Best airline to travel to Italy?

[Deniseiam1]

Hello,

 

We are travelling to Italy in July. The 1st to be exact. We are getting a cruise in Naples. I’m wondering what the best airline would be in your opinion? Please share your thoughts. Also, any tips on when to book?

 

Thank you,

Denise in Toronto 

[*Miss G*]

I was impressed with my Swiss Air flight.  Delta is my go-to airline.  Air Canada is good.  Have never flown TAP but have definitely considered them when researching flights.  Air Transat would be my last choice.

 

You are traveling during prime season.  I wouldn’t wait too long to book if you find a price you can live with.  There’s not going to be any significant savings between now and then.  In fact, quite the opposite.

 

Check your cruise line’s flight offerings.  In many cases they have the best prices for premium seating on long hauls.  Flexible pricing will allow you to change flights should there be a price drop before final payment.  Also, if you cancel your cruise before final payment your flights will also be cancelled with no loss of money.

[Fouremco]

 I'd add Air France and KLM to your list. I've used both for European destinations. Air France can fly you into Naples with a quick connection at CDG. Unless you are planning on spending a few days in Rome pre-cruise, I can't see any advantage in flying into Rome and then taking the train on to Naples.

[LHT28]

not AT

 I would take   a non stop  flight  on any of the others  or  at least one with  a 2+ hr layover in case of delays

 Start checking now & book soon

 In the past pre covid  we would book in Jan during some sales on KLM  when going for Jun cruises

JMO

[mom says]

July is high season, so you need to book  really soon. My preference would be AC or any of the Star Alliance partners. If you are flying into Rome for a few extra days, then non stop flights are available.  But if flying into Naples, you will have to connect to another flight in Europe. Look on Google Flights for all of your options. Look closely at the connecting airport and length of time for the connection. Since you will need to clear Passport Control there, and possibly change terminals, look for a connection time of 2-3 hours. Also check to see if there are later flights on that second leg in case your first flight is delayed and you miss the connection.

[Senga]

We LOVE Air Transat because of the Club Class option.  Air Canada has frequent flights which is important in case of travel disruptions.  TAP doesn't even get good reviews from Portugal residents.

[*Miss G*]

TAP gets good reviews for their lie-flat business class seats at an affordable price.  

[d9704011]

We've flown AT into FCO a number of times (Club Class) and like it.  You can take a bus from FCO to Naples if you want to avoid trains and/or connections.  For a July 1 departure, you better get moving on making your flight arrangements.  I see AT Club Class for the direct YYZ-FCO is booking up quickly.

 

https://www.fiumicinoexpress.com/?lang=en

[Middleager]

We were just on a Med cruise ending in Lisbon 2022.12.7.  TAP had a strike and was not flying on 12.7 and I think the next day.  So there were quite a few cruisers panicking and trying to make alternate arrangements.

 

The year before for a cruise in 2021.12, we flew KLM to YYZ-AMS-FCO.  The flights were fine, but 1 of our 2 luggages didn't arrive FCO.  It eventually arrived the next day.  I kept on calling, and asked if they can deliver to my hotel by 10am next day as we were leaving Rome city, to board the cruise.   They said they'll try.

 

The luggage didn't arrive.  On the ship NCL said they'll try to arrange to have KLM deliver to our next port, or next port (we had 7 port days in a row).  The luggage never arrived the ship.  Only by the time we got home, after repeating trying, they delivered the luggage back to my home.

 

Applying for reimbursement for our expenses, were met with almost no reply, and only website update saying it's been processed.  Only after 7 months did we get partial reimbursement.  No communication and no response when I asked what was included or excluded in our claim.  So that's the experience with KLM.

 

AC is usually good in our previous flying to Europe.

 

Delta just announced they'll provide free wifi on their planes.  Don't know the rollout timing/plan, but it's coming.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

With knowing your travel dates and which city you are returning from it hard to give an answer 

also do you want direct flights ? 
check google flights for pricing 

I hope you are arriving a day or two early 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Ex-Airbalancer

[millybess]

We love Air Transat Club Class too. But just be careful because 3 times in the past year we have had flights cancelled with no notification. We found this out because we logged in to choose our meals to find our flights had been cancelled. It took a lot of scrambling on our part (and hours of holding on the phone) to reroute. Nevertheless, we still book with AT, but mainly to use up our credits. 

[Deniseiam1]

Thank you everyone for your advice. We ended up booking with Air TRANSAT into Rome as it had a direct flight and the best seats - without Option Plus. There is no priority queuing in Toronto and we have our comfort kit from a prior flight so we didn’t need to go Option Plus. We got front cabin seats in row 5. The agent said there was no difference as we only needed to board with 1 checked bag each. 

[Senga]

20 hours ago, Deniseiam1 said:

We got front cabin seats in row 5. 

Is that the first row AFTER Club Class?  There is a curtain between the first row economy and the last row Club.  We had the last row in Club Class and the people behind us kept opening the curtain saying it was too hot.

[millybess]

On 1/10/2023 at 7:25 PM, Deniseiam1 said:

Thank you everyone for your advice. We ended up booking with Air TRANSAT into Rome as it had a direct flight and the best seats - without Option Plus. There is no priority queuing in Toronto and we have our comfort kit from a prior flight so we didn’t need to go Option Plus. We got front cabin seats in row 5. The agent said there was no difference as we only needed to board with 1 checked bag each. 

Good choice. AT is unlikely to cancel flights out of Rome. When our AT flight from Athens was cancelled, we had to scramble to get a flight to Rome to continue on to TO with AT. 

 

I’m not quite sure what you mean by “There is no priority queuing in Toronto”

[Ex-Airbalancer]

7 minutes ago, millybess said:

Good choice. AT is unlikely to cancel flights out of Rome. When our AT flight from Athens was cancelled, we had to scramble to get a flight to Rome to continue on to TO with AT. 

 

I’m not quite sure what you mean by “There is no priority queuing in Toronto”

AT has cancelled our direct flight from Barcelona to Toronto and they stop flights to Rome in October, they are really cutting back on flights 

[millybess]

3 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

AT has cancelled our direct flight from Barcelona to Toronto and they stop flights to Rome in October, they are really cutting back on flights 

They are cutting back on flights. As I said above, we are trying to use up our credits before they go out of business. That would be a shame because in our opinion, they have a good product in Club Class and the best cabin crew anywhere. 

[Senga]

19 hours ago, millybess said:

we are trying to use up our credits before they go out of business.

Where did you hear there was even a threat of AT going out of business?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

9 minutes ago, Senga said:

Where did you hear there was even a threat of AT going out of business?

Probably with the fact AC didn’t buy them out and their cutbacks in flights 

[millybess]

39 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Probably with the fact AC didn’t buy them out and their cutbacks in flights 

Agreed.

[millybess]

53 minutes ago, Senga said:

Where did you hear there was even a threat of AT going out of business?

I didn't say that I heard there was even a threat that AT was going out of business.  

[Senga]

21 hours ago, millybess said:

As I said above, we are trying to use up our credits before they go out of business.

You did say this.

[millybess]

23 minutes ago, Senga said:

You did say this.

Yes, I did.  That's very different from what you said I said.  🙂 

 

I agree with what Ex-Airbalancer said above.  That's my take.