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I needed to travel from Munich to Florence and found an airline called Air Dolomiti. I had previously never heard of them but they had the only reasonably priced, direct flight on the day I wanted to travel so I thought I would give them a go.
As it happens, Air Dolomiti is a Lufthansa subsidiary/partner airline (controlled by Lufthansa), flying quite a few regional routes from Munich, a hub for Lufthansa, to Italian destinations such as Florence, Venice and Verona. They have a fleet of around 20 E195's and ATR72's. They seem to operate most, if not all flights, with a Lufthansa codeshare and provide Lufthansa with feeder traffic from Italy into it's Munich hub and vice versa.
Flight: EN8198 MUC-FLR
Friday 19/4/13
Embraer E195
Seat 1A
The way Air Dolomiti's booking system works is that they have a base price, presumably based on loads, then the option to add €29 for included baggage, or add €49 for a business class ticket (this airline markets it as "emotion" - I have no idea what poet came up with that name). Note that these prices, whilst advertised on their website, seem to vary a little.
I decided to go for the business class ticket because it was less than €100 in total, and still less than what other airlines wanted for crazy non-direct flights in economy. It also gave a few extra benefits over an economy ticket, such as a meal, but I had low expectations considering the price.
On the afternoon of the flight I took the train into Flughafen München and made my way to Terminal 2, which is used by Lufthansa and star alliance airlines. This airline uses the Lufthansa checkin, which consists of only check-in kiosks (no counters except for large groups). The machine was easy to use, and I then queued at the baggage drop-off area, which was staffed. The machines and most staff can speak English, so if you don't speak German you shouldn't have any issues.
I don't normally travel in business class so was pleasantly surprised to be able to use the business class security lane, which was much shorter than the economy lane, and to be able to get into the Lufthansa Business lounge using my Air Dolomiti boarding pass (Lufthansa codeshares on this flight, but I had an EN flight number). I guess Lufthansa treats them as the same airline. The lounge was very full, which was understandable considering it was a Friday evening, but otherwise nice. The selection of food was slightly limited but it had plenty of self-serve beer and wine options (of course, it's Germany!) and free wifi, showers etc. It wasn't anything spectactular, but up to the standard you would expect of an international business lounge.
Around boarding time I made the voyage to the gate and boarding was already underway. I had originally been allocated seat 3A but the lady at the gate gave me a new boarding pass for 1A, presumably because my original seat turned out to be an economy seat. Perhaps there was a late aircraft change. We were herded like cattle onto a bus which took us to the awaiting aircraft. There was a bit of a queue to board the aircraft and the strong rain and cold breeze made waiting on the tarmac a little unpleasant.
This particular E195 aircraft had two rows of business class. They were the same seats as the rest of economy, however my seat had more legroom. I'm not sure if this is because it was a bulkhead seat or because all business seats have more legroom. Perhaps both. Note that seats 1D and 1F had a little more legroom than 1A and 1C. There is a curtain behind the seats of row 2, but not one across the aisle, which meant economy passengers could use the toilet up the front of the plane as they pleased.
There were only four passengers in business class, each with a free seat next to them. In economy the flight was quite full. Business customers were given (cold) refresher towels on boarding. We pushed back about 5 minutes late and the cabin crew did the safety demonstration. On this flight, all announcements were made in Italian, German and English, including the safety demonstrations. I found it a little amusing watching the flight attendant doing every demonstration (fastening seat belt, oxygen masks etc.) three times. It looked a little bit like she was doing an awkward dance.
The flight attendants' and pilot's English was understandable, although obviously not their first language. Clearly German wasn't either, but again they were understandable.
Eventually we took off and in no time were above the Munich clouds and heading south. There was no inflight entertainment as such for either class, just a magazine. All business passengers were given a meal and drinks. The meal was a nice chicken salad with a bread roll, crackers and some sort of pastry. I had a glass of wine and water with it.
Afterwards the flight attendant asked if I wanted anything else to eat or drink, which I didn't. About an hour after we took off, we landed in Florence and parked a fair way from the terminal.
Eventually the stairs were connected and again we were herded onto two buses which took us to the terminal. In the end it didn't really matter that the buses took forever because we still had to wait another fifteen minutes for the luggage to start appearing on the carousel once in the terminal. It was like a reminder that I was no longer in Germany! "Priority baggage" was a bit of a non-benefit as my suitcase certainly wasn't among the first to come out.
Overall the flight was comfortable and good value for money. The service was efficient and professional and the staff treated us with respect. The flight exceeded my (low) expectations of Air Dolomiti's business class (aka. "emotion") and was probably comparable with what other European airlines offer on short intra-Europe flights. The lounge access, extra legroom and meal onboard were the only main, tangible benefits gained from buying a business class ticket, but in my opinion it was worthwhile, considering the relatively small price difference. If I was paying the price Qantas (for example) charges for its business class, I would probably be disappointed.
