Anyone with any experience comparing Continental's business class service to Alitalia's?

CO partners do not always confirm for award mileages immediately. The response when trying to reserve last summer could take up to 24 hours to notify you if the dates are available or not. I suppose the system is better now.

Magnfica class can be viewed at:
http://www.alitaliausa.com/

I have never flown Magnifica but from what I have found, US carriers across the atlantic are much better than European carriers. With the exception of possibly British Airways and SwissAir.

Magnifca class has 70s style white leather seats and do not recline as much as CO BF. Also, Alitalia is 747 while CO is 777 complete with great video system and espresso machine. I don't believe Alitalia matches with that.

Lastly, you can view CO BF fine cuisine and menus @: http://www.continental.com/dash/buil...1_01_02_200105

I disagree here. I find that LH, BA, VS, SR all have good buisiness classes, and from what I have heard austrian and SK are also good. The difference to (most) american carriers is that they still have a first class. Delta, NW, CO and (i believe)US don't....

I flew AZ ex-SFO in March, returning on CO ex-MXP. Both seats and food very good. AZ slightly better FA's (we had a "speaker"); CO much better entertainment (in-seat screens). CO President's Club much nicer than AZ's club at MXP.

Although I'd probably give a slight nod to CO, I'd use either again. Convenience would probably be the deciding factor.

BTW one of the nicer things about booking rewrad travel on AZ is that you can extend it to anywhere in Italy. You're not just limited to MXP or FCO. So we were able to travel right into VCE on our reward ticket, and then ex-PEG on the way home. If we had done it on CO, it would have cost us an extra $200 each.

I will bring my own DVD and movies...more specifically, how did the food and wine compare...I have heard that the seats are comparable?

One guy posted last year that the AZ entrees were terrible in his opinion??

The food we had on AZ was very good - an Italian meal with a first and a second course, contorni, good cheese choices. Nice breakfast in the morning. CO's food was slightly but not markedly better.

No comments from here on the wine list.

AZ's seat was one of the most comfortable I've ever sat in on a plane. Beautifully engineered. Even better than the BF barcaloungers, which I love. But not markedly better.

As I said above, it's pretty much a wash.

I've had one flight on Alitalia in a 767 in their business class. The seats weren't impressive but not uncomfortable or anything. My main complaint was the cabin crew wasn't very friendly. They rushed the service only to hide in the aft galley after the service. Granted it was a pretty short overnight flight so I don't think many really cared about the overly rushed service. On the other hand, Continental's BF is always excellent. Rome and Milan used to get 777s from Newark, but these two cities have been downgraded to DC-10s. I think the 767's will be on them soon, though. Personally, I'd go with CO unless there is some extraordinany reason to choose Alitalia. Yet my experience is limited and may or may not be representative. I've flown Alitalia before on shorthaul flights, and, when they're on-time, they are fine.

According to the last post, are we to the point where overnight flights are "pretty short"!!! I kind of think of them as long myself...
So under that assumption, we only get service on super duper really long flights???
Wow... I guess I'm picky...

Interesting question, as I have been flying both CO and AZ business classes frequently this year. I find that Magnifica and BF are roughly comparable: as always, the food depends on where the flight originates. AZ seems more variable than CO: sometimes the staff is sulky and hides out out in the galley (i.e. most BOS-MXP). However, on a recent MXP-HKG flight, the seat (on MD-11) was great, the food terrific, service extremely attentive (with expresso offered continuously pace earlier message). Biggest difference, and perhaps deciding factor: no in-seat entertainment on AZ -- the old-style movie screen glares constantly, making it hard to sleep.