- Introduction: A Polished Journey To Greece
- Review: LOT Polish Airlines Business Class 787 (ORD-WAW)
- Review: Raffles Europejski Warsaw, Poland
- Review: Aegean Business Class Airbus A320neo (WAW-ATH)
- Review: Academias Athens, Marriott Autograph Collection
- Review: Bulgari Hotel Rome, Italy
- Review: ITA Airways Business Class A330neo (FCO-MIA)
Welcome to my next trip report series, which will cover a recent (brief) trip to Greece and Italy.
You can expect flight reviews of LOT Polish Airlines’ 787-9 business class, Aegean Airlines’ A320neo business class, and ITA Airways’ A330-900neo business class. Furthermore, there will be hotel reviews of the Raffles Warsaw, Academias Athens (Marriott Autograph Collection), and Bulgari Rome.
In this post I’ll outline all the basics of the trip, and then in the coming days I’ll publish the entire trip report series.
In this post:
Why we took this trip
Long story short, Ford and I had a brief commitment in Greece in very early September. So while this wasn’t a full-on review trip, I did everything that I could to make the journey interesting, in terms of reviewing some new airline products, and also staying at a few different kinds of hotels.
In this case I’ll be reviewing a total of three flight segments plus three hotels.
The airlines we flew on this trip
For the outbound portion of the trip, I had managed to book two seats in Singapore Airlines’ 777 first class from New York to Frankfurt. However, I figured I could make the review a bit more interesting for y’all by trying another product that has been on my radar.
For the outbound itinerary, I booked the following in business class for 70,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $76.70 in taxes and fees per person:
8/28 LO4 Chicago to Warsaw departing 9:45PM arriving 1:50PM (+1 day)
8/30 A3871 Warsaw to Athens departing 10:35AM arriving 2:05PM
That first segment would be in LOT Polish Airlines’ 787-9 business class, while the second segment would be in Aegean Airlines’ Airbus A320neo business class. I was also quite looking forward to having a 21-hour stopover in Warsaw, as it’s a city I haven’t visited in many years (and that Ford had never visited before).
For the return itinerary, I first found the transatlantic award availability, before finding the intra-Europe segment. Specifically, I booked the following in business class for 85,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points plus $59.70 in taxes and fees per person:
9/04 AZ630 Rome to Miami departing 10:40AM arriving 3:55PM
While I had recently flown ITA Airways’ Airbus A350-900 business class, I was excited about this flight, as it would allow me to fly ITA Airways’ Airbus A330-900neo business class. This is the first wide body aircraft designed specifically for ITA (the A350 had been intended for Hainan, so inherited those interiors). Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is one of the few programs with access to ITA award space.
Fortunately I got an even better deal than the points total may suggest. Over the summer, Bilt’s rent day promotion offered a transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. The amount of the transfer bonus varied based on your Bilt elite status. I was eligible for a 125% transfer bonus, which was enough to make me speculatively transfer some points. So in reality I paid just 38,000 Bilt points per ticket, which I’d say is quite a great value!
We decided to position to Rome the day before (based on the fairly early departure across the Atlantic). So I booked the following in business class for 15,000 Aegean Miles+Bonus miles plus $34.71 in taxes and fees and per person:
9/03 A3650 Athens to Rome departing 8:30AM arriving 9:35AM
This flight was operated by an Airbus A321neo, which features a virtually identical cabin experience to the A320neo. While Aegean Miles+Bonus doesn’t partner with any major transferable points currencies, these are miles I had earned years ago from actually crediting Star Alliance flights to the program.
The hotels we stayed at on this trip
I’ll be reviewing three one-night hotel stays from this trip, and I’ll talk more about how I booked in each individual review installment.
To kick off the trip, we had one night in Warsaw, where we decided to check out the Raffles Europejski Warsaw. I’ve never reviewed a Raffles property before, so I was happy to check out an Accor property. The Raffles is regarded as the best property in Warsaw, and goodness, it didn’t disappoint.
I’ll take it a step further — if paying cash, I think this might be the best value true luxury hotel in all of Europe.
Next up we spent a night in Athens. Marriott has an impressive presence in Athens, as the brand has two excellent Luxury Collection properties — Hotel Grande Bretagne and King George.
I’ve reviewed both of those recently (along with the Grand Hyatt Athens and Four Seasons Athens Astir Palace), so figured I should check out the next best option. I decided to book Academias Hotel, a Marriott Autograph Collection property. This is located in the same area of Athens as Marriott’s two Luxury Collection properties, but just doesn’t have quite the same history.
