Rome Fiumicino Airport

I usually transit through this airport several times a year and I noticed that it's constantly improving in services like new restrooms shops and restaurants. There are a lot of screens and signs that help you to move through the terminals. Sometimes you may encounter long queues at the immigration control but nothing different from other airports. Despite is a very old airport I don't think it's that bad at all.

A terrible and costly experience. We checked in with Alitalia 1.5 hours before our flight to London which was scheduled for 21.15. We thought this was reasonable timing not having been warned by our travel advisor or Alitalia about the 'normal' horrendous queuing problems at FCO. We got to Immigration control 45 minutes before our flight departure time. There were hundreds (no exaggeration) of people there trying to get through the non- EEC gates (my wife is American so we thought we had to go that way). Only two lines were open. The crowd was getting restless and eventually two more gates were opened where the Immigration officials merely looked at the cover of our passports and waved us through. By this time we had missed our flight by no more than a few minutes. We eventually made our way back to Alitalia ticketing (no easy task going the 'wrong' way through the airport). We had to pay 420 euros for a flight to a different London airport (London City) the following morning. To add the final insult there were no hotel vacancies so we had to spend the night on the departure lounge floor. No fun as we are both 70 years old! The airport experience is a good reason why we are never going back to Rome.

Arrived 21 May Alitalia. Two immigration officers on duty so had to wait 30 minutes to get through immigration. Departure on the 25th (Sunday) was a debacle. We arrived 2 hours before flight and only just made our flight. It took us 45 minutes to walk from a coffee shop just inside the departure lounge (just after security) to our G5 gate. Included in this was a 25 minute queue at passport control 2 Immigration officers on duty. Lack of signage giving gate numbers and boarding status. No acceptance or apology from Alitalia whatsoever including the fact that our boarding card did not state we had to go to Gate G (nor did any displays in the airport). They said it was because we did a web check in. So Alitalia failed Immigration failed and Airport Management systems failed.

Flew in and out of FCO T3 with Jet2. A very pleasant experience. All staff encountered were helpful. Luggage arrived very quickly. Easy walk to the car rental desks. Good range of Italian shops and cafes both before and after security particularly in the non Schengen departure area of T3. Overall very favourable impression. Well done FCO!

I too was expecting the worst. Flew in BA on 14 March and out BA 17 March. First appearances upon arrival - a bit grubby around the edges in baggage retrieval but out through passport control quickly and baggage didn't take long. Departing on 17th March BA check in desk nearly empty so fast and efficient and security check not unduly long. Once through pleasantly surprised by range of shops eating options and seats - let down only by brusque almost surly service when buying drinks. Pleasant drink watching planes taking off at sunset. All in all a pleasant surprise.

I must admit I expected the worst here and was pleasantly surprised. Toilets before checking in were new BA check-in staff were brilliant quickly got to customs at departure expecting queues. Again quickly seen plenty staff on duty and helpful. Don't know if being EU citizen made a difference. Food good too would not have a problem going back.

Arriving too early would be fruitless as the counters for check in of baggage and boarding pass are not always open well before ours (Cathay Pacific) was open at 9am for a 12.25pm flight so we were waiting about 20 mins for that to open. We were for Terminal 3. After we got our bags checked in and boarding passes we hightailed it through to immigration/security prepared for horrid conditions but there were no issues whatsoever. Security was fast and efficient immigration was a little lax actually the officer took one look at the outside (only) of my Australian passport and I went through no problems. The airport was clean the toilets were clean. We walked around the shops for a while and bought a couple of things to fill in time more than anything. in fact there were loungers in front of some of the windows with great views onto the tarmac. I did have an attitude experience in one store when I tried to buy water the girl eventually paid us attention and rattled off something in Italian so we left the drinks on the counter and walked off to somewhere else to buy water. Pretty much it was an easy experience nothing like the nightmare I was expecting. This was last Monday 3rd March. I guess we either got lucky fewer were travelling that day or maybe they are trying harder.

My brother and I met at Fiumicino on a Friday evening and left 9 days later on a Sunday evening. Having read previous reviews we were not looking forward to the experience. However our fears proved to be unfounded. Apart from my brothers experience of an unnecessarily slow passage through passport control (coming from a country outside Schengen area) we found the staff to be helpful friendly and efficient both on entering and on leaving Italy from the airport in Rome. The airport is currently in the process of being upgraded.

Emirates service desk and check in helpful and friendly. Fortunately there wasn't the scrum that I had recently read about. There were no queues at either immigration customs or VAT refund which was great. I think this was only because it was Monday and very few people were around anyway. The Immigration guy was extremely rude to the point of yelling at me when I mistakenly asked him to stamp my VAT refund forms. Next was the customs guy who was not at all happy that I should bother him to stamp my VAT forms. I was polite and used my limited Italian to say please and thank you. In return I got surliness and my forms flicked back at me as each was stamped. The Alitalia lounge was less than ordinary.

Departed from Rome to Colombo on January 7th. Smooth check in with Sri Lankan in business informed of fast track for security which was speedy and very thorough regular security check had quite long lines. Then the fun started at passport control no fast track just EU or non EU lines but all merged into one seething mass of people. Horrible scrum which was terrifying for kids and resulted in 1.5 hours to get passport stamped. Crowd approached mob mentality at times and absolutely no crowd control from customs or security. Only a handful of customs staff on duty and complete lack of care attitude. We arrived at the airport 2 hours and 45 minutes before departure and just made flight. I have no doubt many desperate travellers missed their flight. No time to shop visit lounge or complete tax free process. Tragic for all the shops and food outlets at the airport which were deserted as passengers had to run after clearing passport control to make their flight. Even worse for the airlines and controllers trying to ensure timely departures. What a horrible shameful mess I have 25+ years of regular long haul flying to all corners of the earth and have never experienced such a debacle. I will avoid FCO like the plague makes CDG and LHR look like paradise.