Milan- Malpensa airport vs Linate

I have only used Linate, and I can't say I recall anything notable except that it was just a quick bus or taxi to the train station. I'd definitely chose it over Malpensa if I were to fly there again. Though if I was already springing for business class, I'd pay a few hundred dollars or so extra to get where I wanted to be (in this case, Venice). If you fly into Venice and out of Milan, does it work out? If you don't mind the extra train trip, then I would still lean toward Linate as it is closer to town/train station.
Sorry to hear about that rainy May--my 2023 trip May trip was cancelled and I was slightly relieved given the weather. In May 2024, we had stunningly perfect weather in Tuscany (as we did all other Mays except 2023, so take heart it's a good choice!)

I flew out of Linate in late June 2022. Quick and easy ride to the airport from the hotel near the Duomo. The airport is very small and fairly efficient. There was a very large school group ahed of us at the check in counter and later at security. Things were a little slow with the check in process for these (inexperienced) kids with very flew chaperones around. Airport staff were pulling people out of the queue who had flights that were leaving soon. I was at the airport 2 hours early and I made it through to my gate with plenty of time to spare. I have never flown out of MXP so can't compare the two airport but I will not hesitate to use Linate again.

Thanks for the affirmations!
I'm such a planner I want to book everything now, but I must wait a bit longer. We haven't had decent flight prices out of San Diego since pre- COVID, so it's LAX.
Flying into Venice, which is delightful, is about $400 more each at the present time. No logic to airline algorithms !
Thanks again.

Yeah 400 each would be too much, I thought if 400 total I'd snap it up.
good luck!

Pat, we have only flown BA out of Milan once, and that was from Linate, so I cannot compare to Malpensa. I chose it because the flight time was better than what was available for Malpensa with our BA Avios. Also, it is quicker and easier to reach from Milan, at least from the area of Milano Centrale where we spent the night before the flight. Taxi was around 25 euros and took maybe 20 minutes. The Malpensa Express to MXP would have been 26 euros for 2 of us, and takes 57 minutes.

I do not recall anything unusual or remarkable about the airport itself (long lines, security issues, etc.). But boarding the flight was a bit chaotic, because the plane was at a remote stand, and they had to bus passengers from the gate to the plane. There was a problem with people trying to board with oversize carry-ons, and that slowed things down. And then people boarding last found no room for their legal-size bags in the overhead bins, and there was a major kerfuffle with the flight attendants trying to move those bags forward to get them off the plane, while passengers were still trying to get to their seats. In the end, the pilot announced we had lost our landing slot at Heathrow and had to wait for a new one.

As a result of our late departure, a number of people on the plane were going to miss their connection back to the US. The cabin crew worked hard to get those people re-scheduled during our flight, and there were announcements regarding the new flights for the affected passengers throughout the entire time of our flight. (We were not among them as we had an overnight layover in London).

I don’t think any of this reflects a problem with Linate, unless it is more common there for planes to park at a remote stand instead of at the gate. But that can occur at any airport, I believe. I won’t let it keep me from booking our flight next July back from Linate if that works out to be the best option for scheduling.

After reading all the above, I will just comment that I would rather arrive in Venice by train anyway. Getting from Marco Polo airport to a hotel in Venice is either very expensive (with a water taxi) or slow and inconvenient (bus plus vaporetto or Alilaguna). I love just getting off the train and walking out of the station to be greeted by a beautiful view of the Grand Canal and the buildings on the other side.

Lola, yes, arriving at the Venice train station is a plus. I also love the rush I get each time I first lay eyes on the Canals! Thx

is couple hundred dollars more (/times two people) than Milan, so train saves money. ( original post)
And then this
-Flying into Venice, which is delightful, is about $400 more each at the present time. ( follow up post)

I am confused.

Is the difference $200 per person or $400 per person?

