Terminal 5

Rome actually has two international airports and for many years has contemplated adding a third, ironically enough in Viterbo. Ciampino, south of the city, hosts several low-cost carriers that fly primarily inter-European flights. Leonardo di Vinci, more commonly known as Fiumicino and designated FCO, is west of the city near Ostia. Intercontinental flights from the US always land at FCO. Terminal 1 is Alitalia and its code-share partners such as Air France. On a number of occasions we have flown out of Terminal 1, to Amsterdam and Athens to name two. Who knows what Terminal 2 serves. It is a little thing squeezed between Terminal 1 and Terminal 3. The principle staging area for the rest of the air traffic at FCO is Terminal 3. Most of the major European carriers fly out of Terminal 3. If you arrive from the US by way of pretty much any European hub via airlines such as Lufthansa, SwissAir or Dublin Air, you are likely to encounter the chaos which is Terminal 3. There doesn’t appear to be a Terminal 4, which brings us to the nightmare which is Terminal 5.

I had never heard of Terminal 5 until last summer. The Italian powers that be decided to siphon off some of the traffic from Terminal 3 and created a new terminal. It is not serviced by any public transportation save a shuttle bus which runs from a poorly signed location outside of Terminal 3. Forget about walking. It is at least half a mile of access roads without any sign of a sidewalk as cars, taxis and busses zip by while you drag the inevitable pile of luggage. Once there you discover a cavernous, converted airplane hanger which services only the US flagged carriers and Elal. With the continuous mergers which have taken place, that brings it down to a small handful of carriers and flights per day. A dozen or more armed guards patrol the exterior and interior of the “greeting“ area which is actually only a passport check. Check in for your flight, security screening and a shuttle bus to a satellite terminal containing the actual gates come after you have passed into a secure area. For obvious reasons, i.e. the intense love large swaths of the world has for the US and Israel, loitering is not encouraged. Interestingly enough, we and everybody who has visited us so far this year has found the best prices on US Airways, meaning all have traveled through Terminal 5.

One recent weekend found me escorting a student to the airport for an emergency trip home. As an unaccompanied minor she needed someone to officially sign off on her at check-in. When we got to passport check, they refused to allow me to go further with her in spite of me practically begging. So, I watched her pass through the doors and stood around until the half dozen guards with machine guns approached and firmly indicated I had to move along. Since Momma didn’t raise no dummy, I did what they wanted and headed home. I managed to find the shuttle back to Terminal 3, made my way to the train station, purchased my ticket and boarded the train for the 3ish hour ride back to Viterbo. As the doors closed and the train pulled away from the platform, my phone rang. Somebody had decided they actually needed me and informed me I had to return to the airport. Classic SNAFU. Half an hour later, after getting off the train and enduring a series of phone calls, texts, and assorted BS, I was allowed to continue on my way without needing to return to the airport. That was probably a good thing since I would have likely gotten escorted out by the boys with guns after telling the idiots running the place exactly what I thought of them.