During our Good Morning Milan, Goodnight Moon trip, my dad and I flew Air Dolomiti economy from Milan (LIN) to Frankfurt (FRA). I redeemed points at the last minute, as this was the most convenient flight, and there was no business class award availability.
For those not familiar, Air Dolomiti is the Italian Lufthansa Group airline that operates Embraers, primarily on behalf of Lufthansa. It’s not to be confused with ITA Airways, which is now also part of the Lufthansa Group.
I won’t be fully reviewing this hour-long flight, since you can imagine what the experience was like. We got on a bus from the terminal to the plane. The plane took off. They sold us things, with endless announcements in three languages. The plane landed. We got on a bus from the plane to the terminal. However, I did want to talk about the one unique aspect of Air Dolomiti, which you won’t consistently find on any other airline.
Air Dolomiti sells espresso in economy!
Italians love their espresso. And their cappuccinos… unless it’s not the morning, in which case they make fun of you for drinking cappuccino, and call you a bambino (or maybe that’s just my experience?).
Anyway, in 2022, Air Dolomiti introduced a cool feature, as the airline installed espresso machines on its Embraer planes. I had reviewed Air Dolomiti business class before, where they serve you espresso in a proper ceramic espresso cup… that’s certainly a nice feature, though in fairness, it’s also something you’ll find in ITA Airways business class.
However, here’s something that I find even more interesting — Air Dolomiti also has buy on board espresso in economy. In line with Lufthansa’s service, the airline typically just offers a bottle of water, a refreshing towel, and a chocolate, on a complimentary basis, with everything else available for purchase.
The selection available for purchase is more or less what you’d expect, with one exception — the airline sells espresso for €3.
So I couldn’t help but order this, for the novelty, if nothing else (I mean, I can also always use a caffeine hit when traveling!). After my credit card payment was accepted, the flight attendant went to the forward galley with a paper espresso cup.
The flight attendant continued her economy service, and the lead flight attendant (working business class) prepared the espresso, and then brought it back to me. I wasn’t the only one who purchased espresso — I noticed at least a handful of other people ordering that, so I guess it’s a thing that people appreciate.
I believe that Air Dolomiti is the only airline in the world to consistently serve espresso in economy (even if it’s available for purchase). I know that several months back Eurowings was trialing an inflight coffee cart with espresso, but I’m not sure if that trial is still going on.
Air Dolomiti is a pleasure to fly in general!
I’ve gotta say, I’m a big fan of the Air Dolomiti experience, and would choose it any day over a Lufthansa mainline aircraft, especially on these short flights in Europe:
- The 2-2 economy configuration is great, as there are no middle seats, and the legroom isn’t bad either
- The total aircraft capacity is a bit lower, so boarding and deplaning is a little faster than on a mainline aircraft
- I found the crew to be super friendly, and everything operated on schedule
Sure, there are no power ports or Wi-Fi, but Air Dolomiti is primarily operating short flights of around an hour (sometimes even shorter), so those are amenities that don’t matter much. For that matter, in line with the carrier’s name, you typically have some pretty spectacular views when flying with the airline, over the Dolomites.
Bottom line
Lufthansa Group carrier Air Dolomiti sells espresso in economy, making it (to my knowledge) the only airline in the world to consistently offer that. Okay, paying €3 for espresso on an airplane is hardly the most exciting thing on earth. Either way, I appreciate the way the Italian Lufthansa Group carrier embraces its roots, and I always like to highlight unique airline service offerings.
Perhaps the best aspect of this is the ability to be served espresso in business class on a complimentary basis in a proper espresso cup, but even in economy, I’ll take it!
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