Turin Caselle Airport, Piemonte Lounge review

There is one thing that most of my travels have in common. They have been starting and ending from "Sandro Pertini" Torino Caselle airport for 20 years.

For a frequent traveler like yours truly, the choice of departure airport is critical. Each of us has our own strategy: there are those who prefer large airports so that they can choose carriers that will take them directly to their final destination, and those like me who prefer to make an intermediate stopover and depart from the most convenient and nearby airport.

Working a lot in America, it was almost a no-brainer for me. Intercontinental flights heading west almost always leave early in the morning. Having to take the car to make the two-hour drive to Malpensa, often at night, in winter with the risk of fog and accidents along the way always discouraged me.

Caselle Airport is structured enough to have steady business traffic while minimizing wait times.

On lucky days, you can safely enter, check in your flight, go through security and arrive at the lounge in no more than 6-7 minutes.

Unthinkable in Milan where the distances to be covered force all passengers to have to travel long marches within the airport. The time that is lost in making a stopover in Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Munich on average is offset in terms of convenience and speed by taking a direct flight from Malpensa.

In the past, Caselle had as many as two lounges, one dedicated to Alitalia and Sky Team group customers and one for those Lufthansa and StarAlliance carriers. Over time, however, airport management decided to merge them into one large, single lounge.

In my opinion, the choice was correct, because in this way costs could be reduced while keeping the quality of service provided on average high.

Access

To enter the lounge there are different alternatives:

• Using the card Turin Airport Pass, a card that offers benefits to passengers flying from Turin, but which has never really caught on. It seems like a classic initiative, quite useless, to give away some privileges to the politicians and powerful people in our region.
• You can buy a pass entrance fee 20€ per person
• Using the Gold status Of Star Alliance, Sky Team and One World
• Using the card Priority Pass, Dragon Pass (Chinese), Lounge Key and to Diners Club holders.

Location

This lounge is reached by taking the stairs, or the elevator near Gate 9, on the second floor of the departure terminal. Of course, it is located after the security checkpoint.

The lounge

The lounge has its years and Some of the furniture was "recycled" from the former Alitalia hall, but basically it is decent, because it is no match for those we find in Europe.

After the quick entry checks, the passenger is faced with two distinct lounges: one with glass windows overlooking the finger and runway; the other, larger one is dedicated to those who need to continue working, with large tables and Internet connections.

The ability to see the runway and arriving and departing aircraft at the gate gives the passenger immediate feedback on the activities taking place at that moment. Those accustomed to traveling will be able to check the status of their flight at a glance without having to get up to check the departure monitors.

The bar area is always well stocked and the staff is very friendly and helpful. Unlike what is often the case in other airports, the staff are all Italian and easily establish a good relationship with passengers. In short, one has the impression of being in the bar under the house and not in aseptic international airport.

Turin, after the pandemic, is struggling to regain its pre-covid traffic. Part of the credit comes from agreements signed with low-cost airlines such as Wizzair, Vuelig, and Ryanair, which have had the merit of greatly expanding the number of locations that can be reached by direct flights.

Another advantage that can be appreciated by stopping in this lounge is that it is announced, verbally, the start of all flight boarding operations, thus making life easy for passengers. Abroad, this service is normally offered only in first class lounges.

In conclusion

Such a lounge is expected from an airport of this type.

When you are lucky, you can admire from the large windows the takeoff and landing of some military aircraft (Caselle is both a civilian and military airport) such as the Eurofigher, C27 Spartan and Macchi 346 from the nearby Leonardo hangars.

• Priority Pass