Is that gross airfare difference or the net travel cost difference after accounting for cost of getting from a Milan airport to the train station and train fare to Venice? Did you give any value to your time? It looks like you would spend ( at least) 4-5 hours getting from a plane in Milan to Venice. Is there a meaningful difference of when you get to Venice between the options you are looking at?
Only suggesting you look at the whole picture and not overlook the value of your time.

Happy ( drier) travels

Joe, at this minute, the difference between flying from LAX into Milan vs Venice is $700 EACH. It varies by the hour, of course. Usually it's $400 more EACH into Venice. I haven't seen this discrepancy in past years. Of course, it's early, so hopefully by the end of August I'll have a price that I can live with.
We just got so lucky this past spring, that I'm spoiled . ($1850 each into AMS RT business class on BA.)

Also, it looks like we save on time by going into Linate.
Thanks for the input.

Definitely look at Bologna. We have flown BA out of BLQ, so they do have flights-nothing necessarily convenient as there is often a lengthy time in LHR. You may have better connections coming out of LAX. In fact, this fall we will be flying out of there again-nice, smaller airport with good services.
Venice an easy train ride away and with the Marconi Express from BLQ to Bologna Centrale, easy to get to the station. One caveat-Bologna Centrale is large and can be confusing. Good to know that Freccia leave from lower tracks 16-19. Might be more tracks there but all I can remember right now. (Used them extensively in May/June and guess I’ve subsequently filed that information in some dark hole of my brain!)
My husband flew out of Linate this spring and was quite impressed at how nice the airport is. Quick taxi ride-very pleased.

SJS, never thought of Bologna, and I've already set Google Flight Alerts. As of right now, prices aren't great, but it's early for next May. One never knows how these airlines set prices, or when a good price appears. Thx so much for taking the time to respond. Safe travels!

We flew BA from the Bologna airport in March 2023 and liked the airport and the whole experience a lot. We would much rather spend a pre-flight night in Bologna than Milan.

So I booked our flight home for our September 2023 trip from Bologna. BA offers 3 flights a day to LHR from BLQ—-one around 7 am, one around 11 am, and one in the evening. I chose the noon-ish one, but 4 months before the Flight BA canceled that one and moved us to the 7 am flight. Or maybe it is actually 7:25 but in any case I am not getting up that early to make a flight. Plus that left a 7-hour layover at Heathrow before our long flight home. So I called and changed to a flight from Linate, which was the one I described in my earlier post. We flew the evening before the long-haul flight, and booked a night at the Sofitel in T5. That was actually very pleasant.

I thought I would relate this story as apparently BA has a habit of canceling various short-haul flights between European cities and London. I recall your history with BA cancellations and thought you should know.

Also, another FYI—-BA has 3 flights a day from LAX scheduled for next May. BA282 is a 777, BA280 is a 787, and BA268 is an A380. Since you will be flying business class, you might want to see which of those has the new Club Suites, and which has the older yin-yang paired seats. That is, if you have a preference.

Also take note that last March (2023) they were having supply-chain issues with maintenance parts for the A380, and that led to some delays as well as last minute flight cancellations. We were booked on an A380 to San Francisco, because we have family to visit there, and we really like the comfort of the A380. Our plane was 4 hours late departing Heathrow due to the said maintenance issues (and we were well compensated under EC261). But while we were hanging around the airport waiting for our flight, we saw a number of cancellations of BA flights, including the A380 to LAX, as well as one to South Africa.

I don’t know if this is still a problem, but you might check on FlyerTalk if you are thinking of booking that flight. Or maybe since it is the last flight to depart (19:40), and probably doesn’t connect with favorable flights to Milan, you wouldn’t book that one anyway.

Lola, my engineer husband is a plane-nerd, and he has lectured me repeatedly on the merits of the various planes.. In fact, on our return last spring, on the double decker plane, we didn't even sit together, because of the older configuration, which somewhat "cheats" the aisle seats of space. We each had back row seats (opposite sides of the plane) which didn't require stepping over anyone. Our partners generously offered to switch seats so that we could sit together, which we graciously declined. ( wink emoji)

@miuccia,
Thanks so much for the tip.