This is the second part of my trip down to Milan. The first can be found at:

Part 1: 5 Flights 3 Airlines LHR-BRU-MXP In Theory (by jwhite9185 Oct 29 2012 in Trip Reports)

Todays route

The entire planned journey.



And the modified journey after I was sent via Munich due to a delay on the first flight.



This part will cover my return journey - from Milan Malpensa, Zurich, Dusseldorf and back to London Heathrow.

Now where were we?

After yesterday's fun and games, I was hoping today would go a lot more smoothly. Due to my late arrival into Milan, I hadn't got anywhere near the city, so that was on the agenda for the morning.

I checked out of the hotel around 08:30. Shame, because for probably the first time ever I had actually managed to get a decent nights sleep in a hotel.





After coming out of the front doors of the hotel, I was immediately at Malpensa station and on to a waiting train for the half hour or so journey to the city for a return price of €15 – the most expensive train ticket I had brought on a trip this year, although still cheaper than the UK.







I arrived in Milan around 9:30, and spent the next few hours seeing what the city had to offer. And being hassled by Senegalese/Rwandan/Ethiopian's to take their 'free' bits of string. If they're free then why are they so insistent for you to have them?!

Guess they don’t like their neighbors?

Duomo

Lemon and cheese. Odd combination, but actually quite good!

Strangest thing I’d seen since a lemon and cheese croissant…

Liking the retro trams!

At 12:15, I decided it was time to head back to Malpensa. I was hoping everything would go to plan today. I'd been in contact with Infodesk (Hannah) earlier in the day to see what the weather was like in Zurich, and she said it was foggy, but it should clear by the end of the day. I hoped so, as due to missing out on the RJ100 yesterday, I really wanted this one to go to plan.

Pretty clean trains here – reminded me of the new Fyra I went on in Amsterdam

Sure sign that the train was almost there

Once I arrived, I headed off to check in to try and finally check in for my final 2 sectors of the trip. This was met with more confused looks as to why I was taking such a strange routing. I also overheard one of the other check in agents telling another passenger the flight was completely full.





There were quite a few windows in the departure hall, which offered some good views.







After that I went to grab a bite to eat. Figured I'd try an Italian pizza.

I was expecting a slice, not a quarter of the pizza

On my travels, I saw my plane land, along with a couple of others.







Then it was off through a busy, but amusing security.



Once the security guard saw my name he translated it into Italian. I replied, "Thanks I’ll remember that". At which point, he shouted to all his colleagues "It’s Jacamo Bianci! Hey, it's Jacamo Bianci!" Good to see the Italian security officers are human.

As I arrived out of security something caught my eye



I figured as I'd had pasta and pizza this weekend, it would be rude not to have gone gelato. Not actually had it before, but I’m sure I’ll be having it again.



Whilst eating i made a slow walk down to gate A20, taking a few more pictures along the way.

Even LH passengers heading for the lounge don’t escape the duty free here

As it was a bus gate, there were a grand total of about 4 seats, all of which were taken.





Just before 14:30, I saw a bus pull up and then reverse up to the doors – and a couple of second’s later general boarding was announced.





A few moments later, we were off on a pretty good tour of the airport before arriving at HB-IYT. This one had seen service with BA Cityflyer before joining the Swiss European fleet in 2006.





There was a bit of a wait on the tarmac, which was fine with me as it was nice and sunny and the SkyTeam AZ 777 was starting up pretty close by – which can be seen in the video below.

LX1629
MXP-ZRH
21st October 2012
Avro 100/HB-IYT
Seat: 19A
Scheduled: 15:00/16:00
Off stand: 15:07
On stand: 15:56

The check in agent wasn't joking when she said this flight was completely full. First impressions of the RJ100 were that it was pretty roomy, even despite the full load. As expected, I had a seatmate. When he noticed all he picture taking and writing, he asked if I was keeping a travel log. I told him about airliners.net and we had a brief chat about our travels. He asked my opinion on Virgin Atlantic, and I told him about my flights to JFK with them last month. He said he flew with them from SYD and wasn't impressed. He also mentioned he wasn't to impressed with BA on that route either. He seemed to know his stuff as he knew the RJ100 was British built and he said he flew a lot of them with Ansett.

