ITA Airways

ITA Airways is Italy's flag carrier, flying from a main hub at Rome Fiumicino with a secondary base at Milan Linate. It replaced Alitalia at the end of 2021 as a smaller, restructured airline, and it now sits inside the Lufthansa Group, which took an initial 41% stake in early 2025 and has since exercised its option for a 90% majority stake, expected to complete in 2027. Practically, that means an Italian airline run increasingly to German group standards on product and reliability.

Its alliance footing changed recently. ITA left SkyTeam in April 2025 and joined Star Alliance on 1 April 2026, so it is now a Star carrier — relevant if you credit miles or connect through other Star members. The network is built around domestic Italy and short-haul Europe, with a long-haul layer reaching North America, South America, the Middle East and Asia. Flying ITA is a fairly straightforward European full-service experience: a respectable business cabin on the widebodies, a workmanlike short-haul setup, and a brand still settling into its Lufthansa-era identity.

The published cabin layouts here are all Airbus, which matches ITA's all-Airbus fleet. The short-haul side runs the A220-100 and A220-300, the A319, the A320 and A320neo, all in a two-class business-and-economy split where business is economy seats with a blocked middle rather than a separate seat. The A321neo steps up to a three-cabin layout with a distinct premium economy, which is the one narrowbody worth treating differently when you book.

Long-haul is covered by the A330-900neo and the A350-900, both in three cabins: business, premium economy and economy. Business on these aircraft is a flat-bed product in a staggered, mostly direct-aisle-access arrangement; premium economy is a separate small cabin of wider seats; economy is a standard widebody grid. The widebodies are where ITA's cabin investment shows, so they are the configurations to study closely if comfort over a long sector is the deciding factor.

Short-haul business on the A220 and A320-family aircraft is the common European model: a standard economy seat with the adjacent middle kept empty and a better meal, rather than a wider chair. It is comfortable enough for a couple of hours and no more, so judge those flights on row position rather than cabin. Economy across the narrowbodies is tidy and unremarkable, with slimline seats and limited recline.

The long-haul cabins are the reason to look closely. Business on the A330-900neo and A350-900 is a lie-flat seat with good aisle access and direct storage, the kind of product that holds up on an overnight to the Americas. Premium economy is a genuine middle tier with more width and recline and a separate, quieter cabin feel. Economy is functional: seat-back screens on the widebodies, decent pitch for the class, and the usual trade-offs of a full long-haul load. Wi-fi availability varies by aircraft and route, so treat connectivity as a maybe rather than a given.

On the narrowbodies, the front rows give you the quietest ride and the fastest exit, while anything beside the galley or lavatory at the rear is worth avoiding on a busy flight. Exit rows on the A320 and A321 buy useful extra legroom; the trade is a seat that may not recline and an armrest-mounted tray. On the A220, the 2-3 layout means the two-seat side is the better pick for a pair travelling together with no middle to negotiate.

On the A330-900neo and A350-900, business seats vary by where they sit in the stagger — the more enclosed solo seats suit a sleeper, while the seats closer to the aisle feel more open but less private. In premium economy, the front row gives extra space but sits near the cabin divider and bassinet position, which can mean infants nearby. In economy, aim for a seat ahead of the rear galley and lavatory cluster, and check the published layout for rows where a window seat loses its actual window or recline is limited by an exit.