Code and CDC Vaccination Card.

 

Hank

[Scottee25]

17 hours ago, bennybear said:

The line is after checkin,  it was later in the morning and was a complete zoo. Took well over half an hour.   
 

Completely understand about staying in Rome.  As we did it for just one night, we made use of the Hilton free shuttle  into Rome and back for the evening.  

 

Thanks for the info. Sounds like there really is no point in getting there too soon before the ticket counter opens.

[Scottee25]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

We are sitting in our Athens hotel after flying TurkishAir from IAD to Istanbul to Athens.  All our flights were on time and service in Bus Class was good (not great).  Regarding boarding passes everything was hard copy.  
 

I cannot comment on Coach since we did not see that part of the aircraft.  Food in Business was good although they do not currently offer their large online pre flight menus.

 

Getting into Greece was efficient as long as you had your Passenger Locator QR Code and CDC Vaccination Card.

 

Hank

 

Hopefully their Business Class is back to pre-Covid standards by next May. My girlfriend is a nurse so it's her responsibility to ensure we have all the required medical areas covered for the trip. I am sure a lot will change in the next 9 months. Thanks for providing an update! I greatly appreciate it!

[iancal]

We have flown out of Rome several times on very early Lufthansa flights.   

 

We decided it was easier to spend the night at the Hilton airport.  We checked out of our Rome hotel in the morning.   We left our bags there for the day.   Stayed in Rome for the day.  Had an early dinner at 7PM.   Picked up our bags afterward and went to the airport hotel.   We prefer this rather that having to rush and worry in the AM.

 

We have never gone to either the Rome or the Venice airport three hours in advance.  Two at the most.  But...last time we flew from FCO was 3 years ago and pre covid.    

 

Airport Hilton is attached to FCO.  Last time we were there they gave us breakfast in a paper bag just as we left for the terminal.   We have also done exactly the same at the Hilton Garden Inn FCO.  They have a shuttle that takes 10 minutes max.  The plus for us is that they have a self serve laundry in this hotel.   Great when we on an extended trip and not flying directly home.

Edited August 3, 2021 by iancal

[Scottee25]

5 hours ago, iancal said:

We have flown out of Rome several times on very early Lufthansa flights.   

 

We decided it was easier to spend the night at the Hilton airport.  We checked out of our Rome hotel in the morning.   We left our bags there for the day.   Stayed in Rome for the day.  Had an early dinner at 7PM.   Picked up our bags afterward and went to the airport hotel.   We prefer this rather that having to rush and worry in the AM.

 

We have never gone to either the Rome or the Venice airport three hours in advance.  Two at the most.  But...last time we flew from FCO was 3 years ago and pre covid.    

 

Airport Hilton is attached to FCO.  Last time we were there they gave us breakfast in a paper bag just as we left for the terminal.   We have also done exactly the same at the Hilton Garden Inn FCO.  They have a shuttle that takes 10 minutes max.  The plus for us is that they have a self serve laundry in this hotel.   Great when we on an extended trip and not flying directly home.

Well it's more likely a moot point now. Royal cancelled our TA earlier today so time will tell if we do a land based trip and still keep our Rome reservations. Regardless, staying at the airport hotel is not in the cards. I think I have made that pretty clear 🙂 My questions were more about the availability to get a taxi and the level of traffic that early in the morning. Based on what others have said, getting a taxi and getting to the airport that early shouldn't be a problem.

[BigRedFan]

On 7/28/2021 at 9:09 AM, CruiserBruce said:

Or you could stay the night before at the Hilton that is part of the airport. Nice hotel, and you can just walk over at whatever time in the morning. That is what we would do.

Yes, we are doing this as well.  Just a walking path from the hotel to the airport.

[mountain grandma]

Hi Everyone,

We have a 7:30am flight out of FCO after a cruise and booked the Airport Hilton for a one-night stay.  However all of the information we have read ass to walking time to all is for T2 but we are flying from T3.  I know we can still use the walkway to get there but how much time should we allow to walk to T3?  Thanks in advance to anyone who has stayed at the Hilton!

[euro cruiser]

It's really about the same amount of time, ten or fifteen minutes depending on how fast you walk and how much luggage you're dealing with.  You're walking through a parking garage for a lot of it.

 

Here is a map of the airport that shows you the path:  ESTERNO LIVELLO PARTENZE2 (adr.it)