For a long time I’ve been talking about flying Meridiana, Italy’s (most?) inferior airline. The day has finally come. I booked a last minute one-way business class ticket for just under $1,000, and can’t wait to see what the experience is like.
As I draft this post I’m sitting in the Naples Airport lounge (which is not so great) ready to get on my Meridiana business class flight nonstop to New York JFK.
As someone who loves trying new airlines, I’m really excited about this. I have extremely low expectations of Meridiana (like Ukraine International Airlines levels of low), so I can’t imagine it’ll be worse than I’m expecting. On the plus side, Meridiana has the advantage of being an Italian airline, so maybe the food will actually be good? Here’s the menu I have to look forward to, apparently:
By the time this post publishes I’ll be somewhere over the Atlantic, hopefully more than halfway through a 10 hour flight that will probably feel much longer than that. I say “hopefully” because Meridiana’s on-time record is similar to Alitalia’s financial record. And I say “live(ish)” because I will actually be in Meridiana business class at that time, but I won’t actually be posting. Meridiana doesn’t have Wi-Fi, and for that matter they may not even have power ports or any sort of entertainment. We’ll see!
Funny enough my next transatlantic flight will be on Azores Airlines, so perhaps the worst is yet to come? 😉
Stay tuned, I’ll have more shortly!
Wow pretty slim pickings for the menu on the return flight.
@Lucky - is the aircraft a 767-200ER?
Based on the icon next to 3F on your BP, looks like you are in a smoking section ...
Taking one for the team, thanks! There's no insufferable flight when full bar service is present. Just finish requests with the word andiamo. :)
Is smoking allowed?
@Jeff, the way I read it is that the flights departing from Palermo and Naples ALSO receive the snack service as a second light meal. I don't know why they made that distinction since those seem to be the only flights they have to New York, but... whatever. :P
Also... grilled 'meat' is possibly the most suspicious term I've ever seen on a menu.
+1 on the "grilled Meat"
It say a "NO" under the cigarette, so why are you guys thinking that smoking is allowed?
Wouldn't be first time Ben is on a smoking flight #ChinaEastern
The "No" is far below and then to the side of the cigarette. Presumably it means no smoking but its not obvious. And as we know, Italians are heavy smokers. It's a shame since there are lots of looking Italian men, but many of them reek of cigarettes.
Should say "nice looking" Italian men
Looks like our young friend landed 35 minutes early!
Actually, the menù doesn't look bad at all! Curious to hear how was it. Didn't know Meridiana is flying over the Atlantic, I thought it was only mainland Italy to Sardinia
I've flown on board Meridiana and Azores Airlines and for me Meridiana offers a lower economy product. Never tried their business class though.
Hope you enjoy your upcoming flight.
1, Meridiana has some seasonal service to NYC every summer.
2, While Italians smoke A LOT I have found that the transportation system is ahead of the curve in adapting to world standards.
Years ago I purchased seats for an italian express train; seats purchased from DB (german Rail). Sadly, only smoking seats were available. I purchased and then asked for help when I boarded so I could avoid the smoke. it turns...
1, Meridiana has some seasonal service to NYC every summer.
2, While Italians smoke A LOT I have found that the transportation system is ahead of the curve in adapting to world standards.
Years ago I purchased seats for an italian express train; seats purchased from DB (german Rail). Sadly, only smoking seats were available. I purchased and then asked for help when I boarded so I could avoid the smoke. it turns out that Italian trains had already become totally no smoking but the different computer netwoks never got the message.
The smoking thing on the ticket really got my attention and than I saw the word no.
lol
So "Live(ish)" really mean "Not at all"...