The engines were started at just past 15:00 and we made our way out to the runway. During the taxi, the flight deck came over the PA and welcomed everybody on board, although no flight time was given. Take off was a just past 15:10 - I was surprised at how loud this little jet was! And to think, it used to be the only jet allowed at LCY because it was so quiet.








  Takeoff from MXP















Then there were some spectacular views. A lot of cameras were out for this part of the flight.















No sooner had we taken off it seemed, the engines spooled back. At around the same time the crew had reached my row. No food offering on this flight, except the Swiss chocolate, although to be honest on a flight so short I wasn’t really expecting anything.





At just before 15:40, the flight deck was on again, saying we had started our descent and that he expected landing in around 20 minutes. During descent info was given for connecting flights, although they were all Swiss flights. So no use to me!

Cabin during descent

  [Landing into Zurich

Touchdown was at 15:50, and we made quite a long rollout before heading off in the direction of the A gates, arriving on to stand at 15:56.













It was then on to a waiting bus, before checking the FID's. Annoyingly, they said my gate wasn't due to be announced until 17:25, so I wondered around in the A pier, checking out some of the views along the way.

Told you these doves are getting common!

Interesting

Still no gate announced

No mistaking where I was

The jet that had just brought me to Zurich

This seems to be the Dusseldorf gate, although I was due to be on the next flight

A few weeks before my flight, Hannah kindly said she would arrange a free pass to the observation deck for me... But I figured an evening towards the end of October would be a cold and wet affair so I turned it down. How wrong was I – it was a very sunny and warm day outside. Luckily there were more than enough windows to keep me entertained for the next hour or so.

After seeing most of the A pier and the endless LX A320’s, I went for a wonder and ended up in the part of ZRH I recognized from the pictures I've seen.

No familiar faces today

Impressive – this part seems much newer than the A pier

At 17:25 gate A62 was announced, although the previous flight, also to Dusseldorf, hadn't vacated it yet. Out of all my flights this weekend, this was the one that couldn't go wrong, as I only had a 45 minute transfer time in Dusseldorf. Although I guess if Lufthansa cause the delay, I'll get an extra night away at their expense. Also of note is that if all goes to plan this will start a run of 3 737 classics. At 18:00, with less than an hour before departure, there was still no sign of a Lufthansa 737. Or any other Lufthansa plane for that matter.



At 18:15 I spotted a Lufthansa 737 over in the distance.



And shortly after it was on stand





At which point I headed upstairs to the gate.





Boarding commenced at 18:35

LH3139
ZRH-DUS
21st October 2012
737-530/D-ABIE Hildesheim
Seat: 14F
Scheduled: 18:55/20:05
Off stand: 18:53
On stand: 19:55

The flight seemed pretty full to me. There was somebody sat in the aisle of row 14, but nobody in the middle seat, so there was still a fair bit of space. The boarding complete announcement came at 18:47, before pushing back 5 minutes later a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. A flying time of 55 minutes was given.

Luckily the plane wasn't on a stand too far from the runway and we took off at 19:00. Very good work of the ground crew to get this one turned round in 38 minutes.





  Takeoff from Zurich





After takeoff the meal service began. And it was once again time to play Lufthansa meal roulette. Tonight it would be a cheese croissant.

Quite tasty actually

Not much more can be said about this sector really. No watching the world go by this evening.



Just your standard Lufthansa flight, but with no decent views as it was now dark, although the other side of the plane had a very good sunset by the look of it. The meal service was very quick and efficient though. I asked if they knew if this aircraft would be docking anywhere near where my connection to LHR would be leaving from, but they said they didn't know but as DUS is so small and we were on time, I shouldn't have anything to worry about. I had a quick browse through the in flight mag to pass the time.

Reminds me of the Air Europe 757 I went on to Mexico for some reason?

Interesting that this exact aircraft is featured.

Shortly before 19:30, descent started.

Passing Dusseldorf on finals

Touchdown was at 19:52, and we made our way over to the terminal.















Then it was on to a bus for a quick tour of DUS. I’m guessing this one would now be stopping for the night, as there were jetbridges available.

Almost under the wing!

After a quick bus ride I was in the terminal and heading for gate A76.









Once at the gate, it was clear that the aircraft had only just arrived as all the previous passengers were only just disembarking. Although this flight could now be as late as it wanted as this was my final sector.

There’s always one who thinks the plane will get there quicker if they're on first.

