Review: ITA Airways Business Class Airbus A321neo (FCO-CAI)

That swiveled storage area is cool, until something gets jammed in there and it's stuck closed.

Great review. Thanks Ben

That's really impressive. I have no desire to visit Cairo after numerous horror stories of baksheesh and your own experience, but I may just use ITA on a middle east leg in the future. Welcome to the Star Alliance!

I really appreciate they have these reverse herringbone seats, as those herringbone coffins are awful and I'm not really loving their return via narrow bodies on many airlines.

What a great addition to star alliance

"Since this is an Italian airline, there were of course two main courses"

I don't understand - The pasta course is NOT a main- it is the pasta. You clearly haven't been invited to a good Italian house for a proper 5 hour meal.....

Yes, ITA or Alitalia long haul Business is really great in both service points - I suspect that only the more senior FA's pick up these routes compared to intern EU flights.
Can't wait to try out this new plane..hopefully their admission into Star Alliance will be accelerated

Very nice, meal looks indulgent.

My only gripe with airlines is why such a thick border around the monitor/TV? Is it that hard to have a borderless monitor on a newer airplane?

I fear it will be downgraded soon, by order from Frankfurt HQ, to a dry sandwich in Business ...

I thought you had already reviewed this on your infamous trip to Cairo last year.

I was unlucky and had meh service on an ITA business class flight on FCO-JFK last summer. Service was not at all proactive and they ran out of my preferred pasta.

I also had poor service on two domestic ITA flights in business class, where the only service was water in a plastic cup.

Based on customer feedback, of course.

@ Jules0760 -- I shared my initial thoughts on the flight in a post at the time, and now this is the full trip report! 🙂

Wow. This sure puts Delta to shame. This is 100% better than Delta One. Flying Rome to Cairo is like flying Detroit to Denver or Salt Lake.

Just flew them as well in biz! Did FCO-DXB (A321N), and then MAD-FCO-MIA (A321N, and A339) and had a similar experience to you! Everything was great, from the hard product in the 321N to DXB (and had the pleasure to enjoy it as well from MAD-FCO due to an aircraft switch) to the service, and food and wine selection! Actually, the hard product in the 321N was slightly better than their hard product in their A339. Service and food were just top-notch!

Concerned about their switch Lufthansa and Star Alliance though. It just does not seem like the best cultural fit for ITA. It seems that AF and Flying Blue would have been a better for them?

Looks amazing - definitely the best short haul biz class in Europe or even globally right now. But, Lufthansa Group is the owner now and looking at their biz model, they might just remove all the seats and squeeze 220 economy seats in the plane and call it Euro-biz. LH is not known for the service and product. Their new biz class is not cutting edge and only has issues. Good luck ITA.

Very jealous of this experience when I compare it to my FCO-JFK business class journey on Alitalia in September 2021, about a month before it folded and became ITA

Looks really nice, especially for <6hr flight and daylight flights. For overnight flights I would rather take a widebody. You have more space to walk around and more bathrooms!

I’m flying this in the reverse direction this summer. The flight departs around 4:40am, so I wonder what service will be like. Hoping it’s still too soon for Lufthansa group to make any significant changes. Then I have about a 3 hour layover before heading to SFO on the A339. Looking forward to that flight as well.

I'm going to fly SQ F on the 2h flight to CGK, I wonder how that will compare to this. It'd be fun to get a list of the best short-haul full-service premium flights.

THE LEGROOM!!! That alone would make me happy to fly on this plane. Anything else would be bonus.

Comfort is #1 for me!

I feel like a flight with service like this would kill in the USA, from the Northeast to South Florida. You can occasionally find a flat-bed first class from JFK-MIA, but they are rare. There should be enough demand for a regular once-daily "premium" first like this.

"...unfortunately Egypt isn’t too happy with me, so I guess that’s not happening."

I LOVE how you keep dragging Egypt on their boneheaded reaction to your visit. It never gets old, and nor will it.

I saw the all caps and thought it was sarcasm! Very impressive for such a short, inexpensive flight.

