Review of SWISS flight from Zurich to Milan in Economy

INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone,
when Summer 2024 vacations approached I decided not to book anything in particular. I made this choice for two reasons: first of all prices were incontrolably high and second, but not less important, I wanted to spend my two weeks work-break in total relax
This choice had a result by the way: planning a trip for the following Spring.

Around September I realized I could merge Easter '25 vacations with Italian Liberation Day, respectively the 20th and the 2th April 2025. Four day-offs would result in ten days at home, giving space for a good vacation

At first I had two options:
1. A tour of the Pearl river's delta, visiting Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and Guangzhou
2. Azerbaijian with the option of a few days in Istanbul
The second option was on stage in case the first one resulted too expensive

Searching on the internet and asking a couple of people I realized the first option presented an issue: both Shenzhen and Guangzhou don't prove too interesting to be part of a porpouse trip
My father suggested me to try visiting Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, stopping over in Malacca for a night. Even if the plan was interesting and I've always wanted to visit Singapore (being an F1 fan too) I wasn't so sure leaving HK and Macau apart. Specifically, I made a 2-hour layoover in Hong Kong in 2019, while going to Vietnam, but due to ongoing protests it was not wise to organize a couple of days there.

After a brief check on prices for Singapore to HK/Macau flights, which proved quite cheap, I ended up with this itinerary:
19th to 22nd April in Singapore
22nd to 23rd April in Macau
23rd to 26th April in Hong Kong

Due to flights' scheduled I was supposed to leave Italy in the afternoon of 18th April and return home in the early hours of the 27th.

BOOKING OPTIONS

Considering I wanna focus this report more on the flight itself you can read further information about the planning and booking process in the previous reports

As solution to fly from Milan to Singapore and Hong Kong to Milan I ended up with the following solution with Lufthansa Group, paying 939 euros. The booking was made on October 10th

For Singapore to Macau flight I chose Scoot, paying 177 euros

The total for plane journeys was so 1136 euros

18th April 2025 - Milan-Malpensa (MXP) > Frankfurt (FRA) - Lufthansa LH 255 - Airbus A319
18th April 2025 - Frankfurt (FRA) > Singapore (SIN) - Lufthansa LH 778 - Boeing 747-8
22nd April 2025 - Singapore (SIN) > Macau (MFM) - Scoot TR 904 - Airbus A321neo
26th April 2025 - Hong Kong (HKG) > Zurich (ZRH) - Swiss International Air Lines LX 139 - Boeing 777-300ER
27th April 2025 - Zurich (ZRH) > Milan-Malpensa (MXP) - Swiss International Air Lines LX 1612 - Airbus A320

ROUTING

Some stats:
9th out of 9 flights of 2025 (as of May '25)
First time on an -300 series of an A220

BEFORE THE FLIGHT

24 hours before departing from Hong Kong Lufthansa app allowed me to check-in
The process was easy, even if document verification was a bit slow

I was assigned 28A

TRANSFERRING AND SPOTTING

The security check-point for transfer passengers was a breeze
Ten minutes after disembarking my flight from HK I found myself in the airside level of Dock E
It was 7 AM, one hour and half before the scheduled boarding time to Milan
The airport was slowly getting awake

I really like Dock E architecture, the extensive use of raw concrete and glass really works good in my opinion

I wanted to visit the panoramic terrace, but the opening time was set for 8 AM, too tight considering I had boarding scheduled for 8:35 and should go to the main terminal, pass the immigration and walk to the next gate

However, the large windows give a lot of spotting opportunities as well

Etihad Airways 787 

Turkish Airlines A321

Just landed Condor A320 with a Swiss A340 stored in the background
That livery will never impress me…

The wonderful Cathay Pacific A350 landing from Hong Kong almost one hour after my flight

KLM Boeing 737 taking off

Qatar Airways A350 

Swiss Air Lines Boeing 777 at the stand…

…and taxiing away

The HK A350 parked

Enter text here…

United Airlines Boeing 767-300
The nosecone still carries the old UA color scheme

Swiss A330 with a Thai Airways Triple-7 pulling in

GETTING TO THE GATE

50 minutes before scheduled boarding time I made my way to the main terminal
The FIDS stills showed "A" as gate area

Getting the SkyMetro 

The ride lasted 2 minutes

The passport control hall was almost empty, only two desks were opened and no e-Gate was available
I cleared the inspection in a couple of minutes

