My wife and I flew from JFK to Milan arriving Monday, 9/25/23 around 10AM. The lines to clear passport control upon arrival were backed up almost to the arrival gate.
That line wrapped around in a serpentine fashion for an exceptionally long distance with snail like movement forward. Americans were separated from those with Italian passports.
Neither line was moving as you might expect.
As additional flights arrived, airport officials dressed in casual clothing as opposed to being dressed in uniforms, those passengers were randomly added to the line, some in front of our group and others behind our group.
Chaos! No announcements. No movement. No progress. After an exceedingly long wait, we eventually advanced to the passport control checkpoint. The passport control self service kiosks were divided between Italians and others. Several kiosks were not in working order and their were clearly not nearly enough machines for the crowd in play.
My wife’s passport worked fine and she sailed through. My passport failed and I was directed to the “manual” processing line which was hundreds of people deep. My wife had no idea what was happening to me.
What a mess? Luggage was strewn all over the baggage claim area. Thousands of people searching for their luggage and no help from the Italians. Very few wearing masks! A Covid breeding ground.
I asked one of the police at the exit door what caused this nightmare. He shrugged and said, too many people.
So, does anyone know if this is normal at Malapensa? Was there a computer crash? Was this some kind of labor action? A one day strike did occur later in the week.
Future tourists headed to Italy beware!