Last visited April 23
Malpensa is huge, and while it tries to cater for kids, its hugeness makes it not ideal in my opinion. The walk to our gate for instance was indicated as 19 minutes. It was a nice walk through loads of shops, but when I am shlepping a baby around, maybe heavy and strapped to my chest, window shopping is less of a priority and getting to a seat fast is a plus.
T1 has a family lane for kids up to 5, that was fast when we were there. There was no need to take baby formula or water out of the bag to be scanned separately, which was great, however unlike many other places we had to fold the pushchair and put it on the belt to go under the scanner. We saw another lady pushing hers through unfolded though and have it checked manually on the other side, so perhaps that can be an option if need be.
Passport control was also very quick going in (a bit less coming out but we are talking 10-15min). There are baby changing areas dotted around which are, the ones I have visited, a room with a sink and a changing mat. One also had a chair for breastfeeding, but another didn’t, and there was no indication till we got to it, so it’s a bit of luck which you get basically. I saw a sign to a ‘baby pit stop’, which in Linate airport also has kids toilets and sink, but it was not easy to find so I ended up not checking it out. The regular toilets I visited were not particularly kid friendly. There was nowhere to put anything down in the cubicles, nor seats to strap baby to while peeing. The sinks and hand dryers are quite high and there was no step provided to get a kid to wash or dry their hands.
There are pharmacies after security checks, but no particularly kid friendly food.
Planes are usually boarded through a finger, which is easier than bus.
Arriving at Malpensa with BA, we disenbarked via a finger. We had the pushchair on board with us but I imagine it would have been possible to get it at the aircraft door. However the previous time, flying with WizzAir, we had left the pushchair at the aircraft door and asked to get it as we got off the plane, which the airline were nice enough to do, however, rather than disembarking via a finger, we had to get down the plane stairs, we collected the buggy which was on the tarmac, and then had to carry it up some flights of stairs into the airport. It was still good to have it from there since it’s a bit of a walk and there was a small queue at passport controls, but not ideal to have to shlep it up, a person on their own would have some trouble.
Finally, getting to Malpensa is easy from Milan, with trains running from Milano Centrale, Cadorna and Porta Garibaldi stations.
Comments