The Airside Center departure lounge was full of life
The selection of shops is really good and the entire environment is really pleasant

The large glass facade literary floods the area of natural light

Cocktails and Tails might be a good name for this bar

The apron between Dock A and Dock B/D

easyJet, Lufthansa and Condor A320s, Elvetic Airways Embraer and airBaltic A220 lined up at Dock A

Edelweiss A350 taxiing in the distance

In case you're not sure…

Being close to the boarding time I made my way to gate A52

More spotting on the way, with other Swiss, Lufthansa and airBaltic birds

Dock E, sitting on the other side of runway 10/28

British Airways Airbus, Cathay Pacific A350, Swiss A330, Thai Airways 777 and United Airlines 767

Swiss A330s and 777
The latter was the one bringing me from HKG

Bombardier Global 600 taking off

Singapore Airlines 777 in Star Alliance livery
The white tail make everything too plain

Got at the gate 20 minutes before scheduled boarding
The bus gate area is quite anonymous

BOARDING AND TAXIING

Perfectly on time the gate was opened

During the 7-minute ride to the plane no spotting was possible due to the advert coating on the bus windows

Our ride for today:
airBaltic Airbus A220-300, YL-AAX
First flight of the aircraft on 20th September 2020 (4.6 years), leased by airBaltic in December 2020. It's the 24th A220 to join airBaltic's fleet
The cabin features 149 seats in full-Y configuration
It operates this route for Swiss International Air Lines

Instant door…

…and instant wing

The plane was around 60% full
Only the first two rows were used as Business Class

The view from my seat

The legroom was perfectly decent for a 55-minute flight
Luckily the seat next to mine was empty, giving me extra storage

This screen is such a nice touch

At 9:11, eleven minutes after scheduled, the engines came to life and we left the stand

Alsie Express Dassault Falcon 8X taking off right before us

Lining up to runway 28, the shortest in ZRH

Even if the taxi was quite long, it took less than 10 minutes

LX 1612 FLIGHT FROM ZURICH TO MILAN

18 minutes later than scheduled the engines went full power

Saying goodbye to Swiss soil

Crossing runway 16/34

Rümlang, a small town west of the airport

Right after taking-off we entered a thick layer of clouds, emerging again while reaching cruise altitude

Ten minutes into the flight a bottle of water was delivered

Despite being so short, this route offers some of the best views I've ever seen
Crossing the Alps is such a wonderful experience

Entering the Italian airspace the ground was completely hidden by clouds

ARRIVAL INTO MILAN

Less than 20 minutes after departure the plane began its descent

Passing through the clouds…

…and finally emerging back over Pianura Padana

The descent path passes over the border between Lombardy and Piedmont Regions

A4 motorway, connecting Turin to Trieste passing by Milan and Venice

Ticino River, a Po's tributary, marks the aforementioned border

Turbigo Power Plant and the namesake town

Malpensa Airport highway

Lonate Pozzolo lies just a few yards south of MXP

We'd land on runway 35R

At 9.52, three minutes before scheduled and 34 minutes after leaving Zurich, we softly touched down at Milan-Malpensa Airport

Vacating the runway

And crossing 17R/35L

Qatar Airways A350 taking off to Doha

United Airlines triple-7 on its way to the runway

DHL 737F in CargoAir livery

Air Canada A330 in Star Alliance livery parked at a remote stand

With its role of Italy's cargo hub Malpensa offers unusual views

Emirates Air Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, Air China and MSC Air Cargo 777Fs, Neos Air 787 and Camex 767F

Spanish birds at the Satellite 1: Iberia A320 and Air Europa 737

Austrian Airlines E-Jet, Ryanair 737 and Aegean A320neo

6 minutes after landing we blocked A8, next to the Greek A320neo

Disembark was quite quick
The walk to the baggage reclaim area was as well

Baggage were already on the belt as I got in the hall
I had to wait a few more minutes to get mine

The meeters-and-greeters hall was really crowded, being that Sunday a day of returns for many vacationers

I got off the terminal half a hour after touching down

My friend was already waiting for me
She brought me to her house, where I had parked my car

It took me one hour and half to get back to my home in San Pellegrino
No traffic was around, being almost lunch time

It comes to the end this wonderful vacation, full of beautiful memories, amazing places and unbelievable sensations
Thank you for your attention and see you at the next report!