My short time in DUS was spent sitting at the gate, as once through passport control there really isn’t much to see or do. Just a sandwich bar really. Also there were 5 or 6 British tourists that seemed amazed with the vending machine, as they hadn’t heard of any of the brands in it. Guessing they don’t go abroad much… Boarding started at 20:37. I'd imagine that it would be a bit of a push to be away by 20:50, but surprisingly this was achieved.

LH3388
DUS-LHR
21st October 2012
737-330/D-ABEB Xanten
Seat: 23A
Scheduled: 20:50/21:15
Off stand: 20:50
On stand: 21:16

Interesting to note was that this one had been upgraded from the scheduled -500 to the -300. The same thing happened on my flight from LGW to FRA in March. Also, it means that my run of 737 classics would now be a -300, -400 and a -500. Amusingly (and somewhat amazingly), during boarding the crew came over the PA and pointed out that this aircraft was going to London Heathrow, and that somebody just got on thinking this was the Munich flight - how did that happen?! It was a reasonably full load - which will explain the bigger than anticipated plane, and it was a similar situation to my previous flight, just under an hour ago - the middle seat remained free whilst there was somebody on the aisle. A flight time of 1 hour was given.

Not a huge difference in legroom from my previous flight.

Pushback was at 20:50 local and we made our way over to the same runway that I had touched down on just under an hour ago.









Take off was at 21:00























We made a 180 degree turn to fly back past DUS

Last view of the ground until the M25!

Tonight's Lufthansa roulette meal threw up a cheese sandwich. Delivered with a smile. And an OJ.



The rest of the flight was much like the last. Uneventful until, descent started at just before 20:30 UK time.

Another cabin view just for the sake of it.

The captain came over the PA during the descent to inform us that we were to be put into a holding pattern for 5 to 10 minutes. This came as no surprise though. The weather update was no surprise either - windy and wet!

Descent was a pretty dull affair. Due to the cloud cover there wasn't much to be seen until around 1000ft.

The view for most of the descent

Then it was a pretty hard touchdown on to 09L, and a short taxi over to T1 pulling up alongside a freshly painted BD/BA A319.



























After waiting round for about 5 minutes on stand, the cabin crew came over the PA and announced we would be disembarking through the rear doors. Unusual, but a nice surprise.





There was a ground crew member shouting at me while I was taking these pictures but it was only because she was holding the door open for me and I was taking my time – a quick “sorry” and she gave a smile and said that’s fine and I was on my way. A world away from the ground crew I experienced at BHD back in July.










After this, it was through the numerous corridors of T1 to immigration.

Good to see a 737 classic at LHR

Explored pretty much every corner of this place yesterday…

Passport control was pretty quick, then through to arrivals.

Surprised they haven’t seen an opportunity to stick a duty free shop in here.

Departures area is pretty empty at this time of night.

And finally, out to the central bus station for the coach home, arriving at around 23:00 pleased that today’s flights had gone exactly to plan. Now it was time to hang around for 45 minutes for the coach home.







Previous trip reports

Part 1: 5 Flights 3 Airlines LHR-BRU-MXP In Theory (by jwhite9185 Oct 29 2012 in Trip Reports)
Cancellations, Widebodies And Iberia LHR-MAD-LHR (by jwhite9185 Oct 17 2012 in Trip Reports)
Virgin Atlantic's New A330 LHR-JFK-LHR (by jwhite9185 Sep 21 2012 in Trip Reports)
A Night In Amsterdam - KLM F70/738 LHR-AMS-LHR (by jwhite9185 Aug 28 2012 in Trip Reports)
Trying Out Flybe - LGW-BHD-GLA-BHD-LGW (by jwhite9185 Jul 11 2012 in Trip Reports)
A Day Trip To MAN (by jwhite9185 Jun 21 2012 in Trip Reports)
Nice, Monaco And The Great British Lounge With BMI (by jwhite9185 May 13 2012 in Trip Reports)
EI237/182 LGW-DUB-LHR And 2 Lounges (by jwhite9185 Apr 18 2012 in Trip Reports)
LGW-FRA-BRU-LHR With LH And SN (by jwhite9185 Mar 27 2012 in Trip Reports)
BA906/8735 LHR-FRA-LCY (by jwhite9185 Mar 13 2012 in Trip Reports)
VS015/016 LGW-MCO-LGW June 2010 (by jwhite9185 Jan 20 2012 in Trip Reports)
VS006 MIA-LHR A340-642 June 2008 (by jwhite9185 Feb 10 2012 in Trip Reports)
Virgin Atlantic 747 To BGI - October 2007 (by jwhite9185 Aug 3 2012 in Trip Reports)

Good TR Mr. White! ^^

I am stunned how many places of Milan you visited in just a good 3-4 hours time.

