SOF-MLE in J - caveats
 

Hi all,

I never flew ITA Airways and was looking for *A possibilities to fly SOF-MLE beginning of Feb 2026.
I see a very tempting offer on Google Flights with link to the airline site (SOF-FCO FCO-MLE and vice-versa) for ~2663EUR/person in J

I wanted to ask from your experience:

1. What is the possibility the flights to be changed/cancelled by the airline and how far in advance?
2. Do I miss something as OS/LH/TK prices are much higher?

Thank you in advance.

Ita unreliablilty for now
 

I just returned from Italy where ITA canceled at the last minute a flight some of the participants in our group had booked. It was extremely inconvenient. They had to book new tickets from Ancona instead of Rome and connect through Munich. ITA is in a state of change now and I would avoid booking with them until after they’re sorted.

The "state of change" is completely unrelated to ITA wobbly operation's performance. The usual issue with the acquisition is mostly related to align FF programs and status.
All the troubles with website, bad customer service, delays, cancellations are a legacy that I don't know if LHG will be ever able to improve.

I had a FCO-YYZ, few weeks ago, where the boarding was by bus, the plane has been swapped to an older, worn out one the day before departure, and last but not least all business class passengers with a companion got moved to separate, different seats while the app was still showing the original assignment.
Before the acquisition took place I had a flight cancelled 2 days before departure, with an automated rebooking that couldn't possibly work (and was totally absurd). I had to fix things by myself (took the train instead) and claim later. The claim went unanswered for 5 months until I involved a third party.
So no difference before and after regarding ITA own mess.

Choose ITA if the price is right. To me, 2600 eur to MLE is not right enough.
In any case...

1. Same chance as with other airlines. I booked a flight to KUL with BA 7 months out when they decided to re-activate the route. 2 months after booking they decided to postpone the reopening and cancelled the flight, so I had to change everything.
2. No, it's normal for different airlines to have different prices. For example, in 2023 TK run a promo from WAW to MLE for 1200 eur pp. and everything worked out.

Regarding the price, to compare, QR has FCO-MLE in February 2026 starting at 2100 per person. If the price is the point, and you don't care about alliance, I would think about QR. You can position nicely with the saved 500 eur per person from ITA price.

2660€ for a crap airline? I guess not. Your priority should be earingn Qpoints on AZ flights, but choose them ONLY if the price is unusually low. They have however some decent C class fares ex-EU to/via Italy, it is business (I) but the minimum stay is, I think 4 days, and you cannot do open-jaw. That would score you 160QP for a little bit more than you used to pay for economy on LH/LX/OS, but double the points. Their C class comfort is worse than LX/LH economy one, and the food is nothing to be worth even mentioning.