Rome airport

[batallion9 50]

Going to make flight arrangements for my fiance to USA this week. Can anybody tell me about ROME (FCO) airport. Is it big, small? Easy or hard to make connecting flights? AnY special concerns. My choices are Rome, or CDG - france. I hear a lot of bad about CDG-france. Amsterdam was my first choice but all connecting flights to US via AMS are already booked full.

[mariepear 12]

Definitely go with FCO airport...It's much smaller and less complicated... CDG is the worst choice ever...I've flown through CDG twice and it was always terrible. No one speaks any english, their directions are confusing and you have to walk like 2 miles from one terminal to another...

I'm actually flying into USA in a couple of weeks and my Mom with her partner are coming with me for the wedding...All flights I can find are through CDG and I'm affraid if I send them home through CDG alone, they'll have problems getting around there not knowing almost any english and the airport being so big and confusing...

Edited August 13, 2013 by mariepear

[digitalvx 4]

FCO over CDG. Does Ukrainian citizen need a visa for transit in Europe then USA? If so, maybe easier to do Kiev to Moscow, Moscow to USA?

[NikLR 13,220]

***moved to off topic from K1 process and procedures***

[batallion9 50]

FCO over CDG. Does Ukrainian citizen need a visa for transit in Europe then USA? If so, maybe easier to do Kiev to Moscow, Moscow to USA?

not sure if need visa for transit.

[jft 12]

FCO is no picnic either and it's pretty big as well. Not to mention the baggage handlng is very slow which could be an issue with short connections. WRT Amsterdam Delta and KLM don't like to sell one-way tickets, if you look at round trips suddenly space opens up on the "full" flights. You might also look at FRA, Lufthansa and Condor sometimes have good one-way fares through there.

[kytwell 179]

I've flown to and from Athens numerous times, I've had a layover in Rome 6 times. On 4 different occasions through there my luggage never made it to my final destination. On 3 of them, the luggage was brought to me within 8 hours. On one it was never located.

[vbtwo 54]

FCO over CDG. Does Ukrainian citizen need a visa for transit in Europe then USA? If so, maybe easier to do Kiev to Moscow, Moscow to USA?

No need for visa to transit if staying in the airside of the airport.

Also, Moscow airport (SVO) is horrible and extremely confusing, but at least they speak Russian there so makes it not so bad for Ukrainians. It takes about 20 minutes of fast walking to get from the terminal where flights from Kiev land to the terminal where flights to the US are. There's also a billion duty free shops and cafes there blocking your way and making it hard to see navigation signs (seems they just plopped them all down in the middle so you can't avoid them), especially in the old terminal (where it seems they removed almost all sitting areas to put in the shops). At least they never lost my luggage (even with a short 1:15 connection).

On the other hand I can't say anything bad about Aeroflot, they do a top notch job. Too bad they're stuck in such a horrible airport.

[jft 12]

I would rank the possible connecting airports for a flight from Russia or Ukraine to the USA this way. Others may disagree but I've travelled though most of them more than once and some many, many times so I think I have a pretty good idea. Are there any that I've missed? Any disagreements with my rankings? By the way IMHO there is a huge gap between the top three and the others.

1) Reykjavík-Keflavík (St Petersburg only)

2) Amsterdam

3) Vienna

4) London Heathrow Terminal 5 only

5) Frankfurt

5) Paris/CDG

6) London Heathrow Terminals 1-4

7) Moscow SVO

8) Rome Fiumicino

[sebbiesmd 1]

Going to make flight arrangements for my fiance to USA this week. Can anybody tell me about ROME (FCO) airport. Is it big, small? Easy or hard to make connecting flights? AnY special concerns. My choices are Rome, or CDG - france. I hear a lot of bad about CDG-france. Amsterdam was my first choice but all connecting flights to US via AMS are already booked full.

Go with Rome- i had a 40min connecting flight out of there last sat and it was fine.

Amsterdam is nice as well- CDG is a cluster do not do it.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Ever looked at connecting through Istanbul with Turkish Airlines? I booked trips to Ethiopia for my wife and daughter with TK earlier this year. I've flown that connection myself a few years back as well. Liked it. Lately, I've seen good fares with TK and they do have great service - they grabbed the Best Airline in Europe title several years in a row now. Ataturk Airport is pretty big but easy to navigate.

[jft 12]

TK has a pretty poor safety record, in fact as late as 2009 they were ranked worst among western airlines with a rating twice as bad that of the 3rd-worst airline and 21 times worse than the best (British). These ratings of course change as time goes on so I am not sure where they sit now.

http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2009/06/09/which-airplanes-and-airlines-are-the-safest

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703362804576184871138548788.html

I've heard that they are trying to make strides improving their service and safety but I'd still be cautious. Of course statistics don't tell the whole story as one crash can seriously change the numbers but certainly there are enough incidents here to be concerned.

Edited August 25, 2013 by jft

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Turkish Airlines had a rough start, that's for sure. But they've done well for many years now. They are a member of the Star Alliance. I'd want to believe that an airline must meet safety and service standards to be eligible to join the Star Alliance. Turkish Airlines now has one of the youngest fleets in Europe. Their service is top notch. They've claimed the top spot in Europe for the last 3 years in a row. Worldwide they ranked in the top 10 for 3 years in a row. Not a single US carrier made that list. Not a single European carrier aside from TK made it either. They can't be that bad. Personal experience tells me that they deserve the high service rankings. I'd fly TK any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

http://www.worldairlineawards.com/index.htm