Looking for someone with experience at Malpensa Airport. Do we need to arrive 3 hours before the flight?
On United Airlines web site it says you should arrive 3 hours before your flight to the US. We will have a 10 am flight home. That would be a very early start from Milan. We really would rather spend our last night in Italy in Malan rather than at some airport hotel.
In my experience 2 to 2.5 hours are sufficient for a US bound flight. You must conclude your check-in procedures 1 hr prior to departure and be at the gate 45 min. Prior to departure. I've never had to stand in line at the check in counter over 30 min.
I recently had an 8:50 AM flight from Malpensa to Munich connecting to LA (United ticket, but these were Lufthansa flights). I arrived at the Lufthansa counter at about 6:45 AM and was the only one there. Checked myself and my bags in very quickly and then had two hours to kill, mostly before the restaurants and shops were even open. So in my experience, three hours was not needed. A little later in the morning and if your flight is directly to the US, it might be different. I spent a fine last night at the First Hotel Malpensa with nice rooms, good rates, free airport shuttle ride of under 10 minutes, and they serve breakfast beginning at 6:30 AM. You might spend the day and even have dinner in Milano with your bags stored, then catch an evening train to Malpensa, and then have a more leisurely morning before your departure.
I agree - depending on the time of year.......the lines in Malpensa do not take that long.
Larry,
I was thinking of what you suggested, staying at an airport hotel. There are several good ones at a very nice rate. The only problem is that with a full day in Milan I would want someplace to "kick back" for a time during the afternoon or before going out for dinner. I did a check of the Malpensa Express schedule and it looks like I could leave the Cadorna Station at 7:00 am and get to the airport at 7:30 which is 2 3/4 hours before my flight. That should be good enough. What I did not realize the Malpensa Express is 1st class only and you must buy tickets for a particular time.
Last year we took a 9:25 am flight from MXP to JFK. We got on the Metro when they opened the gates at 6 am, then waited until 6:15 when the first train came in to take us to Cadorna. We bought our tickets there and put them in the turnstile at the dedicated Malpensa Express platform. We got the 7 am train and had no problem making our flight. The Malpensa Express is first class in price only. Otherwise it is just commuter type train with lots of luggage racks.
2h45m is way more than enough. Malpensa was expanded and opened in 2000 to accommodate Alitalia's then new world hub. Since then Alitalia has almost gone bankrupt, sold to a private group of investors, dropped MXP as a hub, in favor of FCO, and substantially scaled down its operations. So Malpensa, which was created to accommodate a traffic of 35 million passengers, has dropped down to 18 million pax yearly. So way underutilized and not crowded.
