And the Best Business Class to Athens Is...Actually Italian
Definitely not American or Delta. Buongiorno, ITA Airways
I don’t care what they say or how rich you are, travel today is tough. Rough. A bitch. Lines. Crowds. Security. Deceptive marketing. Sub-par business class.
True, one of our loyal readers told us about a recent flight aboard United’s Polaris business class from Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International to Athens that was excellent. We take her word for it.
Our own experience traveling in Delta’s business class product, Delta One, from Athens to New York’s J.F.K. was somewhere between middling and fine — not good enough to justify the high price.
As a matter of principle and policy, based on the company’s bad behavior, we do not fly American Airlines unless there is absolutely no alternative.
Speaking of alternatives: this column has come to the conclusion that the best way to travel from the West Coast to Athens is with Italy’s most unusual and in many ways quite exceptional ITA Airways.
We did that, flying a pretty big ITA bird from San Francisco — currently America’s best airport — to Rome, from where we boarded a short connecting flight to Athens.
It was easy to overlook during the pandemic, but Alitalia ceased operations in late 2021 and reemerged as ITA Airways, which has a modern fleet and, New York-based road warriors take note, a codeshare partnership with Delta.
ITA Rising
At a press event held at the Consulate General of Italy at New York a ways back the airline’s Massimo Allegri said that “The United States is our first international market, and we offer multiple services from New York, Boston, Washington, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to our Rome Fiumicino hub. With 122 weekly flights, we aim to become the reference carrier from America to Italy and via Rome to Europe for the Italian community and the international business communities in North America.”
It is refreshing to see the national airline incorporate some genuine Italian flair. In my experience that started with the warmest of welcomes, despite the early hour, at the check-in counter at Fiumicino’s Terminal One.
Noted were uniforms designed by Brunello Cucinelli, a zippy in-flight safety video featuring members of the Italian Olympic team, and some in-flight amenities created by an Italian spa hotel group, QC Terme.
At Rome’s airport, departing business passengers can hang out at the Hangar Lounge, sleekly styled with Poltrona Frau armchairs and B&B Italia seating, and a double wall of Campari bottles suspended over a glowing Willy Wonka-esque elliptical bar. Another lounge, named after Rome’s Piazza di Spagna, features two bars: The traditional kind and another one that serves homemade pizza which though I did not try I understand is molto bene.
There are things one generally tries to avoid doing at 7:30 in the morning in an airport, but when a snazzy Italian lounge enters the frame must not obeisance be made to an enterprising mixologist’s matinal whims? While I eyed the Hangar’s Espresso Martini I actually tried the Fly Up, a wake-up (sort of) cocktail of Campari and gin blended with lemon and pomegranate juice.
A recent menu was formulated by an Italian chef who boasts two Michelin stars, Gian Piero Vivalda.
With the introductory note that Mr. Vivalda’s signature dishes exemplify his “richest, most evocative and traditional fall culinary philosophy.”
Meal notes: Rome to SFO
Things were off to an intriguingly autumnal Tuscan start with an antipasto of celeriac flan accompanied by a thyme-scented golden apple cream. That’s creative comfort food at any altitude. The primi took it to the next level and was also seasonally on-point, comprising mini raviolis filled with Mantua pumpkin nestled on a cream of robiola cheese from Roccaverano in the Piedmont region, topped with a light balsamic vinegar and almond crunch.
That would have been enough for me, but next came a mini-voyage to Sicily on a plate in the form of a saffron-accented sea bass filet cooked in its skin and accompanied by a Tarocco orange sauce — made from a particularly luscious type of Sicilian blood orange. Purple potatoes and stir-fried fresh spinach leaves added some healthy gusto to the dish.
It was the next dish that had me swooning: Dark chocolate Bavarian cream (Italy is part of the EU, after all), with a mandarin gelée and coffee glaze. That may not sound like much but the peculiar alchemy Mr. Vivaldi brings to this dessert transports. Tucking into it above the clouds may have something to do with it, but to me the juxtaposition of a clear and not overly sweet gelée with the pillow of light cream, itself perched atop a sort of light cookie crumble, was like the memory of a late summer’s swim in the Lago di Bracciano outside Rome long ago. Chapeau to this chef.
And say ciao to your new Athens ticket, via ITA Airways. Andiamo!
