 "An%20Early%20Post-Covid%20Non-Rev%20Adventure%20to%20Italy%20(EWR%20to%20MXP)")
Italy is one of the first countries to welcome travelers from the United States, and as of writing, a “covid-19 vaccine” is not needed for entry, only a few negative covid-19 tests (more on that later). Upon reading another “non-rever” ’s detailed account of her recent travel to Milan from the United States, I felt a growing sense of confidence that we too, could successfully pull off, and thoroughly enjoy a non-rev adventure from Newark, New Jersey, to Milan Italy ( EWR to MXP).
One thing about my husband that I appreciate is his sense of adventure and spontaneity. He has an innate sense that there’s “nothing to it but to do it”, or as he often abbreviates it “NTI,BTDI”. It was one week to the day prior to our departure, in which I inquired of him if he would like to go to Milan. He was immediately in! Especially since he is of Italian heritage, and has traveled to Italy many times and loves it. I had several days off in a row from work, and wouldn’t even have to use vacation time, and my husband is a professor with a flexible, mobile schedule.
I suggested we depart June 9th, arrive June 10th, and depart back to the USA on the 12th. That would give me one full day buffer until returning to work a June 14th.
Pretty soon after my declaration to my husband about how we should go to Milan, he informed me that Milan was not exactly the ideal city to visit, as my first visit to Italy. He said it is cool because it is modern, and the fashion capital, but it would not be his ideal choice.
We went to the pool, and while he was swimming laps I researched day trips out of Milan. Soon I came over to where he was in the pool and asked, “what about Lake Como, have you heard of that?”. He said he would love to go to Lake Como, so from there we fleshed out the details of our quick non-rev trip.
Day 1 : Non-Reving our way to Milan from Columbus, Ohio
So what is non-rev travel? Simply put, non-rev (non revenue) travel is a travel benefit airline employees have access to, which entails listing as a standby passenger on flights you are hoping to fly on for free, or for a significantly reduced rate. Each employee listed on standby has his or her own priority level based on seniority at the job, whether they are mainline or regional, retired or active, an employee or a spouse, etc. There is no promise you will get assigned a seat on the plane. You must wait until all revenue passengers are boarded to see if empty seats are available, and of those empty seats, those ahead of you on the standby list will fill in the seats accordingly.
In the case of the flight Newark to Milan I was able to have a great deal of confidence that we would get a seat assignment because over 100 seats were available, and we were 8th on standby. This is thanks to the fact many Americans haven’t yet started traveling internationally as of writing.
Columbus to Newark Via La Guardia and a Car
My main concern was not getting to Italy, but getting to Newark. The previous day there had been a very long ground-stop in a Newark due to weather, so therefore the delays and cancellations rolled over onto June 9th (our travel day) resulting in full flights to Newark.
Our first attempt to Newark from Columbus was unsuccessful because the flight was overbooked by 5 revenue passengers. Upon looking at the passenger loads for all other options to Newark out of Columbus, I was concerned. If only we could get ourselves to Newark we would be good. It was pushing to the 10am hour so we decided to scrap the Newark idea, and fly into NYC’s La Guardia airport (LGA).
Thankfully we were able to non-rev to La Guardia on American Airlines, and we arrived about 12:30pm.
After some quick research, and scrambling to problem-solve, we found a car service called Carmel to drive us from La Guardia to Newark. The ride took about 45 minutes and cost approximately $100 after all the fees. Certainly, we would have rather arrived free by plane to Newark, but as it turned out, I am thankful we discovered this option in a pinch.
