- Introduction: The Very Long Way To Italy & Greece
- Review: Emirates Lounge LAX
- Emirates First Class A380 Review
- Review: Le Meridien Dubai (Emirates Dubai Connect Hotel)
- Review: Emirates A380 First Class Dubai To Milan
- Review: Park Hyatt Milan
- Review: EasyJet A320 Milan To Santorini
- Review: Mystique Santorini Hotel
- Review: Amanzoe Pool Pavilion
- Review: Amanzoe Dining & Activities
- Review: Sofitel Athens Airport
- Review: Emirates Lounge Milan Airport
- Review: Dubai International Airport Hotel
After spending the night at the Sofitel Athens Airport we flew Aegean in economy from Athens to Milan, which was a surprisingly pleasant experience.
Our flight arrived in Milan at around 10AM, while our connection to Dubai was at around 2PM. So when we arrived in Milan we followed the signage towards the Emirates Lounge, which was quite a haul. Malpensa Airport is super spread out, and the signage really doesn’t give you any sense of how long a walk is. In this case it took us about 30 minutes to get to the lounge.
Milan Malpensa Airport terminal
Emirates’ Milan Lounge is located in Terminal 1, near gates B50-59. This is past passport control, and there was quite a long wait there.
The further issue was that we didn’t check-in online and Emirates didn’t have a transit desk before passport control. The person controlling the queue said it wouldn’t be a problem to go through without a boarding pass. I had no issue, while they gave Ford a hard time, though when he showed the ticket they let him through.
After getting through passport control just walk to the end of the terminal and take the escalator up a level, where you’ll find the Emirates Lounge and Casa Alitalia Lounge.
Milan Malpensa Airport terminal
Emirates Lounge Milan exterior
At the desk we were welcomed by an Emirates employee who printed our boarding passes, though it took forever. I’m not sure why it was such a drawn out process, but it must have taken 15 minutes.
Emirates is very consistent when it comes to their lounges, so there’s almost limited value in reviewing them, since they’re all so similar. The only difference is typically whether the lounge features the “new style” decor (like the LAX lounge) or the “old style” decor (like the CMB lounge). Fortunately their Milan lounge is one of their renovated ones.
The Emirates Lounge Malpensa was huge, and wrapped around the corner of the terminal, so was in an L-shape of sorts. There was seating along the windows, with chairs mostly arranged in rows facing one another.
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport seating
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport seating
Then there was a larger and wider seating area further into the lounge.
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport seating
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport seating
Emirates Lounge Milan seating
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport seating
Emirates Lounge Milan seating
Emirates Lounge Milan seating
In the back there was another room with a small entryway. At first I wondered if it was some sort of VIP room, though nope, it was just another area of the lounge. This lounge really is massive.
Emirates Lounge Milan seating
Emirates Lounge Milan seating
Near the entrance to the lounge was a small water feature, as well as a selection of magazines and newspapers.
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport seating
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport magazines & newspapers
There was also a small business center with a few computers and a printer.
Emirates Lounge Milan Airport business center
The dining area was inside the entrance and to the right, and featured dining tables with two to four seats each.
Emirates Lounge Milan dining area
Emirates Lounge Milan dining area
Since the lounge wraps around the terminal, it had nice views of the apron, and even the runways in the distance.
Emirates Lounge Milan view
The lounge had a couple of different drink stations, with one being at the far end of the lounge, and the other being by the main buffet. There was a coffee machine, tea selection, soft drinks, liquor, beer, and wine.
Emirates Lounge Milan drink station
Emirates Lounge Milan coffee & tea
Emirates Lounge Milan drink selection
Emirates Lounge Milan wine
As usual, the main buffet had an excellent food selection, at least when you consider that this is a hybrid first & business class lounge. There was a small circular buffet with some cold dishes, including appetizers, salad, cheese, fresh fruit, and dessert.
Emirates Lounge Milan buffet
Emirates Lounge Milan buffet
Emirates Lounge Milan buffet
Emirates Lounge Milan buffet
Then there was the main buffet, which had things like mixed green vegetables with almonds, aubergine with mozzarella, macaroni with chicken, Milanese style cod, chicken roulade, and more.
Emirates Lounge Milan food selection
Emirates Lounge Milan food selection
Emirates Lounge Milan food selection
Emirates Lounge Milan food selection
There was also soup and a couple more desserts at the buffet.
Emirates Lounge Milan food selection
Emirates Lounge Milan food selection
The lounge also had a prayer room, bathrooms, and then shower rooms inside the bathrooms.
Emirates Lounge Milan bathrooms
Emirates Lounge Milan bathrooms
We had quite a bit of time to kill in the lounge, and I found myself pretty frustrated by the slow Wi-Fi, which seems like something they should get right.
Boarding was scheduled to start at 1:30PM at gate B53, and one of the cool things is that you can board your flight directly from the lounge. Boarding ended up starting at 1:40PM, with all passengers being invited to board.
Boarding directly from Emirates Lounge Milan
It was time to start the very long journey back to the US on my favorite plane!
Emirates A380 taking us to Dubai
Emirates Lounge Milan bottom line
Emirates is remarkably consistent when it comes to their lounge experience. That’s to say that I find this to be a solid business class lounge, though as a first class passenger it’s not all that great, since they don’t do anything special for first passengers.
On the plus side, I find the food in Emirates Lounges to generally be pretty good, and this lounge was no exception.
The extra benefit of the Emirates Lounge Milan is that it offers direct boarding from the gate. However, the disappointment of the lounge was that the Wi-Fi was so slow. Overall, the lounge didn’t blow me away and it certainly doesn’t rank at the top of the best airport lounges, but I’d still gladly spend some time here before a flight.
Can I use Emirates Business lounge on ARRIVAL? Or is it for departing clients only?
Lumma, nice Instagram. It's really a surprise how many interesting things touch our lives everyday until we document them.
A funny douche, at least.
@Lumma - you wanted to be a douche; you’re now a douche.
Lols at the level of snark just five comments in
Aubergine? I thought you were American.
The other room? When I flew MXP>JFK they cornered off that room and had to check everyone that had SSSS and after the check those people waited in that room.
@ chff -- Interesting, that makes a lot of sense!
Was the lounge a far walk from where a traveler would enter the airport landside, or from where your connection was? Because that seems like an important distinction here.
A review on One Mile at a Time? Didn't think such a thing existed
@lucky, regarding travel packages, have you seen the latest update from SPG lurker on FT? They said, "We will convert existing certificates to similarly valued categories after 8/18". What is your interpretation on this?
How much of a hard time did Ford get before he actually bothered to show his ticket? What did they do?
15 minutes for lounge validation? That is insane, are you sure? I would consider 5 minutes to be way out of line.