On the return portion of my exotic journey to Bangkok via Paris, I had an extended layover at the Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP). I was booked to fly to Zurich (ZRH) on SWISS, but my flight ended up being canceled, so my initially planned roughly three hour layover ended up being more like seven hours.
For the most part, I find Lufthansa’s regional European lounges to be pretty bland and average, but I must say, I thought this lounge was a cut above. Maybe it’s just a function of this being Italy, but I loved the barista coffee, and I also found the food to be a bit better than usual.
I also have to say, the staff in the lounge were lovely, in terms of assisting with rebooking me. That’s a bit ironic, because some longtime OMAAT readers may remember my 2022 incident in this lounge, where I dealt with an awful, vindictive lounge agent.
Lufthansa Lounge Milan location
The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa is located in Terminal 1, in the Schengen zone of the airport, as you’d expect. Once in the terminal, just follow the signage for gates A24-30, and then on the left you’ll immediately see the entrance to the Lufthansa Lounge.
Lufthansa Lounge Milan hours
The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa has varying hours depending on the flight schedule each day. The lounge typically opens at 4:30AM or 4:45AM, and typically closes at 8:30PM or 9:30PM. You’ll want to check the Lufthansa or Star Alliance website to get the latest opening hours.
Lufthansa Lounge Milan entry requirements
The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa follows standard Star Alliance lounge access policies. This means the lounge is open to Star Alliance first and business class passengers, as well as Star Alliance Gold members.
This is used as the primary lounge for all Lufthansa Group carriers, so my SWISS business class ticket got me into this lounge. Note that this is just one shared lounge, so there’s not a separate Lufthansa Senator Lounge and Lufthansa Business Lounge, as you’ll find at some other airports.
Lufthansa Lounge Milan seating & layout
The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa is 550 square meters (around 6,000 square feet), with seating for 117 guests. So it’s a decent size for an outstation lounge, but definitely not massive. Lufthansa Group has a good amount of service to the airport, so it’s not unusual to see three or more flights around the same time.
When it comes to the layout, the lounge is more or less in an “L” shape — when you enter, there’s a central walkway with seating on one side and the buffet on the other side, and then as you make a right turn, you’ll find yourself in the rest of the lounge, which has most of the seating.
Near the entrance, you’ll find some communal tables with easy access to charging, some little semi-private seating nooks, and also some cafe-style tables with chairs and banquettes.
The lounge’s main area then has a variety of seating options, ranging from rows of leather chairs facing one another, to high-top seating along counters, to sofas.
The lounge has some cool design elements, like the backlit wall that’s supposed to look like a bookshelf.
Wi-Fi in the lounge was fast and free. All-in-all, I found it to be one of the nicer Lufthansa Lounge locations in Europe.
Lufthansa Lounge Milan food & drinks
I guess expectations of food and drinks are just a little higher in Italy, because everything felt a little elevated, especially later in the day.
When I first arrived in the lounge breakfast was being served, and options included cereal, fruit, yogurt, cheese, cold cuts, rolls, pastries, and more. There were also several hot options, including scrambled eggs, friulian traditional potatoes, ham, and fennel au gratin.
When it comes to drinks, there was a large selection of self-serve soft drinks, coffee, and tea, and on top of that, there was a selection of liquor available from the bartenders.
I love how this lounge has barista coffee, as you don’t often see that in Lufthansa Lounges! I was sure to enjoy a couple of cappuccinos.
There were also a bunch of little sweets guests could help themselves to, like cookies and chocolates.
While I didn’t eat anything further, the lunch selection looked really impressive, with the lounge staff even plating pasta dishes for guests.
Lufthansa Lounge Milan bathrooms
The Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa bathrooms are located inside the entrance and to the right, and it’s specifically noted how these are “premium restrooms from Villeroy & Boch.”
The men’s room had a couple of sinks, toilets, and urinals, and was reasonably clean.
The lounge doesn’t have showers, which isn’t surprising for a regional lounge.
Bottom line
While Lufthansa Lounges tend to be pretty cookie cutter, the Milan Malpensa location stands out a bit positively, in subtle ways. The lounge wasn’t very crowded, it had barista coffee, and it had food that was a bit better than I’m used to seeing in Lufthansa’s lounge network in Europe, including a chef preparing pasta dishes.
While I wouldn’t arrive here way earlier than I needed to, this is a perfectly good short haul European lounge.
What’s your take on the Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa?
