Malpensa Airport to Central Train Station Timing

I'm doing the same thing in May 2016 and so far the opinion is that it takes 1 hour to get through customs and the train ride from Malpensa to Milan Central is 1 hr, factoring the time to go to the bathroom, find your way around and buy the tickets,etc. it seems like 3 hours is a reasonable time allotment.

The common sense advice is not to book a train ticket immediately after arrival. Too many variables. Buy the ticket when you get there. Whether your flight is on time, clearing immigration, catching the training, etc., all take time. The train takes about an hour. If you just miss it, you need to wait another 30 minutes for plan an hour and half, thirty minute to find the train at Centrale - now two hours - clear immigration - maybe an hour, maybe two, now up to four hours, add an hour in case your plane is late. Maybe you can get a super economy ticket for about 5.30 pm so if you miss the train you can throw it away without a great lost.

If you miss the train, the ticket is dead. Since you are at the airport why not a flight to Rome?

According to the website of the Italian railways http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en the train journey to Milan central station (»Milano Centrale«) takes about one hour. Plus, let's say, one hour for normal procedures, that would mean a timeframe of two hours.
But... how sure can you be that your plane will be on time, there won't anything be wrong with your luggage or something else? I had it this year, flying from Amsterdam to Rome, with an onward train to Viterbo. The plane was late, so I was getting a little nervous we would be on time for the train. For the rest everything went smoothly, so there was no problem, and we could always take a train one hour later, but this experience made me hesitant to have such a connection next time.

jb,

The usual advice here on the forum (and also my usual advice) is not to buy advance rail tickets to connect with an inbound flight. The logic behind that is that the high speed trains have compulsory reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time. If you miss the train you've booked for ANY reason (flights late, long queue in Passport control or whatever), your tickets are worthless and you'll have to buy more at full price. The "safer" method is simply to buy tickets both for the Malpensa Express and the train to Rome when you arrive at MXP.

Of course, you could leave a large time between your flight arrival and your train to Rome to provide a "cushion" for delays. The disadvantage with that is that if there are no delays, you'll spend a lot of time waiting at Milano Centrale, which is not the most pleasant activity in a jet-lagged state. You must be sure to board ONLY the train listed on your tickets, as if you board the wrong one, you'll face hefty fines which will be collected on the spot!

Also note that you MUST validate your ticket for the Malpensa Express prior to boarding the train, or again hefty fines!

Malpensa Express to the airport is an hour. Always bargain on a little more than that for various slowdowns because you never know.

I would be very hesitant to buy a ticket based on your incoming flight. I did it after landing in Milano Linate for a high speed train to Venice, and it was nail biting the entire time. I gave myself 120 minutes and that felt short, though in our favour the Venice train was 35 minutes late so we had a very heavy cushion. In retrospect, I'd have simply purchased the tickets when I got to Milano Centrale unless you expect the train to be sold out.

Definitely assume it's going to take 90 minutes to get through Malpensa if you don't have baggage. If you can get away with carry on, do it!

Thank you all for your timely and informative responses.
I was under the impression that purchasing tickets in advance for the Central train station to Rome leg of the trip was required. As I have been investigating further, it seems that the high speed trains are rarely filled to capacity (please, correct me if I am wrong).
My nephew and I are taking the train over flying to have the experience verses getting on another plane but I do appreciate the suggestion.

Thank you again and I will gladly accept any further advice for this journey.

The ONLY reason to purchase tickets in advance is to take advantage of potential discounts that might be available. Trains are frequent and rarely fill up so. Right now, three months out, fares to Rome range from 39E (super economy) to 86E (base) for 2nd class. On the day of travel the base fare will be the only fare available. If you book the SE fare and miss it for any reason the ticket is dead. You would have buy at new ticket. So do you want to gamble with a four or five hour window by booking a SE fare now? That really is the only question.

Technically speaking all tickets must be purchased in advance. You must have a ticket in hand for that specific train, date, time, and seat number before boarding. (The exception is non-reservations Regionale trains) But the advance purchase can be only five minutes.

Once you are at the ticket office at the airport for your train to Centrale station you can buy your ticket to Rome. That will save a little time.

Just got to thinking there is one other way to play it that might save a few bucks. You could buy a economy ticket with about a three hour window. The economy ticket allows one change but you pay any increase in fare. So if you wanted to change your economy ticket from the 3pm to the 4pm train and a economy fare is not available for the 4pm train then you would have to pay the difference between economy and the base fare. But that change would have to be made prior to the train leaving the station. Once it is rolling and you are not on the train, the ticket is dead. But by the time you hit the ticket window at the airport you should have a good handle on your time line. Personally I would not do it. This is the one time when paying for the convenience of riding the next train out weighs the potential savings.

"You could buy a economy ticket with about a three hour window. The economy ticket allows one change but you pay any increase in fare. "

While that's a good idea in principle, the reality is that to change your ticket and pay the extra fare, you'll have to visit a staffed ticket window. The Biglietteria at Milano Centrale usually has a LONG queue so don't expect getting a new ticket to be a "quick" process (not something I'd like to be doing in a jet-lagged state). In addition, you'll have to exit from the secured area (where the tracks are) to get to the ticket office, so if there's a queue going back through the security gates, you might just miss your train.

My advice would be to buy both your tickets at the MXP rail station when you arrive. It may be more expensive, but will be the simplest and easiest solution, and will get you on the train to Rome in the shortest time possible.

I had a similar fact pattern in July. I flew into Milan Malpensa. Scheduled arrival was 12:15. I booked a Trenitalia freccarossa to Salerno in advance for 3:15. Also booked a family ticket in advance on Malpensa express (I can't recall the exact time I booked for it).

Our flight left JFK an hour late! Luckily there were good tail winds. We touched down just at 12:15. My daughter needed a bathroom break before passport control, so we ended up last in line behind a 500+ person A380 crowd. We get thru it in about 30-40 mins. Luggage was there in 5-10 mins. I picked up a SIM card in the luggage area. There was no customs to speak of. We walked right out. Picked up a Coke and some chips. Went to Malpensa express gate w approx 15 mins to spare. Had maybe another 15-20 mins in Centrale for the Trenitalia (enough to grab a gelato). And off we went. It was stressful. But thank goodness it all worked out.

We needed these connections to work since we were paying to keep a car rental counter opened after hours in Salerno.

It was planes, trains and automobiles!!!

But if your plane had landed 30 minutes later, you would have missed the train. That is the point. You just cannot book a connection that tight unless everything hits the mark.