Everything is far from MXP. It's only marginally further from Switzerland than central Milan. On the plus side, there is frequent direct train service to Cadorna station in the center. The Hilton is OK but if I were in your shoes I would try to swap some Hilton points for Hyatt points on CC and stay at the Park Hyatt which is a gem of a hotel in a great location.

^ :D

To clarify a point made by SATLawyer a few pages back, that rat hole of a lounge in MXP (Boticelli Lounge) does NOT have free wifi for people with their own computers. One can purchase a day pass, but no feebies and, as he indicated, no computers there for general use.
Worst lounge ever -- can't really imagine that it would be much worse spending the time in the public areas. Only advantage is free beverages. One funny thing -- I asked about showers when I entered. The desk guy turned around, looked in a cupboard, turned back and said he didn't seem to have any shower heads. :confused: :D Did my own reconaissance - showers did feature shower heads (nothing but the best in the Boticelli Lounce) but were so dingy I decided I'd rather wait another 12 hours for a shower, especially since drying myself with paper towels doesn't seem satisfying.
I can only say I hope people don't pay membership fees for access to such places. :eek:

Regarding Cyprus, had a lovely time. Driving was very easy & I explored a bunch of little villages up in the mountains. Some nice beaches, too. And good ruins, nice people, and good food. Looking forward to going back. ^

1st of 4 trips (1 AZ and 3 NW)
 

Left YYZ on the Thursday the 4th to MXP. As has been mentioned, the AC lounge is nice with lots of different things to munch on. No soup there though before my departure. Boarding was not quite cattle car. They did let business passengers board early. They tried to make a big deal of my rollaboard bad and laptop bag untill they noticed that I was in J. The seats like many have mentioned were old and ragged. Mine had black pen marks all over the arm rest. Service was really rushed. I enjoyed the pasta appetizers. Very tasty. The sparkling wine (spumanti) was not very good at all. The meal it self was very coach like. Nothing special about it at all. What ever you do though, Don't ask for Vodka! I asked for a screwdriver and they said they had no Vodka. I couldn't belive that J had no vodka. I asked another flight attendant the same thing and next thing I know, The perser came to chew me out for asking about Vodka again. Unbelievable!!! Apparently if it was catered, it went into one of the crew's bag.

Landing in MXP was quick and a bus was there to meet us and take us to the terminal. The lounge like everyone mentioned was horrible. It was so busy that morning, there was no place to sit for a while. I was able to take a shower though. They did have towels, a little ammenity kit with soap, toothpaste, shampoo and body wash. I was even given a nice wrapped pair of flip flops to use. They just wanted to check my boarding pass for shower use though. After a 4 hour layover :eek: I was on my way to LCA. The cyprus air flight was on time and it was cattle car boarding. The business seats were awful like your typical European business class. Champagne (Tattinger) and OJ were offered while boarding continued. Service was very good and refills on the Champers were free flowing. The meal was also very coach like and nothing too memorable.

Landing in LCA was quick and as was mentioned, they had a bus to pick up all 6 of us in Business. That was nice.... Customs was a breeze. Picked up the rental car and got a scare as it was the first time driving on the left hand side. I stayed at the Hilton Park. It was quite a pain trying to find it though. As soon as I arrived, they had already upgraded me to a suite and champagne and canapies were waiting in the room. Very nice touch! Woke up the next morning at 6:00 AM and had breakfast and headed to the airport. Warning- Nothing is open on sundays so beware... Luckily, most of the gas stations take credit cards so no attendant needed.

Returned the car and waited in a long line for check in. This was the beginning of the 1st NW trip so no business class for me. Coach wasn't too bad on CY. Food was ok and the booze was free. Flight to AMS was about 4 hours with a 2 hour layover untill my AMS-MSP flight on the diesel-10. Coach was packed and so was business. I was hoping for an op-up but it was not to be. Typical pissy NW flight attendants on the flight. One old gally hag had to be about 70 and was quite rough around the edges. Other than that, flight was good and landed on time in MSP. Now I am in the WC just waiting for my flight to GEG. I have 1 day off and then the 2nd trip to LCA on NW...

Guaugeguy - Great trip report, you're helping me set some realistic expectations about the AZ J product :td: I'm a bit confused regarding the NW LCA trip. Was this a part of the AZ $39 trip (YYZ-LCA) that ended up using NW metal, or did you book the earlier NW mileage run to LCA (I believe that was a LCA-XXX trip, I forget what city it was going to). If I recall correctly, that was a 'B' class fare, wasn't it?)

Enjoy your back-to-back trips, keep the reports coming. Too bad about the lack of Vodkas (and the scolding you received). You can be sure I'll be asking for Vodka on my upcoming YYZ-FCO flights!!!

