Athens: €317 ITA Airways Business Class from Barcelona & Madrid

SkyTeam member ITA Airways has issued a very attractive fare for European business class travel. With a short stop in Rome, you can fly from Madrid or Barcelona to Athens with an empty middle seat and free food for as little as €318.

While most ITA Airways are not particularly interesting for frequent flyers, because most SkyTeam member happily ignore the Italian upstart, this one is a decent tier point run for members of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. A roundtrip earns 120 TP, which gets you close to SkyTeam Elite status (requires 400 TP).

Our availability calendar highlights all possible flight dates at the lowest price for trips up to 28 days. It will forward you to ITA Airways with your selected flight dates. You can also check what OTAs have to offer, as they sell these tickets up to €40 cheaper.

ITA Airways uses Airbus A320 family aircraft on all flights. They feature the usual 3-3 economy seating in their business class section, but the middle seat is guaranteed to stay empty.

Search & Book

According to the fare rules, these tickets are on sale until July 31, 2023. Given the fact that business class tickets are currently cheaper than economy flights on this route, we expect the offer to be gone sooner. You need to stay at least three days or one night from Saturday to Sunday in Athens to get the cheap tickets. Your stay may not exceed one month.

Google Flights shows you additional flight dates. We recommend buying business class tickets directly with the airline for several reasons.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Mileage

ITA Airways issues these tickets in booking class I. As mentioned earlier, they are especially attractive for member of Virgin Atlantic’s Fly Club and basically nobody else.

Crediting them with Virgin’s Flying Club, these tickets shorten your way to SkyTeam Elite status, earning 120 of the required 400 tier points. While it won’t grant lounge access, it comes with free checked bags on most SkyTeam flights.

Thanks to our source FlyerTalk!

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