VorelNaCestach

we haven't heard from him for a while now. Hopefully he didn't oversleep and missed his next flight 😬

Fabo.sk

I slept well, but as is so often the case, not quite long enough. At least it was light out already. Let's let the pictures talk then.


Maybe if you've never been in a hotel before. I would give it them at least if it would automatically select your floor, but no, it's the basic "touch card, push button" as everywhere else.

Room is pretty standard, not much to talk about.

So is the bathroom.

There is an interesting mural though.

The view would have been of Milan skyline and departing aircraft, is spoiled though by a screen on the outside. Looking back at the hotel after departure, it seems it's possible to move it? I did not look for that at half past six in the morning though.


On the way down, I managed to take a few pictures of the lobby. Definitely not as out there as some of the early Moxy hotels, even pleasant in a way. Check out was a breeze too.


There is a pool table, some small meeting rooms in the background. It was actually used by guests last night.

I hate these with a passion. Not turntables overall, of those I have a rather oversized collection... The Crossleys.

Seating area in the lobby

Bar. The "reception" is a small counter on the right.


The walk back to the airport in the morning sunshine was appreciably nicer than at night, but I still wouldn't classify it as pleasant, following a major road, then along airport parking.

I timed it at 12 minutes from leaving the hotel building to the departures level, which I think is a good result. If you go straight to priority security, you could be at the gate in 20 minutes.

Today's theme will be lounge safari, and we start with a look at the ITA lounge in Linate.
Not much to say about it, decent seating, good apron views. The breakfast spread was weak, but at least there was self service water and juice unlike in Rome.


I really didn't do a good job with this one.


I didn't spend much time there though, as I realized I lost my public transport card at the security, so had to negotiate the shopping maze again, twice. Luckily, it was found and was given back to me by the security staff, saving me a lot of hassle in the coming days.

Bus boarding again for me, taking me to a different A220 as yesterday. This one has smart two-color seats. Sitting in second row, I also notice USB ports for charging, both A and C, and C apparently 60W. Quite good!


A220-300 ITA Airways, EI-HHN, 2nd row


Service fails to live up to the claims of the website again, “an Italian breakfast with warm baked goods” is what failed to materialize this time round.


The "breakfast" again would irk me if the fare wasn't laughaby cheap.


No matter, IFE is what is out of the window this morning, and before long, we land at FCO.

Fabo.sk

I don't know what I would call it, it's some variation of honeycake I want to say.

No, no oversleeping 🙂 though I wonder if AZ would let me take the later flight to FCO if I did.

But due to the transport card mishap, I didn't have time to finish the morning portion before departure, and took way too long editing and posting after arrival...

Fabo.sk

The idea for the lounge safari came to me when I realized that I might have roughly 7 hours to kill within confines of FCO on the Sunday, but I also have access via Amex and Priority Pass to three other lounges besides the ITA Hangar.

So something to do then.

After arriving from Linate, my first order of business was to finish up the previous post and have some coffee, knowing the ITA offer is good on that front, I started there. But as soon as I finished with FT, I was out of the door.

First stop, Prima Vista lounge. Very full, I could not in good conscience be taking pictures of the ambiance unfortunately. I did manage to score a lounger though.




As with other lounges, drinks (except water) at the bar, food was self service but also at a bar, accessible straight from kitchen.
I got a beer and some pizza, which was good, unlike the ITA one (more in a following post).


Moretti is actually my preferred major Italian beer brand. Point for Prima Vista.

There is one thing that the lounge didn’t have, though. “Děláte machry a hajzl máte na chodbě.” Yep, to go to the toilet, I had to leave the lounge…

The next order of business, Plaza Premium. I believe this is the lounge that AF and KL have to send their pax, not having come to an agreement with AZ yet.
I have leveraged my Amex Platinum.

Similarly to Prima Vista, very busy, so no picture of the ambiance. Instead, lunch offer which I found to be the widest so far. If you want to eat, this is the place to be.



Easily the widest range of available food items in Rome, at least so far.

I did not take any, but I did take from, again, a staffed bar, a glass of house wine which was fruity and nicely drinkable, and some agreeable coffee. This bar also offers a selection of premium spirits, wines, and some cocktails for a surcharge. I don’t think any spirits are available for free, but unlike the other two lounges I’ve visited so far, the house beer (Peroni) is on tap.
Also, they do have their own toilets, and a shower room, which might or might not be in use.

gaobest

Great TR and big kudos on the XP earnings - how many more XP do you need to earn for your status? I love FB although only used it in 2012 when PE on tatl AF was enough for Priority including customs at CDG - that was an amazingly fast customs queue that I’ll always appreciate!

I definitely am concerned for your limited slumber situation.

Fabo.sk

Right then, on to Barcelona for a second time. The screens send me to A34, exactly the same as yesterday evening, meaning we have another bus boarding. No matter, it’s nice out, I’ll enjoy my few minutes in the sun while everyone else shuffles up the stairs.