To travel to Italy at the time of writing this post, on United Airlines out of Newark you need the following:
1.) You need exactly this: “A negative covid -19 molecular or antigen swab based test taken no more than 48 hours of departure.” This is 48 hours from the time TAKEN, not from the time the results come back to you. This is where to sign up for an appointment for the Covid Test inside EWR. A couple notes on this. My husband received the exact covid test they require, in Fort Myers, FL at Walgreens (FOR FREE!!), and initially he was given a hard time about it by the United Airlines representatives. He was told that yes, the test he got was exactly correct, but that it had to be taken at the EWR airport (which is not clear on the website). Eventually he was able to have the Walgreens test accepted, but not without the issues of confrontation first. Also, I had no choice but to do the EWR covid test because I had been out flying for work non-stop leading up to the trip. Upon arriving to take the test at Newark, the employees (some of who are very rude) will not tell you by any means which test you need for the city you are traveling to. This is nerve wracking because even when I showed them the United Airlines Italy requirement website and read it verbatim, they would not assist me on which test it is I needed. I finally found out which test it was that most people going to Milan were getting (the $250 test that comes back with results in one hour) and I went ahead with that. I got a $50 discount with my crew badge at least, but they do not accept any insurance. Paying $200 for that when my husband got the exact same thing done at Walgreens for free was discouraging, but a necessary evil to continue with the trip.
2.) Upon arrival into Milan’s MXP airport you will need to take AN ADDITIONAL FREE rapid antigen test given to you by MXP airport staff. If you only bring carry on, you can get to the line for this quickly, and you cannot miss the line because you can’t leave the airport without finding it. It only takes about 10 minutes to get the test back. In doing this, as long as your test is negative, you do not need to quarantine at all. If you are headed back to the USA within 3 days of the time the test is taken, keep this test result form because you can also use the same form to meet the negative covid test requirement to return to the USA. This is what we did because we did not stay in Italy more than 3 days. If you are staying in Italy more than 3 days, you will need to use the google translation tool if you do not speak Italian, and you will need to write an email to tamponimalpensa@grupposandonato.it to make an appointment for a free test at MXP airport for your USA return flight. In this email I would suggest telling them when you arrived, and what that airline and flight number was, and when you are departing, and what airline and flight number that will be. They will write you back in Italian and you can translate it with the google tool again.
3.) Traveling to Milan, you must fill out this form https://health.aero/sea/
4.) You must fill out a passenger locator form https://app.euplf.eu/#/
5.) You should download and print out this form for the Italian police They never collected it however.
All of the information provided here comes directly from this United Airlines link about travel to Italy. Please go check this out for yourself rather than relying on this blog post, as things change all of the time.
Once we checked in successfully with our covid tests, and showed that we filled out the passenger locator form, we received the security document that shows we are standby passengers. We proceeded through security and onward to the gate. Our flight departure was at 6:35pm and arrival time was 8:20am in Milan. To our delight, we were successful in securing a United Polaris first class seats! The entire cost to us by non-reving, to fly to Milan was $89 each. We could have flown coach for free, but this upgrade was worth it. The seats are able to recline into beds, and you have your own comfortable pod, a very nice gift bag, Saks Fifth Avenue bedding ( a thick blanket and two types of pillows), and two excellent meals were provided (dinner and breakfast). My husband and I loved the entire experience, and I slept pretty well. I woke up at about midnight (Ohio time) to get dressed for the day and do my makeup. This was morning time in Italy, about 7am.
Taking Trains from MXP Airport to Reach Como, Italy, and Where we Stayed
We wanted to start our adventure in Como Italy, a beautiful lakeside town full of culture and beauty. I found a wonderful, affordable hotel located very close to the train stop. Based on staying at this particular hotel, we chose to take the following train route.
Inside the airport, at either terminal 1 or 2 you can buy a ticket at a kiosk, in English, for a Malpensa Express train ticket to Milano Porta Garibaldi train station (an English speaking assistant was there to help us). At Milano Porta Garbaldi train station, you then buy another train ticket, again on a kiosk that allows you to choose English as a language, on a regional train, to San Giovanni station. You will see large monitors up high on the wall that will tell you which platform to go to for the train to San Giovanni. If a platform is not listed yet, just wait, don;t worry, and it will be listed. The entire journey from the Terminal in the airport where the train departs, to San Giovanni station is about an hour and a half.
Upon arriving to Como San Giovanni Station in Como, Italy, you will see it is a cute station with a little coffee shop in it. Go down the main steps (or if you have luggage, go down the side where there are no steps, and find the sculpture of hands.
Once you find this hand sculpture, cross the street and not far to the right, turn right down a small parked car lined narrow street and walk about 5 minutes or so. There you will find B&B Como Hotel. I hope that will help you to find it a bit better than we initially did. It is quite close and convenient to the train station. Once we found it, we realized it was easy to find.