The view of the alps looked great, but I even more liked your pictures of the evening departure at DUS. The world has a very special look at night, all the lights look magical.

Good choice of aircraft, too, despite you didn't really choose the 733.


Keep going,
Carst

Nice report James...looks like your return was slighlt less eventful than on the way out.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Amusingly (and somewhat amazingly), during boarding the crew came over the PA and pointed out that this aircraft was going to London Heathrow, and that somebody just got on thinking this was the Munich flight - how did that happen?!

How did that happen? MUC fllights wouldn't be leaving from a non-Schengen gate. Wierd.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Surprised they haven’t seen an opportunity to stick a duty free shop in here.

I HATE that area...you have to walk so far, and there's nothing to look at! They should stick something in there, ot sure what though

Carsten,

Quoting CARST (Reply 4): Good TR Mr. White! ^^

Thanks,

Quoting CARST (Reply 4): I am stunned how many places of Milan you visited in just a good 3-4 hours time.

I felt like I didn't see much of it to be honest - just the main touristy parts.

Quoting CARST (Reply 4): The view of the alps looked great, but I even more liked your pictures of the evening departure at DUS. The world has a very special look at night, all the lights look magical.

Still trying to get the best of my camera at night though.

Quoting CARST (Reply 4): Good choice of aircraft, too, despite you didn't really choose the 733.

It was still scheduled to be a 735 anyway so not a huge difference. Despite wanting to try LX mainline, the choice of flying on a couple of 737 classics and (briefly) taking in another airport was more appealing.

Gabriel,

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 5): Nice report James

Thanks,

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 5): looks like your return was slighlt less eventful than on the way out.

Yeah - luckily. Although when it was 35 minutes before departure at ZRH and there was no sight of a plane, I was starting to feel a little twitchy.

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 5): How did that happen? MUC fllights wouldn't be leaving from a non-Schengen gate. Wierd.

I did wonder how could passport control, and the automatic gates fail to stop them? If the cabin crew hadn't noticed the passenger would of had a nasty shock when they got to LHR!

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 5): I HATE that area...you have to walk so far, and there's nothing to look at! They should stick something in there, ot sure what though

Just a waste of space in a crowded airport. Although I doubt anything will go there now due to T1 being pulled down in the near future.

Hiya mr Bianco  

Definitely a good read and nice pics. Good to see you logged your most wanted RJ100, the Swiss ones are the more nicer ones around with an attractive cabin and 2x3 seating. Also the Luftwaffe didn’t disappoint although your DUS connection was a near miss it seems. I wonder how long those -500’s and -300’s will still be around. They do have the newer cabin config installed so probably some more time I guess.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): the most expensive train ticket I had brought on a trip this year, although still cheaper than the UK.

And those trains look reaaly nice and modern although to be a 100% Italian they should be blood red iso burgundy coloured.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): There were quite a few windows in the departure hall, which offered some good views.

MXP indeed has good views in the departure hall.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Good to see the Italian security officers are human.

Ha ha, they were having their daily mockery it seems to escape the dullness of the job 

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): SkyTeam AZ 777

If only this one would operate the NRT flight on Jan 11th ‘13...

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): and that somebody just got on thinking this was the Munich flight

How come someone thinks that? You do have to pass border control and all?

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Tonight's Lufthansa roulette meal threw up a cheese sandwich.

Just like delays, cheese seems to be a reccuring theme here  

Sultanils

Hi James,

nice last part of your series. I also flew on HB-IYT, in February 2011 (ZRH-MUC).

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Strangest thing I’d seen since a lemon and cheese croissant…

  

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Luckily the plane wasn't on a stand too far from the runway and we took off at 19:00. Very good work of the ground crew to get this one turned round in 38 minutes.

That's indeed impressive!


PH

Hello there James!