Smallest load up front yet at 5/12, but while we wait for the second bus, the senior purser offered a PDB service which was not limited to water or orange juice, so I could have some bubbly and feel fancy. One of the other pax is a C2000, which could explain the change if I were flying AF, but I doubt the status means more in AZ than a run off the mill STE+?


Prosecco PDB. Unfortunately, I had only this one upgrade on the PDB front, but multiple downgrades, from water or juice to nothing (including on the return from Barcelona)

And the service continues to be good in the air as well. I’m glad that this is the crew I’ll do the direct turnaround with, not gonna lie.
Other than that, not much to report. If I thought I had issues distinguishing flights yesterday, I’m really feeling it today. We take off from the same runway, in very similar weather. I watch as we cross Sardinia, entering over the same islet as we did yesterday. I am served the same meal of pasta, with the same starter of salmon. I have the same grappa to finish. I will be boarding the same flight back to Rome as yesterday, and I wonder if we’ll have the same gate (which was close enough to the lounge that I might just run up to have the same quick snack).

And because we landed a bit early, that’s exactly what I did. The gate was not the same, but still close, and I was looking at the buffet at almost exactly the same time as after yesterdays shower. Still no Pa amb tomaquet, sadly, so I took some cold cuts and a pastry, and a bottle of Mahou, and went back to gate to join the boarding queue.


Pretty good snack in Barcelona, as always. I love Spanish charcuterie.

No confused faces and welcome back though, to my disappointment, the crew were rotated. Service was then not as good as on the outbound. Still fine, just not as good.

One thing that did not change though, was overselling, the flight was again fully full, and a couple of people enjoyed an upgrade to business. I was looking at the pursers iPad, since a gentleman was sitting in my assigned seat of 1F, and even though it seemed that 5 seats out of 12 will go out empty, in the end every single one of them was taken.

Once again (for the third time, or fourth? I really can’t remember anymore) the three sandwiches and caesar salad were on offer, I decided to just skip it, in favor of Prosecco and grappa. That did the job well enough.


I did take the not-sure-how--to-call-it-something-with-honey cake to have with the grappa. Peroni did not agree with me, it was too foamy, perhaps because of the cabin altitude?


I still have a dinner to sample in Primeclass lounge, which will be my destination straight out of the airplane. 9 out of 12 legs done, 3 remaining. I feel fine still, thanks to a good sleep in the Linate hotel, but I am ever so worried about tomorrow. Hopefully at least I will be tired enough that I’ll have a long, good night of sleep Monday to Tuesday, seeing as Wednesday morning, I am getting up at around 4am for another flight out. Ouch.

Fabo.sk

The yearly requirement is 180. This weekend alone is 162, so I will be starting my following year with some excess.

Honestly after the night in Milan, I still feel pretty good leaving for Athens. I hope my plan of being tired tomorrow night will work.

VorelNaCestach

Do you still have time to order a random special meal (like JapesUK always does) and have some random food instead of the same sandwiches?

Fabo.sk

I imagine that's at least a 24 hour notice. My idea is that I'll try anything twice (unless I really don't like it) and the lounge food more than covers the rest.

But if I do this kind of exercise again, I'll make sure to mix specials in.

Fabo.sk

God damn it. Getting out of the plane in Athens, my tablet fell and screen cracked. Looks like I might be able to finish the report, but touch screen is toast.

Edit: nah, doesn't work for my on the road workflow.

Follow up in the evening from a computer. Now I gotta decide if I actually want to spring for an iPad... I've seen a new app on a trade show recently that made me think it's time, then I've put together the cost of a recent model plus accessories and yikes.

JapesUK

Ouch! That’s horrible luck. You could maybe try continuing updates using your phone? That’s how I write 90% of my reports and provides the perfect excuse for all the typos . Clearly that’s a completely selfish suggestion, been thoroughly enjoying following along

Fabo.sk

I would if I wasn't just two flights in until I get home... I'll still make notes on the phone, but I got into a rhythm with setting up pictures and FT posts that I can't replicate on the phone. So that will have to wait until I'm at my computer.

I was going to get a new device soon anyway probably. But now I have to go through the process now. That's the worst part of it.
Well that and the fact that I barely used the thing in the last year or so and now I was just starting to like it again.
So I guess what I'm saying is that it was just starting to look like I might not be getting a new device.

Fabo.sk

I have, apparently, left the best for last, without even realizing it. A bunch of seating, not too busy at least at this time of the evening, a well stocked bar, a very good selection of food (including a lot of plant-based and low-carb options, this is the lounge for hugolover to go to) and even a nap room! Oh how I wish this was there in Athens…


Bar from behind was an ad for Bombay. You can see some of what's on offer on the shelves.


Ample seating

Lounger in a nap room

The salad bar and the hot mains station is not well visible, but this is definitely the best counter in all four lounges if you're hungry


Sampling some curry and more, all very good, I settled with a beer and a whisky and went on to have some calls.