I don't see a distinction between primi and secondi in the menu like they have on long haul flights, everything is listed under main courses, so one would assume you have to choose only one dish. Did they specifically told you you could order two dishes from the main courses? Could have you ordered both the goulash and the veal instead of pasta and goulash?

I often fly MIA-PHL and will always try and work my schedule around the daily 788 frequency. Best case I upgrade/use more miles for a lie-flat, worst I have what's basically a domestic F seat for free. It's a no-brainer

Have a feeling we will see more premium-configured aircraft on MIA-JFK/PHL in the next few years. Some of the A321XLRs will most likely cycle through a domestic segment similar to the existing wide bodies.

Great review as usual! Appreciated the numerous remarks about how superior these reverse herringbone narrow body seats are to what most other airlines are using. I'd be curious to see the LOPA/dimensions, as there has to be a reason (takes up more space?) that most airlines are going herringbone over this clearly superior product

I noticed that too. Ben, did they tell you you could choose two out of three items listed under main courses?

Enjoy it while it lasts - very soon the bean counters from FRA will „harmonize“ ITA‘s service standards with the abysmal level of the other LH group airlines …

We say this but the reality is, people do not pay enough of a premium nor will enough people pay for this over the optimal schedule in the US. If food and service were prioritized over frequencies, global network, and loyalty programs, JetBlue's Mint service should be killing it compared to Delta or United or American. The reality is, JetBlue is not profitable and they typically discount their product (rather than command a premium) vs. the big 3 carriers.

On the other side of this, United has HORRIBLE catering and highly variable service and yet they had a record year in terms of financial results in 2024.

What other routes is ITA using this plane to ?

As a few have mentioned. Just wait until the "great" Carsten Spohr gets a grip on the airline. Would not be surprised if all these seats will disappear in no time, as well as the food and the amenity kits.

Alitalia shut down with 10,000 employees on its payroll, whereas ITA had an initial count of 2,500 approximately. Mind you, many "old" employees remained on extended layoffs, whereas ITA took additional 1,200 new hirees, between pilots and other staff.
Some Alitalia staff was also rehired, albeit on new contracts, obviously.
It could be the new FAS are much more enthusiastic (there's no job security anymore, so they have to pay attention to their duties).
I am extremely curious to see how LH is going to handle ITA's business. I can't say I am optimistic.
Let's hope they'll keep ITA at arm's length. Livery has to stay! It's simply too gorgeous!

secondo me hannofatto un'eccezione per lui

As a Riyadh expat, I am looking forward to having a chance to give a try ITA soon as it now operates a direct flight for FCO-RUH, at the moment, my flights to Europe are heavily dominated by EY, GF, QR as European airlines' biz product to Saudi market (e.g. KLM) is not quite attractive compared to Gulf carriers. Anyway hope ITA redemption gets available soon on Aeroplan search next year so that I can mix with other StarAlliances airlines and GF. At the moment, AF and ITA both operate nice, lie-flat biz flights from CAI, but departure time is very inconvenient (like 3-5am) in most cases...

It was a wide body aircraft, but I had absolutely unbelievable service and and incredible seat on JX from KIX-TPE last year. It was closer to a first class experience than to the second best J class experience I've ever had.

yes, we will need an updated review in about 18 months (although perhaps not to Cairo).

In February 2020 I flew JFK - LAX in F on American's specially appointed 321T. It was a very similar layout - five or six rows of 1x1 reverse herringbone fully flat seats in first, 4 or 5 rows of 2x2 "business" class that were normal domestic first. It was a very nice way to fly across the country.

Wow the difference between the A320neo first leg and the A321neo to Cairo is like night and day.
Awful 3-3 seating on the first intra Europe flight to Italy. Then a fantastic experience on the A321neo 2nd leg.

Note to self to be ultra careful and look at the actual aircraft type before booking with ITA.

How were you able to use the Amex offer if that was for flights departing the US and paid in USD? Did it just credit regardless?