Nice to see your return journey online.Another great report with many nice pictures as usual  
You seemed to have visited quite some places in Milan during the morning, well done really enjoyed them.
SWISS and LH look quite nice like almost always seems to be the case, it reamins a shame they have such a bad FFP!

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Strangest thing I’d seen since a lemon and cheese croissant…

Haha, what the hell is she doing?

Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 1): As expected, I had a seatmate. When he noticed all he picture taking and writing, he asked if I was keeping a travel log. I told him about airliners.net and we had a brief chat about our travels. He asked my opinion on Virgin Atlantic, and I told him about my flights to JFK with them last month. He said he flew with them from SYD and wasn't impressed. He also mentioned he wasn't to impressed with BA on that route either. He seemed to know his stuff as he knew the RJ100 was British built and he said he flew a lot of them with Ansett.

Its always nice to have such a seatmate during the flight, it beats someone who says nothing and keeps giving you weird looks whenever you take pictures of something

Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 3): Tonight's Lufthansa roulette meal threw up a cheese sandwich. Delivered with a smile. And an OJ.

I wouldn't really call it roulette nowadays. LH seems to have downgraded their snacks as on my last 10 flights with htem 9 were those cheese sandwiches and the other was that cheese croissant! Such a shame as they had many other great snacks!

cheers mate,

Brendan

Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 3): Now it was time to hang around for 45 minutes for the coach home.

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Hiya mr Bianco

Hi Mr Nils

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Definitely a good read and nice pics.

Cheers!

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Good to see you logged your most wanted RJ100, the Swiss ones are the more nicer ones around with an attractive cabin and 2x3 seating.

It was a pretty good little jet, although now I've learned that I guess anything else will be a disappointment!

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Also the Luftwaffe didn’t disappoint although your DUS connection was a near miss it seems.

Yeah, I've yet to have anything less than great flights with them. The connection was a little tighter than I would have chosen but it was one of those types where you just get what you're given with no option of changing. Although I had the next day off work so wouldn't of been the end of the world if the ZRH-DUS leg would have been delayed. Could even have tried to squeeze another sector out of them!!

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): I wonder how long those -500’s and -300’s will still be around.

2016 is what I've heard.

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): And those trains look reaaly nice and modern

They seemed pretty new - which is why they reminded me of the Fyra I went on from Amsterdam centraal to Schiphol.

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Ha ha, they were having their daily mockery it seems to escape the dullness of the job

Made a nice change from all the other robot like security I've experienced this year.

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): How come someone thinks that? You do have to pass border control and all?

I did wonder the same. Even the cabin crew had a dis believing tone in their voice when they made the announcement

Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Just like delays, cheese seems to be a reccuring theme here

Guess there was wasn't there!

PH,

Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): nice last part of your series.

Thanks,

Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): That's indeed impressive!

I know - when the plane arrived on stand at 18:15, i never thought we would be away on schedule. Although I did notice one of the ground crew doing the walk around rather than the first officer so I guess that could of saved some time.

Brendan,

Quoting adamspotter (Reply 9): Another great report with many nice pictures as usual

Thanks,

Quoting adamspotter (Reply 9): SWISS and LH look quite nice like almost always seems to be the case, it reamins a shame they have such a bad FFP!

Agreed!

Quoting adamspotter (Reply 9): Haha, what the hell is she doing?

Think it was some sort of 'art' exhibit... there were lots of strange goings on round that area - including a fisherman trying to catch a picture of a fish.

Quoting adamspotter (Reply 9): Its always nice to have such a seatmate during the flight, it beats someone who says nothing and keeps giving you weird looks whenever you take pictures of something

True, although I'm not sure I've even had any weird looks. Or none that I've noticed anyway.

Quoting adamspotter (Reply 9): I wouldn't really call it roulette nowadays. LH seems to have downgraded their snacks as on my last 10 flights with htem 9 were those cheese sandwiches and the other was that cheese croissant! Such a shame as they had many other great snacks!

Well on my 6 flights with them I've yet to have the same snack twice. Guess you just fly with them too much so you've exhausted all the options...

Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 10): True, although I'm not sure I've even had any weird looks. Or none that I've noticed anyway.

I meant more with flying in the USA, dont get much weird looks here in Europe..

Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 10): Well on my 6 flights with them I've yet to have the same snack twice. Guess you just fly with them too much so you've exhausted all the options...

