The 3 most expensive airline tickets (+1) for the Italian tourist: how to book them without spending a fortune

It is unclear how and when air traffic will return to the way it was before the pandemic, but on one thing experts agree: it will take at least a couple of years, and in any case business travel will be the one to restart later.

However, this situation has more than one silver lining for everyone who wants to start traveling again as soon as possible:

• Flexible tickets And no penalties for much longer
• Cheaper average rates To attract passengers
• Many award places available

The pandemic, as we know, almost completely ended the Jumbo era, 747s were put out of the fleet by British Airways, KLM, Qantas, Thai and many other companies. The same fate befell the other giant of the skies the Airbus A380 permanently grounded by Lufthansa, Air France, Thai, Etihad, and parked for no one knows how long by the few companies (Emirates excluded) that have it in their fleets.

Goodbye to "First Apartment" and "The Residence": Etihad retires A380s

Lovers of exclusive cabins know that the most extravagant and luxurious solutions were precisely on these two types of aircraft, particularly on the A380. And the most painful farewell surely is the farewell to the "three-room" of the skies proposed by the Abu Dhabi-based company, which has thus taken off the market one of the most exclusive tickets for mileage accumulators around the world.

American Express Gold: one card for all ages

At this point there are four "golden tickets" left for serial mileage accumulators, we are talking about four tickets to travel first class on ANA, Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Singapore. Of course, there are many other airlines that offer first class such as Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways, again the tickets are very expensive and the experience is great, but it does not compare to that in first class on the four carriers we selected.

Small note on the method. Prices can change from day to day, a ticket booked by reversing the routes (e.g., Dubai to Milan instead of Milan to Dubai) on the same day can cost as much as 3 times more or less. Price aside, what we want to tell you about is the onboard experience that you will have on each of these airlines. Likewise, we have looked at tickets that may make sense for "the average Italian" leaving out itineraries like Singapore/New York or Los Angeles Hong Kong. In addition, we talk only about direct flights.

 Flying first class to Japan with ANA

The Japan has not yet announced the modalities with which he will proceed to reopen the borders, however, if you are thinking of booking a round-trip ticket in the first-class "Suite," you need to be prepared to spend no less than 13 thousand, and move to Frankfurt or London-the only two airports in Europe where the Japanese airline's 777/300s land. These aircraft are outfitted with the new first-class (The Suite) and business (The Room) cabins.

One of the best ways to detach this prize ticket is to use points from the Flying Club, or Virgin Atlantic's loyalty program. The round-trip ticket costs 120k Virgin points, plus taxes. Recently ANA has also made one-way tickets available by making it possible, for example, to book one leg in business and one in first class and thus experience both on board the airline. The one-way costs exactly half that so 60k points, to which possibly add another 47,500 points for the return in business class.

First class in Hong kong

Again, we have no idea when the former British protectorate will return to welcome travelers from all over the world with open arms, but in any case if you want to book this ticket you have to set aside a fair amount of points and/or miles, even if the 12-hour flight time costs half as much, compared to the ticket to Tokyo.

Cathay Pacific's offering is all about onboard service, rather than a particular cabin layout. While the seating is significantly less than ANA the in-flight service is of an equal standard. From caviar to the most exclusive champagnes, obsessive attention to detail to make the passenger experience unforgettable. Asia Miles is a partner of American Express so this is one of the easiest tickets to redeem for the Italian serial accumulators of Membership Rewards.

This ticket costs 100k Asia Miles points each way, not a few but it is one of those investments that pays off with interest.

In one year of the pandemic I collected over half a million points, here's how I did it

Showering in the clouds with Emirates

Flying first class on the A380 is one of those unique experiences, which to the standard of Highest level of the first class adds to the uniqueness of the Dubai-based company's airbuses. In addition to the shower, passengers can spend a good part of the flight at the bar counter or in one of the best cabins found on planes around the world.

When Emirates' A380s return to the skies halfway around the world there will, most likely, be a surplus of first class award tickets. The only problem is that these seats are redeemable only using points from the Skywards program, but fortunately Emirates is one of American Express' partners so it will be possible to detach a ticket on the Malpensa/New York route without too much effort and taking advantage of the fact that this is among the "cheapest" routes in the network of the Emirates company.

To learn how to travel first class on Emirates you can read our review and, if you like what you see, you can decide to pay for the ticket cash (cost ranges from 4 and 7k) or with miles (you need 107 to 115k Skywards miles). But beware, at the moment it is not clear when the route will be operated again with the A380, so if you want to shower you'd better make sure the flight is not operated on a very normal 777/300.

BONUS The Suite for Flying to Singapore

The couple who regrets parting on a platform

When the city-state airline resumes flying to Milan with its A380, you'll find the new first class on board. The company will therefore offer a new experience, completely revamped starting with a double bed for two passengers where they can spend, in total privacy, the 12-hour flight from Italy.

Like all good things it is of course an expensive experience, we are talking about a round-trip ticket price of around 7 thousand euros in low season. In points, however, it starts at 125k Krisflyer each way, but the figure can double in peak season. This would mean 500k points for a round-trip ticket.

Other first classes

European airlines that offer first class and how to get a ticket without paying

As mentioned, these are not the only first-class cabins on the market. British Airways, Lufthansa, Swiss and Air France also offer this type of product, but we can say it without fear of contradiction: the experience is not up to the standard offered by the carriers we mentioned above. Moving to America, no star airline has first class cabins, although often when it comes to domestic flights in the U.S., business is called first class, but it is for all intents and purposes a classic business class seat.

In conclusion

If you want to have these experiences while spending a few hundred euros, we recommend that you choose your reward travel strategy, study how to accumulate points without spending anything more Of what you regularly spend and study how to book award tickets.

• first class

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