Bostonbali

This was the 1st half of the AZ trip YYZ-LCA and the 1st half of one on the NW LCA-PDX (or in my case LCA-GEG). Anyway, just resting up today for the retun flight on NW GEG-LCA tomorrow. :)

i think it's disgusting to badmouth alitalia's product when they are basically giving it to you for free. really sad.

i am going on this trip and am sincerely appreciative for alitalia honoring the fare. i have benefited from mistake fares in the past but have also had them pulled. COPA confirmed me on a flight a year or so ago that was a mistake fare but chose to not honor it.

"thank you, alitalia, for honoring the fare," should be our line. i would never say: "boy, your $39 business class fare to europe in the summer really is sub-par."

:rolleyes:

My thoughts exactly. I just returned from Cyprus and want to thank Alitalia. I thought the flights from Toronto to Milan and back was fantastic. Both were ahead of schedule and the flight attendants did a very nice job. I also thought the food was great and didn’t have any problems getting some shut eye in the seats! While I understand some people may have had some issues in the past...my trip was very smooth and pain free! Thanks again to Alitalia! ^ ^

On a side note….I highly recommend the Inter-Continental Aphrodite Hills! What a beautiful resort! We really enjoyed our two days there. Its a bit of a drive from Larnaca but I thought it was worth it!

I can simulataneously believe (1) it's a wonderful thing that AZ honored the fare, I'm getting a wonderful deal and a great value for the money (!) and (2) AZ's business class is inferior to many other carriers in the world.

yes, you can. but, posts with "thumbs down" about the service/product and sarcastic comments that the AZ lounges aren't up to snuff are simply ungrateful and infantile. again, scoring a $39 business class fare to europe in the summer should elicite nothing but THANKS. :rolleyes:

I don't know... this forum is about people's trips to LCA (and imho that includes the good and the bad experiences of those who have traveled there--as they see it)

Perhaps we could focus our posts on such as that will probably be most helpful for those who are making plans for future trips.

Each individual can 'filter out' those comments they find unhelpful while 'note' those comments that they find helpful.

I guess we're supposed to grade on a curve?

I'm eternally grateful that I got to dive the Zenobia, soak up the sun on Nissi Beach, and cross the Pond twice in business class for a pittance, but that doesn't change the fact that Alitalia's Milan lounge, for example, is a dive.

I guess we could whitewash facts like these if it would make everybody feel better about buying a $33 fare. But in a trip report thread -- as Renard astutely noted -- why shouldn't we call a spade a spade?

Jaimito (and anyone else who might know).... a few questions:
I'm going to be in LCA next week, and I have some similar plans as yours:
1) I'm flying the YYZ-FCO flight. Is the Biz seat any different from the YYZ-MXP Biz seat? eg, Personal IFE montiors, etc?
2) I'm probably renting with Hertz. Would you recommend them?
3) I'm deciding between the Hilton and the Hilton Park SA. The Hilton is about US$60 per night more than the Park... is it worth it? I'm a HH Gold btw.

Thanks for the help!

Personally I'd go for the Hilton

Standard:
Hilton: 5*
Park: 4*

Access to LCA airport:
Hilton: 30 mins
Park: 45 mins plus

Access to city centre:
Hilton: walking distance - 10 mins
Park: Taxi 15 minutes

Other stuff:
Hilton Park is quite isolated. There's a drive-through MacDonalds, and furniture and car show rooms nearby

Hope this helps

Hilton Hertz!
 

Hertz was okay to rent from. Friendly, but not so good instructions for the Hilton Park. I paid about $307 for a week for a Honda CRV (The website will quote you a Rav4, but they say they don't have any). This is with a AAA discount.

They do precharge you about $80 US for a tank of gas, but you can fill it up and get it refunded. (I'd recommend this, as they charge you 15% VAT on the gas charge!)

I booked both the Hilton Park and Hilton Cyprus award nights, both before the June 1st increase. (10K Park, 25k Cyprus, though I changed the latter to their 18k point stretcher that is out now). The Park is now at 12k point stretcher.

I got a much nicer welcome gift from the Hilton Park (Champagne, salmon platter, water) than the Hilton Cyprus. I got a 2x sized room from the Park, as well. However, the king bed just sucked there in my opinion. Even the presidential suite had the same bed.

The Hilton Cyprus is much nicer, bedwise (but only upgraded to Exec floor and just a fruit plate & small bottle of wine), much easier to find, but parking is quite bad here the night I was there. The buffet breakfast here is nice, but maybe only 10% better than the Park. They also didn't give me breakfast as a Diamond, and the waitress had to call the front desk to get it approved.

The spa in the Hilton Cyprus is also pretty nice, and included with executive floor, I think.

When I checked, both locations were in the $200 US or more a night range. I personally would not pay this amount to stay at either place. At 1/2 cent a point, I paid $50 and $90 a night for each place which is reasonable.

The Park is a bit out of everything. There's a supermarket, bowling alley, and McDonalds in easily walkable distance. Decent parking, and a nice pool too.