Review of ITA Airways flight Milan Rome in Economy

Airline ITA Airways
Flight AZ2045
Class Economy
Seat 32A
Aircraft Airbus A320neo
Flight time 00:46
Take-off 13 Apr 24, 11:13
Arrival at 13 Apr 24, 11:59
AZ   #73 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 47 reviews
Carlotherocks
Published on 28th April 2024

INTRODUCTION


Hello FlightReporters!
The 9th April my father turned 70. Since he planned to celebrate his birthday the Saturday after (13rd Aprile) I decided to make him a surprise showing up at the party in Rome.

On month before I checked flights or trains from Milan, leaving on Saturday and departing back on Sunday afternoon.
Train costed around 190 euros with italo train operator. I neither check Trenitalia since usually tickets are more expensive.
I took a look at ITA Airways' website and the price was around 160 euros.

Since a dear friend of mine works as flight attendant for ITA he offered me to check for discounted flights.
He gave me two possibilities: stand-by tickets for 91 euros and confirmed tickets for 110 euros. Having to work on Monday I went for the latter without any doubt.

I choose these routes:
Saturday 13rd April, AZ2045, LIN-FCO, 11:00 - 12:10
Sunday 14th April, AZ2050, FCO-LIN, 18:00 - 19:10


ROUTING


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Routing


GETTING TO LINATE


Since November 2022 Linate Airport is connected to the city center by M4 (blue) Metro line. It runs from the airport to San Babila square, in the middle of Milan's fashion district, just a few minutes from Duomo cathedral.

According to Google Maps I need 45 minutes from my home near Udine metro station (on the M2) to get to Linate. With the flight planned for 11 I decided to be at the airport around 9:15/9:30.
At 8:35 I left home

Udine metro station, on the green line (M2)


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First change in Loreto to get the red line (M1)


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In San Babile the transfer between M1 and M4 is out of the fare gates


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M4 is an automated metro line
The website claims that the connection between San Babila and Linate takes 12 minutes. I check the clock and it's true
The potential of having an airport so close to the center is enormous


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At 9:21 I step inside Milano-Linate Airport terminal
The building is connected to the metro station by a short tunnel


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AT THE AIRPORT


Even if I had checked-in the day before I made my way to ITA Airways counter to get my boarding pass printed


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No queue at the check-in desks


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The lady at the counter asked me if I wanted to put my baggage in the hold for free. She told me the plane was packed and full of connecting passengers in FCO
By the way I refused the offer since I didn't want to wait in Rome

Breakfast time


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Getting straight to security


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It took me literaly 5 minutes to clear security
The agent at the x-ray joked with me about my plane tattoo on the forearm


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The departure lounge was busy, but not full


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With 40 minutes before scheduled boarding I went upstairs for some spotting
The apron was quite full of birds


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ITA Airwas A320neo


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ITA Airways A320s and Luxair ATR-72


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Air France A319 departing


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SkyAlps ATR-72


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Air Dolomiti Embraer just landed


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As boarding time approached I walked to my gate, A18


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My ride to FCO:
ITA Airways Airbus A320neo, EI-INA
Initially destinated to S7 Airlines, it become part of AZ's fleet in March '23 (1.4 years old)
It's equipped with 180 seats in mixed C-Y configuration. The plane is dedicated to football player Giacinto Facchetti.


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The gate was opened 10 minutes in advance


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(Blue) corporate picture


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The seat I automatically got was 32A, on the last row


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At 10:50 boarding was declared completed and doors were closed minutes after

Precisely at 11 we left the gate


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Taxiing by two twins


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Bombardier Global 7500


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Waiting for this ITA A220 landing to align on the runway


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the flight


14 minutes after scheduled the two Pratt&Whitneys went full power


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The geneal aviation sector was packed of private jets


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Forlanini Avenue, the access road to LIN and Milan in the background


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CityLife district on the left and Porta Nuova skyscrapers on the right


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Banking over Milan suburbs


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Pointing eastward for a while as we climbed


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Milan Outer Eastern Ring Road (A58) and Milan-Brescia (A35) motorways' intersection


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Snowy Alps are visible in the distance


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Crossing the river Po somewhere over Piacenza


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Caorso former nuclear power plant (left) and A1-A21 motorway


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Fifteen minutes into the flight a drink service was delivered


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I went for an orange juice


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Corporate shot


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Outside a light mist made any sight-spotting difficult


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Trasimeno Lake, in Umbria


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25 minutes after taking off seat belt signs went on and cabin was set for landing
Meanwhile we approached Tyrrean Sea coastline north of Rome


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Bracciano Lake


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The countryside around Rome
We'd land from north


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Flaps down


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A12 motorway


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Runway 16L for us, as usual


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One minute before mid-day we touched down at Rome "Leonardo da Vinci" International Airport
Landing was gentle, braking a bit less


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Line up of ITA's A320s welcoming us


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Poste Air Cargo Boeing 737


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Pier A61-83 with Ryanair, TAP and Air France birds parked


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Iberia and ITA docked at pier A31-52


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Reaching gate A33 in a few minutes

Lufthansa and ITA Airways A320neos parked together
Rehersal of the future marriage?


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Opening the doors took more than expected
We left the plane at 12:15


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I made my way straight to the exit
Moments later I met my mother and my sister parked at the kiss and ride lane
I arrived home at 13, four hours and half after leaving my house in Milan
Such a good door-to-door performance

Stay tuned for the return flight

See more

Verdict

ITA Airways

6.3/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering5.0

Milan - LIN

8.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access9.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Rome - FCO

7.3/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services7.0
Cleanliness7.0

Conclusion

Definitely a standard ITA's domestic leg
What impress me so much is the big comfort of metro line connecting Linate to the city. Is definitely a plus for an airport so close to the urban area and so used for shorts flights

Information on the route Milan (LIN) Rome (FCO)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 11 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne Milan (LIN) → Rome (FCO).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est ITA Airways avec 6.8/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 0 heures et 54 minutes.

  More information

6 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 650118 by
    Jett Tyler GOLD 371 Comments
    Thanks for sharing the ITA flight experience within Italy!
  • Comment 650199 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6787 Comments
    Nice to see ITA have now repainted a majority of the fleet in that beautiful livery! Too bad you got one of the ex-S7 A320neos and not a "real" ITA neo with the better cabins and streaming IFE. It's kind of a shame that it's a lottery as to which cabin you'll get on the neo.

    Thanks for sharing!
  • Comment 650632 by
    NGO85 SILVER 2002 Comments
    Ciao Carlo, thanks for sharing. A night and day difference from the XZ experience. It is sad that the salty/sweet offerings are gone from the service, but I guess saving 10s of euros every flight adds up. As Kevin pointed out, shame it wasn't the real A320neo with USB and Wi-Fi.

    The agent at the x-ray joked with me about my plane tattoo on the forearm

    Was it an Alitalia livery?^^
    • Comment 650647 by
      Carlotherocks AUTHOR 104 Comments
      Thanx! Definitely a glow up from my recent experience with Aeroitalia. I wont never betray AZ anymore ahaha
      Yeah the snack is missing as the WiFi too. Hopefully in future they'll improve this part of the experience

      Ahaha actually my tattoo is a 747 seen from above and without livery. Carrying my passion literaly on my skin :)

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