Hello from Rome! I just flew ITA Airways’ Airbus A350-900 business class from Miami, as part of my current review trip. While I was ridiculously excited to fly with Alitalia’s successor, I was expecting to come away from the flight feeling lukewarm at best. Well, the whole experience was a very pleasant surprise, with exceptional…
Continue reading: ITA Airways’ A350 Business Class: Bellissimo!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
"$25 for the entire flight with no data caps."
Ben, your screenshot literally shows a 500MB data cap.
Nice review! I wish ITA would launch a direct MIA-MXP. Seems there’s a market. AA and Air Italy used to do it simultaneously and I believe daily, now no one does.
Of course ITA must keep up Alitalia’s tradition of underserving MXP, despite the fact jfk-mxp was like its only profitable route. Ok rant over.
I'm so glad to hear this. Despite the bad rep, all my past flights in Alitalia business class was nothing short of a beautiful experience, with a primi (pasta) and secondi (main course), aperitivo, espresso.
The best was the price -- 48K Amex points! Let's get those awards going again!
Not gonna lie, where does ITA find the funding to still offer such a good product?
I absolutely agree with you. MIA-MXP is needed and will be successful, I just wonder why nobody is doing it. Lack of aircrafts I guess
ITA offers a connection from Rome (with many flights between MXP and FCO), and AA flies to MXP from JFK (I believe daily), and has many connections onto JFK-MIA. With AA's widebody shortage right now, I doubt it will come back this coming summer. Maybe next summer, along with AA's year round flights from MIA to CDG. Currently, AA only flies from MIA to LHR, MAD, and BCN in Europe (and CDG in the winter).
ITA doesn't have to many airplanes right now, so they likely want to start off with their most profitable routes, and keep the existing market share that Alitalia had. I think it will be a couple years before MIA-MXP is a possibility.
Have an upcoming ITA flight Barcelona to Rome and have to say worried about it. Hope Lufthansa takes over ops soon.
I don’t trust Italian travel companies, especial gov owned. Last fall We traveled Paris to Milan Trenitalia executive class the whole route (stays in Lyon and Turin) and it was very expensive and lousy. Poor service and food, bathrooms out of service, unconcerned staff. At the stop in Turin the door in exec class car wouldn’t operate, the isle was blocked with catering carts so we couldn’t get to the biz class door and train continued on to Milan. Staff just stood and watched us struggle. Conductors compensation? Said he wouldn’t charge us for the Turin-Milan leg. Appalling. Had to navigate the Milan station, buy tickets back to Turin, missed a prepaid planned tour that day.
Fully expecting same experience on ITA, but not much choice besides ultra low cost carriers which I trust even less.
Thanks for that review! Commuting to Europe regularly and sticking to SkyTeam when possible, I struggled to find a long haul review of ITA so this is super helpful and looking forward to the detailed report!
"...the selection didn’t seem like it was curated from Lunchables."
Perhaps the greatest line of any of your reviews, ever, @Ben
Interesting, the 2 hr package does not have data caps. Big plus in my opinion (I hate having to remember to disable auto-updates for everything).
Also, wondering what kind of streaming you get at "up to" 500 kbps?
I flew ITA on some domestic flights in December. All the crew were still in Alitalia uniforms.
Having flown on the ITA A350 and the A330 long haul in business class, I agree with you that the 350 product is top notch, from a comfort, catering, and service perspective. Yes, it's all a bit bland but it is quite good overall. The A330's all feature the legacy Alitalia product, which was pretty good a few years ago, but quite dated now.
Unfortunately, ITA's future isn't likely to be anything but bleak. It is essentially Alitalia, but slimmed down by 55%. The route structure and the hub structure don't really work. The future of ITA is likely to be a ward of Lufthansa.
Sounds like a good flight…
But I hope the next time you ask the crew of a US carrier a question and get “I suppose…I hope” as an answer, that’ll also bring a smile to your face.
Unlikely.
Did you book this one with cash or miles? Is there an easy way to redeem miles on ITA?
Your initial review gave me insight into the ITA product/experience. You stated that you’ve got a more comprehensive review coming. Just wondering, what more can you tell us? Your initial review was good enough to make me decide to try ITA out. Thanks for your consistent coverage of commercial aviation.
I flew them last year and was also very impressed on both flights. I would fly them more often if they were in One World instead of Sky Team.
500mb is not a high data cap. Disney+ uses between 1,000mb and 3,000mb **per hour...**
It's fine for browsing blogs and reading emails, but 500mb is really not 'high'
It's an inappropriate remark to make, but I'll make it anyway. The exact same comment made by a (likely) attractive, (almost certainly) well dressed FA, and said with a (most assuredly) charming Italian accent (whether male, female or other), will be much better received than if it were delivered by a US flight attendant.
Just a sidebar that walnuts generally pair well with wine and with sweet wine, especially Madeira, they are a match made in heaven (so, yes, you have at least one reader who's said "this would go really well with walnuts")
@Ben,
"primi" and "secondi" are both plurals. So you can't have "a primi"; you have "a primo". And you can't have a choice of "two secondis"; you have a choice of "two secondi".
And you don't "top off" a glass; you top it up.
Otherwise, loved the review.
Just back from miami with Ita a350 business.Seat was very comfortable,service and hostess were great,food was terrible,never eat so bad in my life,as italian i feeled ashame they couldnt even make a simple tomatoes pasta or orecchiette with broccoli,i had orecchiette and ended up eating only bread and fruit,food is much better on trenitalia
I flew this product a month ago and the food was very good but it was ironic with your comment about the hard product, as the seat was extremely hard and especially on bed mode it wasnt very comfortable. Allied to the fact that there was no bedding or topper
If I had to summ up Italy in one phrase it'd be " Nothing works". That being said, I wouldn't find it charming when the stewardess tells me "Maybe, I hope". Especially when I'm paying thousands of dollars for one flight.
We flew from Rome to New York in business class and the trip couldn't have been better! Great service, freindly attendents, very good food and just overall a great experience!
AZ621 LAX to FCO Business Class. Will an international size carry-on store in the business class cubicle or will it have to be placed in overhead bin?
airbus 350-900 business class seats = are they fully flat bed?
booked for JANUARY 6TH FROM ROME TO HANEDA