5 +1 things you need to know about La Compagnie, the only carrier flying business class only from Milan to New York
In the past few weeks I wrote an article that has done a lot of reading in which I explained why in my opinion, in this [...]
La Compagnie
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In the past few weeks I wrote an article that has done a lot of reading in which I explained why in my opinion at this time, La Compagnie's business class is the best Of all those flying between Milan and New York.
Alitalia's Magnifica is no more e Not even ITA will no longer fly from this stopover starting January 8, and other carriers do not put flagships to fly to Malpensa.
Small does not mean unsafe
"But do you trust yourself to fly over the Atlantic with a little thing like that?" I have been told this by many people, and to all I reply that La Compagnie is not the first and especially will not be the only one to fly such routes with such planes, quite the contrary.
To date I have already flown intercontinental with the TAP Portugal's A321lr, from Lisbon to Toronto and on the same plane as Jetblue from New York to London. But in Europe there are also Aer Lingus and SAS using it for similar routes.
Then of course there is La Compagnie which is different from all the others because it puts "only" 76 passengers on board, half as many as all the others. Not to mention that in a few months with the arrival of A321xlr will be more and more of these flights.
The most spacious seats aboard the A321neo
We're on a single-aisle aircraft, and that means. you fly a significantly smaller vehicle than all the others Aircraft operating similar routes.
In the comments to one of my posts, a reader asked me about the Space for those who are taller than 1.90 meters. Certainly not that the seats on twin-aisle planes are much deeper, but a few inches can make a difference.
In this case I recommend taking row 1 or row 9, That of the emergency exits. In this case you have at least 10 cm more than all other passengers.
Crazy wifi
No carriers operating flights from Italy, but even globally perhaps only those using Star Link satellites (I have never tried) offer anything remotely comparable.
Almost 50mb download means you can do whatever you want to do, except for playing online games and uploading a 4k video to Youtube,
Not only mind-blowing performance, but Completely free service with no limit on device, traffic or time. You simply hook up to the network, and after two clicks you are connected.
Newark may be better than JFK
Arriving at New York's other airport, even though we are in New Jersey, has advantages and disadvantages. The first benefit is that since it is less busy than JFK. immigration queues can be faster. That is why all carriers from Singapore Airlines to British, Lufthansa to Air France, to name a few, fly here. Besides of course United with all its flights, since the Star Alliance airline does not fly into the hub at NYC's most famous airport.
Depending on your final destination in Manhattan, it is certainly more convenient to arrive on this side of the Hudson, compared with the East River. Traffic also has different dynamics. If when leaving JFK the queue starts at Jamaica and accompanies to the final destination, here the traffic starts Holland Tunnel area and then continues into Manhattan.
In contrast, EWR's Terminal B, used by all intercontinental carriers except United is really sad and is the only case in the U.S., in my memory, where it is better to be outside the sterile area than inside.
Only 5 crew members
Few passengers, few flight attendants. The number is determined by seats and emergency exits, and this means that on board the A321s flying intercontinental, not only La Compagnie, have a Crew consisting of the commander and second officer in the cockpit and three flight attendants For passenger operations.
Only two planes (not for long yet)
The Compagnie currently has only two planes, two A321neo, but by 2025 the fleet is expected to increase to five planes, which will increase the company's chances of Offer more connections, even from "secondary" airports.
Doubling the fleet will also lead to the possibility of increasing frequencies and having backup plans in case of machine problems, but fortunately the A321neo are some of the most modern machines around and therefore true work machines.
In conclusion
Flying on a plane with solo business class seats is something that doesn't happen often, indeed there is only from Paris and Milan, and in both cases La Compagnie is the only carrier offering this service.
There would also be other aspects such as a simple loyalty program that truly rewards those who use this carrier frequently, a price that is competitive with what other carriers charge to fly business class, and simple, but excellent quality catering.
Have you ever flown intercontinental aboard a single aisle? Leave me your opinion here in the comments.
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