B&B Como Hotel
We really liked this hotel. It is charming, the rooms are simple and chic. Everything was clean, there was a USB charging outlet, so even without a European charging converter you can charge some things. The shower was small and cute. A breakfast is offered for an extra charge if you are interested. There is a little convenience store in the lobby. There are several nice areas to sit in the lobby. This hotel cost approximately $88 USD for one night. In addition to the hotel being a close walk to the train station, it is also a close walk to Lake Como. I could not have been happier with the choice to stay here while in Como, Italy. For more information, here is the website for B&B Como Hotel
Exploring Beautiful Lake Como on Foot, and by Ferry Boat to Bellagio
Walking from our hotel to Lake Como, I was instantly taken in by the beauty of the old romantic buildings, the manicured gum drop trees, the fiats and small cars, and of course the mountain view-lake peppered with swans and sailboats. There is so much you could do to enjoy a day in the city of Como. One thing we would have done if we had more time, is to rent a scooter for the day. Our hotel lobby had a flyer about this scooter rental company, if that sounds like something you would be interested in exploring more.
What we decided to do, was to take a ferry boat, located prominently and easy to find in Como at the lakeside, to the city of Bellagio. There is a slow ferry and a fast ferry. We took the fast ferry, and it was a 50 minute ride, and it cost about 60 euros total for the round trip for two people . It was nice to sit down and just enjoy the view of all the homes on the water. I understand there is a bus also, which would be a more affordable idea. If I had known more about the bus route, I would have taken the bus one of the trip’s legs.
While in Bellagio we walked up and down the steep pebbled stairs which are lined with storefronts and restaurants. We chose to take a bite to eat of strawberry lemon pie and wine, near the water at an elegant spot with pink table clothes and yellow chairs surrounded by flowers. This was one of the most beautiful spots I have ever seen!
We returned on the last ferry of the day back to Como, and once there we dined on a lovely Italian dinner outside. The remainder of that evening, and the following morning we used our time to wander the streets and explore the town.
The next day we headed back to Como San Giovanni train station and headed towards Milan. Keeping our carry on luggage with us, we got off the train at both Milano Centrale and Milano Porta Garbaldi train stations, the later being our preferred. We had an excellent lunch at a pub, and I bought a pretty, “Made in Italy” blue and white floral dress.
Later that evening we continued on the train all the way back to MXP, and called for our next hotel’s shuttle to come pick us up. The hotel we stayed at in Milan was First Hotel Malpensa. Again, I would recommend this hotel to anyone because it was close to the airport, and they offer transportation via their shuttle for a fee. The rooms were simple, clean, and the lobby was nice. If you are interested in breakfast in the morning, they offer if for a fee. The staff were quite pleasant. You can read more reviews about First Hotel Malpensa here. Another great attribute of staying at this hotel, is that literally next door you can walk to La Quercia, a lovely restaurant with a casual chic outdoor dining ambiance. The pizzas are huge, and of an excellent value. We were thrilled with the ease of walking so close for such a nice meal.
The next morning we got up early, drank a fantastic latte at the hotel, and took their shuttle with some other couples to the MXP airport to catch our non-rev flight on Delta One, headed back to JFK. Once again, we had absolutely no issues securing standby seats on the flight! One thing of note, is that there were two QRC codes that we had to scan when checking in for our Delta return flight at MXP, and these had to be filled out and screenshot for later. I am sure when you check in with Delta they would assist you on what these two forms are. That was something we didn’t realize we were supposed to do, but it goes to show that they will help you if you forget to do something. Of course, if you were in Italy more than 3 days, you must present a negative covid test taken within 3 days of departure, as mentioned above, for them to let you board the plane.
In conclusion, our trip to Italy was spontaneous, quick, and ahead of the curve, since most Americans have not started traveling internationally yet, but it was totally worth it to us for the memories, the thrill, and the learning experience. This was actually the first time we have non-reved internationally, and I certainly hope we try more international non-rev adventure in the future. I hope this blog post will encourage others to start traveling internationally again soon, now that things are loosening up again. It’s time!
BellagioComo ItalyFlight Attendant lifeItalyLake ComoNon RevNon Rev travelTravel
