Florence Airport review by Alan Mackenzie

23 April 2008   Customer Rating :

Aeroporto di Firenze is a very compact. The first thing you notice is how clean & bright it is. The airport has recently undergone a slight expansion. The original check in on the left-hand side has about 10 desks, and there are a further 4/5 check in desks on the first floor. The cafés on the ground and first floor are reasonably priced, clean, and you get a good view of the airport & aircraft from the panoramic windows on the upper one. The departure lounge is fairly small but with plenty of seating. It is a very quiet, unhurried environment - most pleasant. The only slight drawback is the TV monitors which show a very limited list of arrivals/departures. Also do be careful with the duty free shop on the first floor, it's a very expensive with a small range of items. There is a much better one on the departure ground floor.

Florence Airport review by Paul Wilson

20 September 2007   Customer Rating :

Flight delayed due to apparently strong cross winds. No information on TV screens about this - just a lot of talk and very upset passengers. Airport opened at 1830hours for flights, so was able to catch my flight and only 1 hour late. Security a joke. Was travelling with a poster, but had the poster container taken off me due to being on a London flight! Other people I was travelling with had posters and tube of the exact same size but they were allowed to go through without an problems. Florence is a small airport - don't expect much. They use buses to transport passengers from the terminal to the plane.

Florence Airport review by  Gabe Boisvert

28 July 2005   Customer Rating : n/a

FLR is a very small airport- I believe the smallest I have ever been to. The LH check in was nice and relatively helpful, especially as I had changed my ticket, although they refused to check me in for my flight to O'hare. The bar was reasonably priced but a pain to use. The departures lounge was tiny, with 5 gates for Schengen flights and one for International flights. They made us take a bus to the plane despite the fact that you could see it from the airport - it would have been quicker, and better exercise, to just walk to the plane. All in all, an iffy airport.

Florence Airport review by  Daniel Mori

13 December 2004

Amerigo Vespucci airport (FLR) is an inadequate facility. The first thing you'll notice about this airport is the landing. The runway(s) is short and a steep hill to the north of it greatly influences air traffic. Every time the wind allows it, runway 5 is used for landing, but when runway 23 is used the approach is complicated and forces a tight base leg (to avoid the hill): plenty of "go arounds" occur. The preferred takeoff runway is 23. The main problem, though, is the inadequacy of taxiways: no taxiway is present on the northern end of the runway (23 side) so all plains landing on 5 and taking off on 23 are forced to reach the distant end and perform a "backtrack". As a consequence, aircraft take a long time to clear the runway after landing on 5; and have to occupy the runway for a while on takeoff from 23. At peak hours, this is a cause for delays. The terminals (departure and arrivals) are both small. Most flights are bound to and from major European hubs for connections (CDG, FRA, MUC, BRU) and tend to all leave and arrive at the same time. The terminals are therefore often crowded and inadequate. Little shopping can be done, the only food you can get is a very expensive bar in the departure terminal (2nd floor) and a lousy restaurant in the arrivals terminal. Because most flights are connecting from hubs, luggage loss is a common case: the Lost Luggage Service Window is understaffed. Expect delays. Customs aren't a major issue. A pair of police officers stand at the exit from the baggage claim area and stop passengers arriving from outside the EU (identified by the luggage slip). Those passangers have already cleared customs at the European hub they have connected in, and these officers only ask for things to declare. They rarely ask/want anything beyond that.

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