Yes, you can smoke at Milan Linate Airport (LIN) — there is an enclosed smoking room after security, on the first floor of departures near Gate A16, so transit passengers can smoke without leaving the secure zone. There are also designated outdoor areas outside the terminal, landside, before you check in.
Milan Linate is the city airport for Milan, run by SEA (Aeroporti di Milano), the same operator as Malpensa. It handled about 10.6 million passengers in 2024 and works from a single, compact three-story terminal — check-in on the ground level and the main departure areas on the first floor. Because everything sits close together, finding the smoking areas is straightforward.
After Security (Airside)
The useful news for transit passengers is that Linate keeps a smoking area past the checkpoint. On the first floor of departures, near Gate A16, there is a glass-enclosed, ventilated smoking room — a “glass box” with standing room for roughly a dozen people and ashtrays inside. Because it is airside, you can use it between a connecting flight and your gate without exiting and re-screening.
This is the main difference from sister airport Malpensa, where smoking at Milan Malpensa is at outdoor curbside areas before security only — Linate’s airside room lets you smoke after the checkpoint. The enclosed, separately-ventilated room is the type Italy’s 2003 Sirchia Law allows as an exception to its indoor-smoking ban, which is why an enclosed room can operate inside an otherwise smoke-free terminal.
Travellers have also reported a second glass smoking box near Gate A10, so if the A16 room is crowded, check the far end of the departures floor. The exact gate positions can shift with airport works and reconfiguration, so treat the numbers as a guide and follow the “Area Fumatori” signage on the day.
If you have business-lounge access, the Sala Leonardo lounge on the airside floor has its own seated smoking room, near Gate A17 — a more comfortable option with seating and tables. It is not a public facility, so it needs lounge membership, a qualifying card, or paid entry.
Before Security (Landside)
Before you pass through security, smoking is at the designated outdoor areas outside the terminal building. Step out through the departures or arrivals doors, find a marked spot with ashtrays, and you are clear to light up. This is also where arriving passengers can smoke immediately after collecting bags, on the way to the taxis, buses, and the M4 metro station.
Vaping
Vaping is treated the same as smoking at Linate. Italian law extends the indoor ban to e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco devices, so use the designated smoking areas — the enclosed room airside near Gate A16 or the outdoor areas outside the terminal — for vapes as well as cigarettes. Do not vape in the open check-in hall, at the boarding gates, or in the restrooms.
Summary
| Area | Smoking | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor terminal | No | Open terminal areas are smoke-free under Italy’s 2003 Sirchia Law |
| After security / airside | Yes | Enclosed ventilated smoking room on the departures floor near Gate A16 (second box reported near Gate A10) |
| Outdoor (landside) | Yes | Designated areas outside the terminal entrances |
For Italy’s airport smoking rules and vaping law, see our Italy airport guide.