Review: Prima Vista Lounge at Rome FCO
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Airport lounges are something that will vary wildly by continent. In America, you’re likely to find dedicated lounges for each of the major US carriers, and if you’re at a major airport like LAX, you might find lounges dedicated to specific alliances or credit cards like American Express.
The same is true in Asia. But in Europe and the Middle East (at least in our experience), you’re more likely to find independent lounges that can be accessed by passengers of a wide range of airlines. This may mean more places where you can chill if you have a business class ticket, but they might not be as fancy and reliable as airline-specific lounges. Here’s one we checked out in Rome when we used our miles to fly business class from Rome to Doha.
Entering the Prima Vista Lounge at FCO Terminal 3
We found FCO to be a fairly easy airport to get around in, with a dedicated security line for business class passengers making the process pretty painless. The Prima Vista Lounge wasn’t terribly far from our gate, either. Our flight was on Qatar Airways, which put us in the Oneworld alliance. I didn’t see any specific Oneworld branding, so there may be a number of airlines that get you access to this lounge. According to Priority Pass, there are actually two Terminal 3 Prima Vista lounges, so to be clear, I think we were at the one near gate E51, and if we weren’t, uh… yeah.
First thing you’ll notice about this place is that it is looooooong. It’s got several rooms, but none are that spacious. Instead, you’re walking the full length of the lounge to get at the food and water. It’s a strange setup, but didn’t really affect the experience. There is also a bar area that’s separate from the basic lounge part, but we didn’t go in there because we don’t have use for a bar.
Getting inside was quick and easy, and though there were quite a few people inside, it never felt like it. Noise wasn’t a problem, nor was getting to the front of any lines or finding seats, of which there are many types. There are counter seats and private seats with little cubicle walls and meeting rooms, but we went to…
The Quiet Zone at the FCO Prima Vista Lounge
The Quiet Zone absolutely lived up to its name. Not only did it have really comfortable chairs, but no one else went in there while we were in there, so it was definitely quiet. The lounge also offers free Wi-Fi, so you can connect your devices easily. There’s not much to say about this area, and that’s a good thing. We were able to relax before our flight in a way that you honestly can’t in a lot of airport lounges.
Food & drink at the Terminal 3 Prima Vista Lounge at FCO
As mentioned, the buffet is long, and contains a lot of stuff. Unfortunately, none of it looked that good. We tried a few things, but I wasn’t too hungry so I avoided most of it. I can tell you that the coffee was just okay. Eriko said the food was fine, but it’s definitely not food that you’d want to pay money for. We were getting it gratis and were going to be extremely well-fed on our Qatar Airways flight, so this part of the lounge was fine with us for that reason; if we’d spent money to be here, we’d have been disappointed.
One positive was the free bottles of water, which you can take with you on the plane in your handy backpack so that you’ll always have water in case you don’t get a free one on the plane (we did) or the staff isn’t attentive (they were attentive). If you find you don’t need your water, then you should take it out before going through a second round of airport security in Doha, otherwise you’ll get your bag searched and everyone will be annoyed with you why did you do that dummy.
Verdict: how good is the Prima Vista lounge at FCO?
After a coffee and some water and a nice little relax in a big chair, I went to the bathroom to change into my basketball shorts for the flight. The bathrooms were very clean, so nothing to complain about there.
Overall, FCO is a pretty nice airport compared to some others in Italy, which matters when evaluating this lounge. If your flight gets you into this place, go ahead and chill in the nice quiet lounge and wait for your fancy flight. But if your flight doesn’t get you in, and you don’t have the unlimited version of Priority Pass, you might want to save your lounge credits for somewhere else. This airport is good enough and the lounge unremarkable enough that you don’t need to use them here.
If you’re looking for good food, this isn’t the lounge for you. If you’re looking for quiet, it’s the place to be.
For us, it was a nice respite between relaxing at the hotel and relaxing on the plane. Oh, how terrible our lives are. Anyway, the lounge is open from 5:45 am to 10:45 pm. That 5:45 am is probably pretty clutch if you have an early flight. Maybe their breakfast is good. Guess we’ll never know.
