Catering in business class with ITA Airways? a glass of natural water at room temperature
A few weeks after being born ITA Airways had relaunched business class on domestic routes by renaming it "Superior," a different decision [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
A few weeks after being born ITA Airways had relaunched business class on domestic routes renaming it "Superior," a different decision than that proposed in recent years by Alitalia, which, in its perennial chase after low-cost airlines, had abolished the J from short-haul routes. The new Superior class is featured on all domestic flights of any duration.
In this article:
The few readers who were already reading TFC back in December 2020 will remember my "nightmarish" review of a Rome/Genoa flight aboard an old A320 in Alitalia livery. Over the years I have traveled several times in this cabin, not because I am so crazy as to want to waste tens of euros on a flight of 45 minutes or so, but because it was part of one of the many itineraries I did on long-haul with ITA Airways and therefore included in the price.
Today, almost 2 years later how is the situation? judging from my subsequent experiences and the many messages I receive, it has not improved and the service offered is not comparable to what Air France, Iberia, and Lufthansa offer on equal routes. On the contrary in recent months it certainly seems that the promised catering has been eliminated from almost all flights.
Here are the three reasons why ITA Airways should abolish "Superior" class from domestic flights, or turn it into a paid option reserved for the front rows of the plane.
#1 The nearby place is not always free
Did you get your flight cancelled, miss your connection, land late?
You could get up to 600€ compensation per person
Flying business class on short/medium-haul routes in Europe has few advantages in terms of space and privacy. The cabin is always the same, but sometimes you just have a few extra inches for your legs, the only concession is the always vacant neighboring chair.
However, this is not the case when you fly aboard the A220/300, the new flagship of ITA Airways. which does not sacrifice one of the two seats in the little made-in-Canada gem. If you fly Superior class you will then have the same space that ultra basic economy passengers have.
In contrast, other carriers offering business class on the A220, which has the characteristic of having a cabin with 2 seats per row on one side and 3 on the opposite side, leave one of the two seats vacant as per the contractual "promise." This is a major "downgrade," especially considering that A220s are used precisely on domestic routes, e.g. more than 50% of the Genoa/Rome flights are operated with this aircraft, and there is no price difference between those who have and those who do not have vacant neighboring space.
#2 If there is bus, there is no boarding priority
At Linate, as is well known, the probability of boarding by taking advantage of the finger is very low. This means that. the advantage of having priority boarding stops at the gate queue, then all passengers are loaded onto the same bus and brought under board, where we board together, with no benefit to the "Superior" passenger.
Low-cost airlines that use this same system on almost every flight have some separate sections on board the buses, and the doors are opened precisely to allow priority passengers to board earlier Of the others. Recently flying Swiss from Zurich to Milan instead, I noticed how the Swiss airline makes biz travelers and those with elite status board a first bus to bring them on board early.
#3 catering on board? a glass of water
The airline's website Promises different service based on flight time, which has been the case all over the world since the dawn of time. early in the morning there is breakfast then a snack. It's like that in everything in all companies, but on board ITA's Superior you don't feel the difference in treatment, on the contrary.
I remember that during one of my many chats with a flight attendant he had explained to me that for Superior is provided: drinks and snacks all day, and morning brioche and yogurt and evening prosecco.
My last experience was last week, aboard the last evening flight to Genoa on the eve of the Boat Show. Obviously it was the continuation of the flight from Cairo, the one where the Poodle was caught for the first time, and not a Rome/Genoa in J. I was sitting in seat 1A, at my side the Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policy Nello Musumeci, plane full and all Superior's saleable seats were filled.
Shortly after takeoff the attendant came by the cabin with a 1.5l bottle of water in her hand and a stack of paper cups. No prosecco, no snacks or anything else.
A few minutes later the rear door attendants took the opposite route and with the trolley went to collect the glasses and any other waste. The same situation was reported to us by several readers who were astonished, some even complained to the crew, and the response they received would always be the same: "No catering at Fiumicino."
On what happened, we heard from the airline, which clarified that it is working to resolve the issue: "The lack of catering service in Superior Class, which is episodic in nature, is part of the broader issues ITA Airways is experiencing with its current catering provider. The airline is working to identify appropriate solutions to limit the inconvenience to its passengers."
What other companies offer
As we know low-cost airlines don't offer anything, but they also don't sell business class. There are not many domestic routes that I have flown in recent months. Recently I flew in business on the Madrid Barcelona and the catering service is definitely superior to what ITA Airways offers. Same on Air France's Nice/Paris "shuttle." Of course there are also longer international routes than many Italian domestic routes, but they are not comparable.
As of course it does not compare with the Dubai Muscat which is a flight of less than 60 minutes, the shortest in the Emirates network and where first passengers can have a full lunch and a tasting of all the wines on board.
