Rome Fiumicino Airport

I flew Alitalia CAI-LHR via FCO recently with a group of business colleagues. The airport itself is clean and well maintained. The main issue is that it doesn't have enough terminal space. We had to use a remote terminal which required a bus to get there from the main terminal. We also had to use buses to get to/from the aircraft in cold and wet conditions. I can understand budget airlines doing this but not Alitalia at its home airport. The WiFi is good but if you want to get full access to WhatsApp and other social media you have to sign up for a premium service where you register your email, name etc but don't have to pay.

This airport is a nightmare, I had to take 3 buses, one from the plane to terminal, one from terminal to terminal, another one from terminal to plane, average every time I come is always 2 bus journeys. If you come from international and fly national you have to go out and re-enter. Lounges are far away from the gates, it's almost a 30 min walk from B gates. Forget about extra schengen flights, you have to walk all the way though the airport before catching one of the above mentioned buses to get to the other terminal. On the positive side there are some good shops and restaurants with good service.

Wins the award for the worst airport I've been through. Delays of 3 hours to get through the long line of passport control. Again on flight out, arrived 3.5 hours before flight and just made it as the delays in security and passport control were so long. Italian police and bureaucrats in uniform everywhere but none of them actually working.

Total ineptitude on the part of this airport meant that we missed our flight home. We arrived in plenty of time, but gates G and H had just one security channel open for hundreds of passengers. We waited over an hour and a half to get through. Our flight had gone by the time we were through. Tannoy announcements could not be heard as they were too quiet. People were trying to push in, anxious about their flights too. It was utter chaos. We were not the only ones to miss our flight that day. We had to buy new tickets with another airline to a different airport, leaving 11 hours later, then pay for a train to the original UK airport, then a taxi to collect our car - and to rub salt in the wound, Allianz, our travel insurance company, won't pay out as it doesn't cover for missed flights even though it was not our fault. Add to this having to pay through the nose for very expensive and not very nice at all airport food - a bad end to a short break away.

What a surprise Rome Fiumicino airport was. We were expecting the worst and allowed 3 hours to get through, but check in was 3 minutes, security was probably 5 minutes, and immigration another 3 minutes. The airport was clean and quite airy, duty free OK and the big cafeteria in the departure area had good food and beverages at reasonable prices. A nice experience overall.

Give yourself plenty of time (approx 2hrs) if you are departing from T3 at Rome airport. We spent over an hour in the security queue jostling with other passengers who do not understand the concept of forming an orderly queue. Airport staff seem oblivious to the problem. Once you manage that queue expect another at passport control, also totally chaotic. By the time we got to the airport at 1140hrs and arrived at the departure gate at 1330hrs we were very annoyed. No time for refreshments or shopping as the plane was boarding at 1350hrs. Worst airport ever. On the flip side got to London Heathrow and within 15 minutes we had departed the airport.

I am writing this review in real time, I have been standing in line for check-in for half of hour already and probably another half of hour at least to wait. A very strange, unordered procedure and I would suggest arriving at this airport at least 3 hours before your flight. I have only once seen lines worse than this at another airport when the computers were down. Here everything seems to be working - just very slowly. It appears to be just awful organization. People are standing for hours with nowhere to sit.

I arrived on New Years Eve when things were closing at the airport. A severe lack of signage meant I was not able to find the airport Hilton hotel for about 20 minutes since there were no more information desks open. Next morning when I left on NY day, airport was packed and extremely dirty, staff super unhelpful and a ridiculously insane security queue of approximately 3 hours from what I could gather. Fortunately I had fast track but it still took 40 minutes when there were only 10 people in front of me. Ridiculously slow and bored looking security staff who spent most of the time racial profiling who to pick out to do 'random' security checks and a baggage screening belt that did not move even when there were no bags in front. All in all, highly inefficient, awful airport with rude and useless staff. Possibly the worst airport I have been to.

Despite of what others could think Fiumicino isn't the best airport of Rome. It's bigger than Ciampino, but it's worse. There is a little security at the arrival terminals and the cleanliness could be better. It's an international airport, so there are also food shops - good, according to me. If you have to decide between Fiumicino and Ciampino, I suggest the second airport.

Very unfriendly staff for the tax refund service - impolite and poor attitude when serving tourists. I went to the counter before check-in to make sure I could get the refund, however, the staff sitting at the counter, told me to go and check-in first and then return for the tax refund. I tried to ask a few questions to make sure I'm on the right path but was simply told "The information is all there, read it yourself". I proceeded to the check-in and then returned to the tax counter, where I was told I can't claim because my next destination is London. This is fine but why could they have not me this before check-in?