Last but not least, we spent a night in Rome at the Bulgari Rome, which is the city’s newest luxury hotel. I had heard great things about this property, so was excited to check it out.
Bottom line
Even when I’m not trying to expressly take a review trip, I still try to get as much interesting content out of a trip as possible. In this case we were scheduled to be in Greece for a few days, so I at least tried to make the journey there and back as interesting as possible. We flew business class on LOT Polish Airlines, Aegean Airlines, and ITA Airways, and also stayed at three different hotels in Europe.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!
So like I have said before, you already did previews on all of these flights. What's the point of re-reading your longer posts when they are almost as long your teases. Sorry, still doesn't make sense to me and a waste of my time. Love your work, but don't see the point of repeating content.
Excited to read about Bulgari Rome! Love it.
Wow Ben, you stayed at an ALL Accor property in Europe, Raffles no less! Can’t wait for the review. Very nice.
Thanks, Lucky. Looking forward to this review of both some airlines, hotels and cities a bit more off the beaten track. Unlike Daniel, I'm not interested in your reviews of coach. There are other places to find that information. I do agree, however, that some Premium Economy reviews would be interesting as there seems to be so much variation in this class airline-to-airline. . .
in the meantime, Head for Points has quite a few Premium Economy reviews (although they're pretty mediocre compared to Ben's level of detail and writing style!).
A footnote to premium economy between New York and London. British Airways always prices $200 less round trip than United on Google flights. But BA charges for choosing a seat and United does not. So the price is the same.
This is not true. You can select a seat for free if you have status. Even if you don't, you'll get one allocated to you for free anyway.
Totally agree about Europejski Raffles at Warsaw. Top class hotel with excellent location and service. Price wise.. well, you might pay more for 3* hotel in Paris
Please do not go down the road of trying to make a pun/word joke out of every headline. I'm referring to "polished". It's commonplace in UK printed and online media and it quickly becomes very tedious and cliche.
Ben you talk about ethics but you didn't let my comment go through I did not say anything derogatory I don't think calling you a princess is derogatory because you are a princess or you're a prince whatever but you know if you if you won't go coach overseas that's the only way I can go and I would like to find out from you cuz I like your writing and you review things well...
Ben you talk about ethics but you didn't let my comment go through I did not say anything derogatory I don't think calling you a princess is derogatory because you are a princess or you're a prince whatever but you know if you if you won't go coach overseas that's the only way I can go and I would like to find out from you cuz I like your writing and you review things well you know how good the coach products are overseas like I said before why don't you call this one luxury mile at a time and I know you're not going to respond to me and I used my middle name I used my first name with the email that I use all the time maybe you will write me there but I'm not counting on it you've never explained speaking of ethics about what happened with you and United I think you talk about your ethics and once you explain that to your audience I think then you can have some ethics thank you for your time and I hope you do email me back
Holy run-on "sentence"! Punctuation - learn to use it.
what bizarre notion EVER leads you to believe that calling anyone, particularly a male person, a " princess " is remotely acceptable. Are you serious ? Like Ben, I am a proudly, openly gay man and I am offended, even though your epithet was not directed at me.
DUDE ! I shake my head
Just to mention “ coach” really isn’t considered the appropriate word these days and especially internationally it’s “Economy” class
Picture this, you walk into someone's home...the kind who regularly has an "open house" viewing...and you question why the person has only the finest china on display. You think that the person should kowtow to your wishes... because most people can't afford the china. This person is inviting you into his home, you don't have to visit. Sure you can make your suggestions, but don't call the owner names...if you don't like it, don't read....
Picture this, you walk into someone's home...the kind who regularly has an "open house" viewing...and you question why the person has only the finest china on display. You think that the person should kowtow to your wishes... because most people can't afford the china. This person is inviting you into his home, you don't have to visit. Sure you can make your suggestions, but don't call the owner names...if you don't like it, don't read. I don't read everything he writes. There are lots of blogs out there that have economy and premium economy reviews
This is so funny. Somehow you end up on a blog that concentrates on First and Business class flights + luxury hotels, and then decide to scold the blogger for not reviewing Economy. And wand a personal response. LOL
Ben, I very much look forward to your reviews. However, I agree with Richard, a few premium economy reviews would be helpful. I am not sure spending either points or miles for a transatlantic flight from the east coast is worth it. Curious what you think regarding saving some points or cash by flying premium economy.