Would I choose to fly Air Dolomiti again? Yes.
As it happens, Air Dolomiti is a Lufthansa subsidiary/partner airline (controlled by Lufthansa), flying quite a few regional routes from Munich, a hub for Lufthansa, to Italian destinations such as Florence, Venice and Verona. They have a fleet of around 20 E195's and ATR72's. They seem to operate most, if not all flights, with a Lufthansa codeshare and provide Lufthansa with feeder traffic from Italy into it's Munich hub and vice versa.
Flight: EN8198 MUC-FLR
Friday 19/4/13
Embraer E195
Seat 1A
The way Air Dolomiti's booking system works is that they have a base price, presumably based on loads, then the option to add €29 for included baggage, or add €49 for a business class ticket (this airline markets it as "emotion" - I have no idea what poet came up with that name). Note that these prices, whilst advertised on their website, seem to vary a little.
I decided to go for the business class ticket because it was less than €100 in total, and still less than what other airlines wanted for crazy non-direct flights in economy. It also gave a few extra benefits over an economy ticket, such as a meal, but I had low expectations considering the price.
On the afternoon of the flight I took the train into Flughafen München and made my way to Terminal 2, which is used by Lufthansa and star alliance airlines. This airline uses the Lufthansa checkin, which consists of only check-in kiosks (no counters except for large groups). The machine was easy to use, and I then queued at the baggage drop-off area, which was staffed. The machines and most staff can speak English, so if you don't speak German you shouldn't have any issues.
I don't normally travel in business class so was pleasantly surprised to be able to use the business class security lane, which was much shorter than the economy lane, and to be able to get into the Lufthansa Business lounge using my Air Dolomiti boarding pass (Lufthansa codeshares on this flight, but I had an EN flight number). I guess Lufthansa treats them as the same airline. The lounge was very full, which was understandable considering it was a Friday evening, but otherwise nice. The selection of food was slightly limited but it had plenty of self-serve beer and wine options (of course, it's Germany!) and free wifi, showers etc. It wasn't anything spectactular, but up to the standard you would expect of an international business lounge.
Around boarding time I made the voyage to the gate and boarding was already underway. I had originally been allocated seat 3A but the lady at the gate gave me a new boarding pass for 1A, presumably because my original seat turned out to be an economy seat. Perhaps there was a late aircraft change. We were herded like cattle onto a bus which took us to the awaiting aircraft. There was a bit of a queue to board the aircraft and the strong rain and cold breeze made waiting on the tarmac a little unpleasant.
This particular E195 aircraft had two rows of business class. They were the same seats as the rest of economy, however my seat had more legroom. I'm not sure if this is because it was a bulkhead seat or because all business seats have more legroom. Perhaps both. Note that seats 1D and 1F had a little more legroom than 1A and 1C. There is a curtain behind the seats of row 2, but not one across the aisle, which meant economy passengers could use the toilet up the front of the plane as they pleased.
There were only four passengers in business class, each with a free seat next to them. In economy the flight was quite full. Business customers were given (cold) refresher towels on boarding. We pushed back about 5 minutes late and the cabin crew did the safety demonstration. On this flight, all announcements were made in Italian, German and English, including the safety demonstrations. I found it a little amusing watching the flight attendant doing every demonstration (fastening seat belt, oxygen masks etc.) three times. It looked a little bit like she was doing an awkward dance.
The flight attendants' and pilot's English was understandable, although obviously not their first language. Clearly German wasn't either, but again they were understandable.
Eventually we took off and in no time were above the Munich clouds and heading south. There was no inflight entertainment as such for either class, just a magazine. All business passengers were given a meal and drinks. The meal was a nice chicken salad with a bread roll, crackers and some sort of pastry. I had a glass of wine and water with it.
Afterwards the flight attendant asked if I wanted anything else to eat or drink, which I didn't. About an hour after we took off, we landed in Florence and parked a fair way from the terminal.
Eventually the stairs were connected and again we were herded onto two buses which took us to the terminal. In the end it didn't really matter that the buses took forever because we still had to wait another fifteen minutes for the luggage to start appearing on the carousel once in the terminal. It was like a reminder that I was no longer in Germany! "Priority baggage" was a bit of a non-benefit as my suitcase certainly wasn't among the first to come out.
Overall the flight was comfortable and good value for money. The service was efficient and professional and the staff treated us with respect. The flight exceeded my (low) expectations of Air Dolomiti's business class (aka. "emotion") and was probably comparable with what other European airlines offer on short intra-Europe flights. The lounge access, extra legroom and meal onboard were the only main, tangible benefits gained from buying a business class ticket, but in my opinion it was worthwhile, considering the relatively small price difference. If I was paying the price Qantas (for example) charges for its business class, I would probably be disappointed.
Would I choose to fly Air Dolomiti again? Yes.