I did have one last point of business though an that is Hangar lounge

I’ve been there a bunch already, Friday evening, Saturday, as well as Sunday morning. But there was still one more thing to return for, and that is something I have tried the evening before - the two signature cocktails, Fly Up and Flight mode:





Just in general, I would say that beverage situation is great in the lounge, including the cocktails, spirits, the coffee, all good. The singular issue I have with the lounge is there is absolutely no self-service, not even water. That really is no good, staying hydrated is important, and it’s so annoying having to wait until someone from the bar staff gets around to you just to grab a bottle of still or sparkling.

Unfortunately, I cannot be so complimentary about the food. The breakfast is fine if you are good with Italian style brekkie of mostly bread things and/or some charcuterie. Lunch and dinner, I was disappointed by. One thing of pasta and some sauce, and a bunch of cold cuts, or some Roman pizza which was… honestly, the worst thing I have tasted on this trip. I like my good food, as you might guess if you see me occasionally pipe in on the topic in most excellent trip reports by offerendum (not sponsored), but I am not picky and will eat most anything you put in front of me… I couldn’t get past two bites here. Oof.


I rarely leave something uneaten, but here... I just couldn't


My verdict, then, is that the Hangar lounge is more form than function, and while the bar offer is great, if it’s not over capacity, I would still rate it at the tail end of airline-operated lounges in Europe. And if transferring in FCO again, I would not hesitate to visit Primeclass instead.
Or, I might try and give the non-Schengen Piazza di Spagna a chance. I just didn’t have time to tinker with that option on this trip, plus there’s the whole passport control thing (even if I am confident that FCO does have e-gates). It’s a shame as well, that ITA would not take over the landside check-in lounge. That was always a good experience.

Fabo.sk

There is one more detail about the ITA Hangar lounge. The screens there don’t rotate, only ever show one screen's worth of information. So it was quite late by the time my Athens flight rolled around with the gate information, they even already showed Boarding. Another bus gate, I arrived just as the queue was stopped to wait for the second bus, luckily via SP lane I was able to just squeeze into the first one, and with last in - first out principle at play, I was there to be first on the stairs for a change. And good news upon reaching the top - the planned Neo was swapped for a legacy A320ceo from back in Alitalia days, and that meant the superior seating. Good news! Especially given that this is the same frame I will be taking back to Rome first thing in the morning.

For the whole flight, which was once again fully full to the point of overbooking, I was just in a good mood. Service was good as well, once again the same pasta as before, but I ignored it and just had the piece of salmon, and a big glass of grappa as a digestive. I was feeling pretty well about everything, not too tired or anything and looking forward to finishing the next part of the report over the next hour or so… and then the disaster struck. When leaving the plane, I’ve noticed the girl sitting in 1C dropped a hair implement, so I wanted to try and catch up with her without putting my stuff away properly, and on my way out, the tablet slipped my handhold… and crashed down, losing all the parts of the assembly and developing a nasty crack in the corner, which continues all across the screen. Touch screen is not touchy, display works, but if I do touch it at the bottom part of the screen, it does that weird color thing that old LCD computer screens tended to do when you touched them.



Honestly, it lasted 3.5 years, which is a good showing, but it was also only very lightly used.

So much for trying to be helpful…. Oh well.


Other than being pissed about the tablet, I had a pretty good night in the lounge. It was a little quieter than the other night, with about 3-4 people in. But the night also went faster, perhaps because I was not so tired and spent the time reading and napping, before grabbing breakfast.

I also did play the Vivino game. White wines got very respectable results ranging between 3.4 and 3.9 points. Reds with a slightly wider spread from 3.2 to 3.8.

My personal favorite was this Boutari Lefko Gramma, one of the best wines I’ve ever had in a lounge that wasn’t an FCL.

Fabo.sk

And so it came that shortly after 5 it was time to head back to the gate and board the morning flight out. Monday morning you would expect stuff to be busy up front, but not so, 4/12 only. I did not do much with this flight, except have my last airplane breakfast and sleep, enjoying the comfort of A320ceo ex Alitalia seats. Good times.


I had the croissants and the Actimel, left the fruit and declined coffee, feeling my brain ready to rest.


In what seems to have been a theme of the weekend, another gate in Rome where I had already been a day or two earlier, a bit of time in the lounge until gates announced, and this time, again in the new pier. I do like it, I just wish it was a bit closer to the lounges.

Not a problem though, walk there, wait a short moment again for the boarding to start, and then as soon as I was in my seat with earphones in, I couldn’t tell you what was happening in the world, until we landed in Amsterdam. I seem to be regaining my ability to sleep in airplane cabins, at least in the pointy end. Good.

We landed again pretty much on time, and all I had to do was get home, but not before stopping for lunch in Privium lounge West. I always like to visit, whenever I can, but usually I either fly in in the morning, and don’t have time before pressing on with my tasks for the day, or else I arrive late at night when they are already closed… But today, I treated myself to a good lunch.


Privium kitchen leaned into my Italian experience, providing me with the last bit of gnocchi with parmesan, and an "ossobucco" stew.


With that there’s only one thing left in the travel bit:

To leave you were we started, in a train seat. This time a first class of Koploper going south, by now a rarity on my travels. It is one of my favorite trains on the Dutch rails though.