Hello, and welcome to another trip report. It's really early here and very quiet too,
at Milan's Linate Airport. Today I'm flying Alitalia down to Rome, a short hop in economy.
Join me and let's check it out.
Having flown into Malpensa Airport the previous day, I chose Linate for my onward journey.
As you can see, it's close to the city centre, and I was able to get a shuttle
from my hotel for 5 euro.
Linate is easy to use and preferable to Malpensa because it's so close to the city, and it's
no surprise that Alitalia use this airport for their shuttles into Rome.
As I'm on a long trip, I have a bag to check.
Baggage check opens at 6am and is efficient, and I'm leaving with my
boarding pass in less than five minutes.
Linate airport is very busy in the morning, as most of the flights are geared around people
travelling on business.
18 flights leave in the first hour alone.
There would have been a day when these low ceilings and dim lights would have been
fashionable.
That day isn't today though.
Security is quick and I'm through in just a few minutes; that gives me plenty of time to check out
the lounge.
Lounge access is not included in my economy class ticket but I do have a Priority Pass,
and I'm always interested to see how much effort airports put into their lounge offer.
The Sala Leonardo is on the mezzanine level, and I was pretty impressed.
The drink selection is extensive and all the fruit
and continental items are fresh and appetising.
There's a great Italian coffee machine as well as juices and ready made
breakfast sandwiches on offer today.
I have to say, I didn't try the orange lemon and carrot juice.
That sounded pretty disgusting to me!
I had a small breakfast as I knew there would be no food on board today's flight, and a
fantastic - and very necessary espresso coffee.
Everywhere in the lounge has access to a power point and the decor is tasteful and subdued.
There's even some modern art in one of the sitting areas.
Overall, the Sala Leonardo is a very good lounge and much better than it needed to be, given that Linate is not an
airport you'd typically spend a lot of time in.
Heading to the gate, I spot the Iberia flight to Madrid.
Iberia must be one of the least consistent airlines I've flown.
And here's our ride, which is an Airbus A319, in the new Alitalia livery.
We're lucky to have a jetbridge gate, as Linate has a lot of remote stands, as you
can see here.
There's our crew arriving.
On the day I flew, Alitalia revealed they'd be getting yet another new uniform.
That's pretty impressive for an airline in financial difficulties.
In fact, I can't remember a time when Alitalia didn't have money trouble.
Anyway, on we go.
It's a pretty standard 3+3 layout, European business class at the front here, with a blocked centre seat.
My seat today is in Economy - 20F, just a normal economy seat as you can see here.
I'm not a tall guy, so I was shocked by the poor legroom here - my knees are actually
touching the seat in front.
I couldn't find a reliable figure for their seat pitch
online, so I'm going to guess this is 29 inches.
It's really not good.
The morning haze ensures Milan disappears very quickly behind us, so let's check out the
route down to Rome today.
It's 292 miles and we'll cruise at 25,000 feet for our 55 minute flight today.
Service is done with a trolley from the rear, so sitting at the back had some advantage
this time.
There is no food at all on this shuttle, but there's the choice
of coffee, water, and juice.
I certainly did not need a coffee after the industrial strength
espresso I had in the lounge.
They serve blood orange juice which is delicious.
Alitalia is a stylish carrier and I've always loved their simple logo, which you can also
see on the headrest covers.
The magazine on board is okay and it has a number of English articles, and of course you know how much I
love my route maps.
One thing I didn't realise until I opened this route map is that Alitalia serve some
destinations in South America.
Our flight takes us down the western coast of Italy, and while we're looking out of the
window - do you know any other airline that prints their name on the top
of the wing?
There's a duty free brochure on board - and we can see the storage in the seat is actually
quite good, with a substantial pocket able to take all of my gear.
It doesn't make up for the poor legroom though.
Did you know your GPS will work on your phone even in Airplane mode?
It's helpful, as I can identify us passing the
coastal town of Piombino, which you can see just here.
We're descending in no time, and there are no ATC delays in Rome today, so we don't have
to hold on our approach.
You can just make out a 777 leaving here, likely heading out over the Atlantic, westbound.
Let me know if you can identify this airfield north of Rome - I couldn't, and it's the sort
of thing that'll annoy me for quite a long time.
If you want to do this flight yourself, it can be done for just £41 one way - that's
about 46 Euro.
That fare doesn't include hand baggage or seat selection though.
Business can be booked for £380, but nobody does that, everyone in that Business
cabin you saw earlier will be connecting through Rome to somewhere long haul on a through ticket, I'm sure.
This was my first time flying Alitalia and I had mixed feelings about it.
On one hand, the flight was very cheap, but there's
very limited service for a legacy carrier and the seat was not at all comfortable, not something
I say very often.
And here I am safely on the ground here in Rome's Fiumicino Airport.
I've got about 8 or 9 hours to kill, so I'm going to head into town, before my next flight on this world tour
That flight's going to be with Saudia, which is the national airline of Saudi Arabia.
I've never been to the Middle East or flown on any Middle Eastern airline before,
so that's completely uncharted territory for me, it's uncharted territory for this channel and it's not an airline you frequently see
featured in Youtube trip reports.
So, I hope you'll subscribe and catch that video when I release it - it will be the next video released on this channel,
but until then - have a good one!