changing planes in Milan
 

Anyone have any experience with the Milan airport. An itinerary i'm considering on Alitalia has us arriving in Milan (from within the EU) at 12:25, and departing for Florence at 1:10 pm. Is this folly? Thx.

I had a connection through there to Rome with an hour and a half layover. It was last year, two weeks after 9/11, and the lines for security almost had us out on the tarmac. I made my flight but suggest you check with someone who has travelled more recently.

I wouldn't cut it that close. I had a connection on Alitalia in Milan and did not make it, with 90 minutes to connect. It is a madhouse, unless they've instituted a queue system when you get off the plane. When you get off the planes, they bus you to the terminal and then it's each man for himself (no lines, just a mob), fighting to get through a security check (having just come off the plane, mind you) to get into the terminal. Then there's another security check when you go to your connecting flight. <BR><BR>For this reason (and the fact that Alitalia provided me with my worst flights ever), I am choosing to avoid both Alitalia and Malpensa airport on my next trip to Italy, and am connecting through another European airport!

We made connections in Milan 6 weeks ago for our return home and did not encounter the mob scenes previously described. Where are you flying from? If your plane arrives in Florence on time, you'll have no problem. If it's late, you might. The obvious question is: When is the next flight to Florence?We flew from Florence to Milan for our connection with a scheduled 90-minute wait. That was a good thing, because the hour flight from Florence left late.

To be frank, I wouldn't cut it so close if I had an important meeting to attend. However, if you would not get too mad if you missed the connection and they put you on a later flight, it's ok.

Since you are flying intra EU, there is a good chance you will be using Linnate airport instead of Malpensa. That's like comparing grapes to grapefruit! Linnate is easily navigated and you would not need to re-enter security to change planes. (You probably would not need to re-enter security to change planes at Malpensa either.) All that being said, 45 minutes is not a lot of time if your inbound is late.If it's on time, should be no problem at Linnate.<BR><BR>On the bright side, if you missed the 1:10 becauce your inbound is late, I'm sure they'd get you on the next flight to Florence, surely not that much later in the middle of the day?

Flights to Florence all depart from Malpensa. Most Alitalia flights from within the EU land at Malpensa as well. Check (on the Malpensa Web site) to see whether the inbound flight docks at Terminal &quot;A&quot;, since flights to Florence also leave from Terminal &quot;A&quot;, and you need less connection time when you are connecting within Terminal &quot;A&quot;, as opposed to between Terminals &quot;A&quot; and &quot;B&quot;.

I would put forth another option: the train.<BR>Once in Malpensa you can take the bus to Centrale station and take (must book in advance) a Eurostar train to Florence. Flights from Milano to Florence are few because most people will use the train for going from one city to the other. Obviously, having to move your luggage from the airport to the train might make it a bit less comfortable, but if you can't have a decent connection time, the train might still be the safest way to take you from Milano to Florence. Eurostar train grant a very high level of comfort and the ride to Florence take less than 3 hours.

If you arrive at Milano Centrale without a Eurostar seat reservation, you can still get on a Eurostar train if there are available seats. ES train service is nearly hourly to Florence.

Gac:<BR><BR>you are right, but you can't rely on good luck. Yet you have another option, every 2-3 hours there is also an Intercity (or Cisalpino) train to Florence. Intercities are less comfortable than Eurostars, but they aren't usually booked solid like the Eurostar trains. The Cisalpino (only one or two every day) is as comfortable as the Eurostar and just as hard to book on the spot. In case you do not have a reservation, it is asier to find places in first class, although on Eurostras and Cisalpino the second class is almost as comfortable as the first and the price is 30% lower.

One other consideration when using Malpensa or Linate is dense fog. Both are frequently closed or delayed between December and March due to the pea soup fog that is common in Northern Italy! <BR>

Alice: good observations.

Don't forget the frequent &quot;work actions&quot; ...little strikes, unannounced!

Gac:<BR><BR>Thst's just because I travel between Milano and Florence (to and fro) twice or trice a month!<BR><BR>Work actions:<BR><BR>Strikes happen. If you have an airplane ticket you wil leave the next day, if you have a train ticket you will leave the next day too. Strikes, in Italy, work far differently from the Us. Our workers use the strike more as a demonstrative action, so that a strike is usually no longer than 24 hours. Also, according to the law, a strike cannot paralyze transit (a small number of trains will always work, although these are usually overcrowded) and cannot take place in certain periods (working days, near Christmas, Easter and in August). If you happen to hit a strike (either trains' or airplanes') you just have to wait for a few hours hours.

Frank,<BR><BR>I agree with the other posters. I would not cut it this close in Milan, especially because work stoppages seem to take place randomly. In fact, this past July, our plane was the last one out for the day, when a strike was suddenly called for the rest of the afternoon.

thanks everyone--we settled on a different itinerary that will not involve this plane change.

Wendy:<BR><BR>Work stoppages do not take place randomly. They are carefully planned. Any strike in the transportation system (trains, airplanes, ferries, city busses etc.) must NOT take place except in certain periods, must not last longer than 24 hours, must not paralyze completely transit and must be announced at least 3 weeks in advance. If you keep yourself updated you will not find yourself in trouble because of strikes.

Alice,<BR> Give it up! There are plenty of us out here who have had our plans adversely affected by &quot;work actions&quot; and all the rules in the book didn't make it any more pleasant. Even if I bothered to keep up with such &quot;announcements&quot; what good would it do me to know in advance. My 3 expereiences with such were all at Malpensa (that does mean &quot;bad thought&quot; right?), I purchased my transatlantic tickets much before the 3 week period, I had connections to make and then there is not a lot one can do at that point. Even the rather savvy Italian travellers in the crowd seemed caught off guard. It is nice that you can keep up with such things to avoid inconvenience but that is not a universal option.<BR> Otherwise, sincerely thank you for all your excellent advice and information.

Alice,<BR><BR>We had been in and around Milan for nearly two and a half weeks, and nobody mentioned the work stoppage BEFORE we got to the airport. That's why it seemed random to us.

Wendy:<BR><BR>Did you bother ask? You know, usually you need to ask in order to learn things...