We will be arriving at 8:30 a.m. in Malpensa from the U.S. The only morning flight down to Brindisi, Italy is an EasyJet flight that departs Milan at 10:25 a.m.

Is this a problem? Can we do it without too much stress?

If it is a problem, the earlier flight arrives at 6:00 a.m. in Malpensa - perfect. However, the cost is about $600 more per person. That's what you pay for perfect!

You'd be cutting it way too close. However if you missed it there is the possibility of getting a later flight on Alitalia, or catching a train from Milano Centrale.

RonZ, I thought the 8:30 a.m. arrival time was too close. As far as Alitalia is concerned, the later morning flight leaves MXP at 11:55 (almost noon) with one stop in Rome and arrives in Brindisi at 3:55 (almost 4 p.m.) That is what I am trying to avoid

Othewise, I fly into Rome (FCO) directly from NYC and connect to an Alitalia flight, but they are all later in the day compared with 10:30 from Milan.

I appreciate the train suggestion, but we'd be looking at eight hours train travel. We are originating from Miami, FL - I'd be beat up.

Obviously the train option is crazier than anything else, but I'm only pointing out the alternatives if you miss the flight.

Seems to me your best bet would be the Alitalia flight. The choice might be getting there 4 hours later or not at all. It's one thing to have a connecting flight, but you open a totally new can of worms when you change airlines.

You are playing with odds. You can only improve the odds in your favor.

With the combinations being stated, there is a significant chance of not making the connection. Then what is the impact to you? If it is not acceptable to you, it is not a good choice.

Having checked-luggage worsens your odd by adding time to retrieve and recheck. I seems retrieving luggage at Italian airports is a Dolce Vita affair.

You couldn't make your reservation all the way to Brindisi?

Greg, Yes, I could take Alitalia, which means longer travel time and late afternoon arrival in Brindisi. Also, the return flight(s) in Miami are late in the day with a 1 1/2 hr. drive home in the dark.

I guess I'm coming to the end of this planning process after six month. Although I'd love to visit the Puglia region, but I want to do it on my terms.

As an aside, previously living in SW Connecticut with JFK/NY close by, we were SPOILED.

Well if you do figure how to get there, have a great time!

Thanks RonZ.

Assuming you cross the Atlantic on Alitalia or a Skyteam partner, a connecting internal flight on Alitalia means your bags can be through-checked to Brindisi from the US. You go off to a side passage at MXP or FCO, pass through security then immigration (in each case with relatively short queues), then go straight to your onward gate. In theory, your baggage is subject to Customs inspection when you get to Brindisi - but in Europe there are more reliable ways of inspecting foreign baggage than subjecting passengers to pointless queues and interrogations. .

A transfer to Easyjet, whoever you fly transatlantic with, means going through the main immigration queue, which might take forever. You collect your bags, go through Customs to the Easyjet checkin desk and recheck them within the checkin cutoff time (miss this cutoff time even by a minute for any reason at all, your booking's cancelled and you lose your money). You then go through the main security queue, over whose length you have no control. Even if you checked your bag in by the cutoff time, if you're not at the gate by the gate cutoff time your booking's cancelled and you lose your money. Easyjet doesn't hold planes for laggard passengers.

No-one travels on their own terms. If you insist on using a lowcost operator, you travel on terms constructed to maximise the value for money and flight reliability for point to point travellers: not to indulge the whims of connecting passengers, whose business Easyjet simply doesn't want.

I have no experience with EasyJet. My young assistants tell me it's great. EasyJet may have an arrival restriction time. If you can't guarantee making that, then this decision is a no-brainer.

I have a lot of experience logging my wait times at MXP after international flights. I've always been a note taker. You can count on a good hour from the time you actually exit the airplane, show your passport, and retrieve your luggage at baggage claim. It's the passport line and the baggage claim process that can eat away at the minutes. If you fly Coach, your bags can appear in two drop-off segments. If your bags land in the second segment, you can add twenty minutes or longer onto your wait time. If you end up with only forty minutes to check-luggage for a different airline, get through security, and board the plane, well, guess what? That ain't gonna happen.

If you fly without checked luggage, then perhaps there's a chance. But I won't risk destroying my manicure.

I suspect the OP is gone, but looking at FCO-MIA flights, there is an Alitalia arriving in MIA at 3:40pm if the trip is in Spring. Is this one of the flights the arrives in MIA late in the day? Brindisi to Rome is a 5 hr ES train ride.

>>>the return flight(s) in Miami are late in the day with a 1 1/2 hr. drive home in the dark.<<

Hello,

I'm still here. I'd like to digest the new information and get back on this forum a bit later today. Many thanks.

And don't forget that transatlantic flights arrive at Malpensa Terminal 1 whereas easyjet flies from Terminal 2. The 2 terminals are linked by some airport buses.

I've thought about this all day. After "conferring" with all of you, flying into Malpensa Airport is out. It was the non-stop flight from Miami that I was focused on, but the logistics connecting with EasyJet to Brindisi sounds like a nightmare. NYFoodSnob, great tip about MXPs baggage claim when it's an international trip.

Flanneruk, you provided me with details that I would never have been able to put together myself. Sometimes, it's just one comment - and you made it: "Assuming you cross the Atlantic on Alitalia or a Skyteam partner."

A light bulb went off in my foggy head: I am a Delta Skymiles member. If I book through Delta and it's an Alitalia flight, I get award miles. Good so far.

Delta/Alitalia flight out of Palm Beach International to NY/JFK. Three hour layover, then departing NY to FCO at 6:15 p.m., then through to Brindisi, arriving at 11:00 a.m. the next day.

Return trip would be departing from Bari@ 8:40 a.m.-FC0-ATL-PBI at 9:15 p.m., and a 15 min. drive to home.

One carrier all the way through. Does anyone see anything wrong with this itinerary? No driving down to MIA, parking, drive time, etc. or, I pay a driver $400-$500 for a round-trip limo service.

TTT