Haha that could be true too.. Although these flights were within the last 2 months..

cheers,

Brendan

Hi James,

Good to read that for once all you flights went to plan (well, revised plan!) and that the fog didn't cause you any problems. Some really super photos too: the ones on Milan, the inflight views from the MXP-ZRH leg & the night time shots taken from the DUS-LHR flight.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Take off was a just past 15:10 - I was surprised at how loud this little jet was! And to think, it used to be the only jet allowed at LCY because it was so quiet.

I do love LX's Avros. I find the flaps terribly noisy though, they could give some people quite a fright.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): During descent info was given for connecting flights, although they were all Swiss flights. So no use to me!

Interesting point you make there. They should really give out LH connections as well, but now I come to think of it I don't think I've ever heard them do so.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): I was hoping everything would go to plan today. I'd been in contact with Infodesk (Hannah) earlier in the day to see what the weather was like in Zurich, and she said it was foggy, but it should clear by the end of the day.

Looking at those pictures nobody would believe the visibility had been 0 a few hours earlier!

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Annoyingly, they said my gate wasn't due to be announced until 17:25, so I wondered around in the A pier,

That's to keep you in the shopping area in the hope you'll part with your money   

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): A few weeks before my flight, Hannah kindly said she would arrange a free pass to the observation deck for me... But I figured an evening towards the end of October would be a cold and wet affair so I turned it down. How wrong was I – it was a very sunny and warm day outside.

When the fog has lifted, autumn can be glorious here.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): No familiar faces today

Enjoying the sun in the Black forest instead!

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Impressive – this part seems much newer than the A pier

Yes, it is, was opened in 2004.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): And it was once again time to play Lufthansa meal roulette. Tonight it would be a cheese croissant.

A croissant in the evening? Not really the best snack imo.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Tonight's Lufthansa roulette meal threw up a cheese sandwich. Delivered

That looks pretty grim too.

Happy flying
Infodesk   

Hi Hannah,

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): Good to read that for once all you flights went to plan (well, revised plan!) and that the fog didn't cause you any problems.

Yeah, when you mentioned fog when I messaged you earlier in the morning, the first thought I had was 'here we go again...' I was relieved when i saw the RJ100 land at MXP though.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): Some really super photos too: the ones on Milan, the inflight views from the MXP-ZRH leg & the night time shots taken from the DUS-LHR flight.

Thanks - although still working on the nighttime ones. Now that the winters here though, I'm bound to get a bit more practice.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): I find the flaps terribly noisy though, they could give some people quite a fright.

Did wonder what the odd noise was after takeoff.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): They should really give out LH connections as well, but now I come to think of it I don't think I've ever heard them do so.

Cant comment on LX, but during descent into MUC the previous day the LH crew gave connection information. Cant remember if they did it on my flight to FRA in March though.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): Looking at those pictures nobody would believe the visibility had been 0 a few hours earlier!

Haha I did have to think twice if I had got your location right - couldn't have been a nicer day!

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): That's to keep you in the shopping area in the hope you'll part with your money

Didn't work with me - I didn't bother getting any Swiss Francs, and even if i did there wasn't much that took my fancy.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): When the fog has lifted, autumn can be glorious here.

It was a very nice day indeed.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): A croissant in the evening? Not really the best snack imo.

It wasn't too bad - filled a hole.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 12): That looks pretty grim too.

Again, it was ok although the bread wasn't to my tasting.

Hi, J.,

good to see the return from Milano on Star machines.
And also good to see all the pictures from the city, well done.
No delays and nice weather, sure a good day of travel.

Greetings,
Markus(FLIEGER67)

Excellent Report, James.
DUS seems to be quite a convenient place to connect Schengen-> Non Schengen ,right? I believe especially to flights to the US this is more convenient than FRA and even MUC probably?

MXP looks like a bad place. To tell from the pictures this is an airport I would not like to spend any more minute than necessary there. I will fly through there in January and have quite a long layover... Oh my...

Markus,

Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 14): good to see the return from Milano on Star machines. And also good to see all the pictures from the city, well done. No delays and nice weather, sure a good day of travel.

Thanks, and yeah it wasn't too bad considering I got in 3 sectors, a decent couple of hours at ZRH and a morning looking round Milan. Only downside was that I didn't have a slightly longer connection time a DUS to have a closer look what there was there.