Hello there I have been and the people I know that read this blog have asked Ben to do a segment in coach across any of the oceans and he won't because he's a princess and that has nothing to do with his sexuality. We all like reading his blog but he doesn't show anything for the common person he's only writing to the point . 1% o fthe .1 %
It has been...
Hello there I have been and the people I know that read this blog have asked Ben to do a segment in coach across any of the oceans and he won't because he's a princess and that has nothing to do with his sexuality. We all like reading his blog but he doesn't show anything for the common person he's only writing to the point . 1% o fthe .1 %
It has been suggested many times that he do a coach trip across the oceans either east or west you know towards Asia or Europe and he will not do that he's just too spoiled and been pampered too much and he's a princess cuz if I remember right some sweatpants he bought cost over $100 something like that and I just wish he would write more towards for the masses rather than the point one percent of the 1% . And I also noticed he's reviewing a lot more hotels that you need lots and lots of money to stay at and don't take points I don't know if the Raffles takes points or if they have a program I don't even know if they have any in the US but it seems like maybe one person would have to stay there a whole lot to get any points if they do have a points program but good luck getting him to try out coach
We're here to read about business/first. Go take your poverty elsewhere Daniel.
He owes you nothing...
Daniel- if you can't see how offensive you are you must be missing something here.
On a separate note - this is Ben's blog where he shares his experiences. He's entitled to decide what he wants to do. There are plenty of places where coach flights are reviewed, and as someone who has flown lots in coach - you don't really need that many reviews. They usually get you from A to B. They sometimes serve OK food. They're never comfortable.
I just want to be clear, my original comment is not a criticism of Ben for not flying economy. As many of us do, I try to use my points for aspirational trips; QSuite was excellent, Polaris not so much, but I digress.
My original question was and remains: For a relatively short trip, generally at night so expecting to sleep, is it better to fly premium economy and save the miles for longer journeys?...
I just want to be clear, my original comment is not a criticism of Ben for not flying economy. As many of us do, I try to use my points for aspirational trips; QSuite was excellent, Polaris not so much, but I digress.
My original question was and remains: For a relatively short trip, generally at night so expecting to sleep, is it better to fly premium economy and save the miles for longer journeys? That's why a few reviews of premium economy would be useful. Also, I would value Ben's opinion on the matter.
@dweis / @DavidW I might not be the Ben you're referring to :) so maybe my opinion is not that relevant to you... but I have found myself taking Y+ more frequently, because while I certainly enjoy the extra space J/F have to offer, I don't have millions of €€€ or miles just sitting around on either of their respective accounts.
As a rule of thumb, I will opt for Y+ as long as...
@dweis / @DavidW I might not be the Ben you're referring to :) so maybe my opinion is not that relevant to you... but I have found myself taking Y+ more frequently, because while I certainly enjoy the extra space J/F have to offer, I don't have millions of €€€ or miles just sitting around on either of their respective accounts.
As a rule of thumb, I will opt for Y+ as long as there's less than 8/9 hours of flight time involved (including potential connections) *and* it's daytime flight. Anything much longer and the limited space (even in Y+) will hinder my productiveness in my destination and taking red-eyes while having a lie-flat bed at my disposal makes a massive difference in feeling more refreshed upon landing. Also, while I generally take this approach, it very much depends on what my plans are upon landing... if my afternoon is free or there are no serious commitments, I keep it as is; but if I had an important meeting/dinner later on in the afternoon, then I might opt to upgrade to J for the sake of arriving as well-rested as possible.
Also, hopefully the "real" Ben can chime into this thread, because I have always wondered why on earth he would spend more money or miles on a singular Euro-J ticket... I feel like he usually travels HLO which in my eyes eliminates the main purpose of it (heck, even that is mostly useless thanks to status). Unless it's a milage run which gets you those few remaining miles/ status points you need or you are connecting in the same itinerary to a longhaul J flight, this has to be one of the biggest waste of money in commercial aviation.
That Raffles is one of the best deals anywhere. Fantastic hotel and extremely affordable.
Marriott transfers to Miles+bonus
Raffles! Luxury Collection! Great!
Looking forward to an updated LOT business class review. I flew them MIA-WAW a year ago, with the worst tranatlantic C-catering ever, and I'm flying ORD-WAW in C in two week's time. Especially interested in the lounge situation at ORD
Let’s have some reviews of Premium Economy for United, Lufthansa, British Airways and other short hops across the pond.
Looking forward to the Academias review as I have a stay planned there for later this month!