Three Milan airports, three different journeys.

Malpensa is the long one: fifty kilometres north-west on the A8, with two terminals four kilometres apart and a genuine risk of ninety-minute journeys during Fiera Milano exhibition weeks. Plan for an hour and you will usually be right; if the flight lands at seven on a Tuesday during the Salone del Mobile, that hour nearly doubles, and people who know the city leave with half an hour in hand.

Linate is the short one, ten kilometres east of the centre. It is also the one where the alternatives are strongest - the M4 metro reaches San Babila in about twelve minutes for the price of a coffee - so our case there is not speed or economy but what happens with three suitcases, a delayed arrival at midnight, and a driver who is already waiting.

Bergamo Orio al Serio is the deceptive one: fifty-two kilometres east on the A4, handling a large share of low-cost European traffic. Arriving there without a pre-booked car means either a bus with a fixed timetable or a metered fare with no ceiling: on that route a fixed price is the only real protection for a travel budget.

What the three have in common is the moment that decides everything: coming through the arrivals door. That is where a properly run transfer shows - a sign with your name in the arrivals hall, the flight tracked by number rather than by timetable, sixty minutes of waiting included in case baggage or passport control runs long. We work the same way at all three airports, because the things that go wrong are always the same ones.

If you are still choosing the flight rather than the car: for a meeting in the centre Linate gives you an extra hour of sleep, for long haul Malpensa is the only sensible option, for a low-cost weekend Bergamo saves on the ticket and puts you back in the city in fifty minutes. The road is then fixed by your diary, and the transfer price is on this page before you book - every fare, by vehicle class, no questions.

One more thing decides the journey before the car does, and it is the hour rather than the airport. A Linate arrival at eight in the morning and a Linate arrival at two in the afternoon are ten kilometres and two different drives; a Malpensa landing during the Salone del Mobile is the same fifty kilometres and nearly double the time. We plan the pickup around the hour you actually travel, not the average printed on a map.

And whichever of the three you choose, the things that go wrong do not change: a flight that lands late, a bag that comes out on the last belt, a passenger held at passport control, a child asleep in the pushchair. The answer to all four is the same - a driver who is already there, a flight followed by number, and an hour of waiting inside the fare.

A connection from Malpensa to Linate involves sixty kilometres across the whole city, and it is the transfer where a missed connection costs more than the ride. We treat these as time-critical: the chauffeur is assigned with a buffer, and if your inbound flight is late we tell you whether the connection is still realistic before you land, not after.

Every pair that matters is covered: Malpensa and Linate, Malpensa and Bergamo, Linate and Bergamo, plus the runs to Fiera Milano at Rho when the appointment is at the exhibition rather than in the centre. The fare is fixed as on the city runs, and the clock starts when you actually leave the terminal, not at the time printed on the ticket.

When the connection risk is real - ninety minutes between flights, two different terminals, a bag to collect - give us both flight numbers: we track both, and if the first one lands outside the margin you get an honest read of the situation while you are still on the ground.

For a Malpensa-to-Linate connection give us both flight numbers when you book, not one. We then follow the inbound aircraft, and if the first leg lands with enough margin we say so; if it does not, we say that too, while you are still on the ground and still have options. It is the one route on this site where the honest answer is worth more than the comfortable one.

Between Bergamo and the other two airports the same principle holds, with a longer road and a bigger buffer. Linate and Bergamo sit on opposite sides of the city, so the transfer that looks short on a map can be an hour and a half across the Tangenziale in the evening peak; we quote it as its own journey, with the buffer a connection needs already built in.

There is no account to open and no form to fill in twice: one message with the date, the time, the addresses and the flight number is enough for a fixed price back within ten minutes, at any hour, whichever of the three airports you are flying through.