Frederic,

Quoting reifel (Reply 15): Excellent Report, James.

Thanks,

Quoting reifel (Reply 15): DUS seems to be quite a convenient place to connect Schengen-> Non Schengen ,right? I believe especially to flights to the US this is more convenient than FRA and even MUC probably?

Yeah it was pretty easy at least from the pier I went from. Theres around 3 or 4 Schengen gates at the end of the pier with passport control blocking the pier - it can be seen in one of the pics. As it was pretty quiet it was effortless. If I remember correctly, when I transferred at FRA I had to clear security again, despite not going landside. Cant comment on MUC as I did go landside there due to the long layover.

Quoting reifel (Reply 15): MXP looks like a bad place. To tell from the pictures this is an airport I would not like to spend any more minute than necessary there.

Wouldn't say it was a bad place. It needs a bit of a refresh, but I've been to worse places. Although to be honest I didn't spend any great length of time exploring.

Hello James
Nice report, thanks for sharing it with us!
LX and LH have preformed well again, nice to log the AR1/735/733 combo! Not very frequent nowadays!
LH seems to be service wise a bitbetter.
Great pics over the alps on the MXP-ZRH leg

Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 2): 737-530/D-ABIE Hildesheim

I flew her as well between FRA and BRU back in 2011! Here is my report.
Going Home, The Star Alliance Way! (by MSS658 Mar 21 2012 in Trip Reports)

Greetings
Marc

Hi Marc,

Quoting MSS658 (Reply 17): Nice report, thanks for sharing it with us!

Thanks, no problem!

Quoting MSS658 (Reply 17): nice to log the AR1/735/733

It was the main thing that attracted me to these flights. As i mentioned the 733 was unexpected as it was scheduled to be another 735. Although that didn't bother me as theres not a huge difference between the 2. Shame it couldn't have been the AR1/AR1/735/733 though.

Quoting MSS658 (Reply 17): Great pics over the alps on the MXP-ZRH leg

I got lucky with the weather for sure.

Quoting MSS658 (Reply 17): I flew her as well between FRA and BRU back in 2011! Here is my report.

I'll have to take a look at that one.

Great report Jacamo!
Nice to read that everything went well this time.

Great pictures of Milan also, reminds me of my visit a few years ago. By coincedence I also flew there with LX via ZRH, amazing view of the Alps on that sector indeed!

Quoting roberts87 (Reply 19): Great report Jacamo!

Thanks Roberto!

Quoting roberts87 (Reply 19): Nice to read that everything went well this time.

Yeah, and it also went to plan on my trip this week also so hopefully my run of bad luck is over.

Quoting roberts87 (Reply 19): By coincedence I also flew there with LX via ZRH, amazing view of the Alps on that sector indeed!

One of the more scenic routes, although I've heard flying over the Himalayas is also pretty scenic.

Hi James,

Nice TR again, glad to see things went more seamless on the homebound journey than on the outbound.
Nice to read about some LH flights, I'm flying two shorthaul economy flights with them this Tuesday, although on Airbuses.

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): After that I went to grab a bite to eat. Figured I'd try an Italian pizza.

I think I ate at the exact same place when I was at MXP!

Martin

Hey James  

Quoting jwhite9185 (Thread starter): Guess they don’t like their neighbors?

Too funny .

You got some good places to see in Milan , a lot I recognise from my visits there.

Nice photos and read as usual.

Regards

Philip  

Martin,

Quoting deltamartin (Reply 21): Nice TR again

Thanks,

Quoting deltamartin (Reply 21): glad to see things went more seamless on the homebound journey than on the outbound.

So was I!

Quoting deltamartin (Reply 21): Nice to read about some LH flights, I'm flying two shorthaul economy flights with them this Tuesday, although on Airbuses.

Check out Pt1. of this trip - I flew out on a pair of LH A319's.

Quoting deltamartin (Reply 21): I think I ate at the exact same place when I was at MXP!

Didn't seem like there was a lot of options there really.

Philip,

Quoting OA260 (Reply 22): You got some good places to see in Milan , a lot I recognise from my visits there.

I was surprised I managed to see so much in the few hours I had there. Would of liked to spent a bit more time looking round the castle though.

Quoting OA260 (Reply 22): Nice photos and read as usual.

Thanks