Book a Lie-Flat Seat on a Short Trip in Europe

If you fly inside Europe, most main airways do not provide you with a lie-flat seat — or perhaps a larger recliner — in enterprise class.

That is as a result of the flights are quick, often one to 4 hours, so carriers do not trouble. As an alternative, enterprise class on a fast European hop is commonly only a common financial system seat with the center seat subsequent to you blocked off. Nonetheless, you do get extra room on your elbows and the power to unfold out, together with a nicer meal.

There are exceptions, although. As an example, I lately booked and skilled a “true” enterprise class seat on a visit between Rome and Paris. That meant an actual lie-flat mattress on a two-hour flight, for 12,500 factors and about $67 in taxes.

This is how I discovered it and how you can e-book it your self.

Italy’s flag provider, ITA Airways, operates an Airbus A321neo, and it is a bit of an oddball. The provider fitted these jets with a full three-cabin setup, together with 12 lie-flat enterprise class seats in a 1-1 format. Each seat faces the window, has its personal aisle entry, and lies utterly flat right into a mattress.

Why is a seat this good on such a brief flight? The A321neo is primarily used for medium-haul routes to the Center East and Africa — locations like Dubai, Riyadh, Cairo, and Dakar — the place flights run 5 to seven hours, and a mattress is smart for passengers. However when a type of planes is not wanted for an extended route on a given day, ITA makes use of it on shorter European hops as a substitute.

So on the best day, you’ll be able to catch a airplane constructed for a six-hour flight on a two-hour one, and pay short-haul factors costs for it.

This is the place you need to listen. ITA runs a number of flights a day between Rome and Paris, and most of them use common single-aisle planes with a blocked-middle-seat enterprise class. Just some flights get the A321neo.

To seek out the best one, I used a instrument known as ExpertFlyer, which reveals you precisely which airplane is assigned to every flight. Google Flights will present you this info, too.

On the day I searched Rome to Paris, 4 ITA flights got here up. One was listed as “32N,” a typical airplane with no lie-flat seat. Nonetheless, three flights confirmed “32Q,” the three-cabin A321neo I used to be after.

ExpertFlyer reveals three flights labeled “32Q,” which denotes an A321neo with lie-flat seats.

Google Flights confirmed it, tagging that actual flight with a “lie flat seat” be aware. The takeaway: on these routes, “enterprise class” would not mechanically imply a lie-flat seat. Examine the airplane earlier than you e-book, and needless to say plane swaps can occur.

If I would paid money, that enterprise class seat would have been $370 a method, in accordance with Google Flights. As an alternative, I booked it utilizing Air Canada’s Aeroplan program for 12,500 factors, plus CAD $92 (about USD $67) in taxes and costs. The factors successfully saved me round $300. Divide that by 12,500, and every level was price roughly 2.4 cents.

The catch is availability. Airways solely launch a restricted variety of award seats per flight, and premium ones are inclined to go quick. Due to this fact, you won’t discover one in your actual date. Being versatile along with your dates helps.

You needn’t earn Air Canada factors straight. 4 of the large versatile factors applications within the U.S. switch to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio:

I redeemed by transferring AmEx factors to Aeroplan, and the factors moved from one account to the opposite immediately.

Listed below are the steps I took:

Discover the flight with the lie-flat seat. Use ExpertFlyer, or search for the “lie flat seat” tag on Google Flights, to ensure the A321neo is the airplane in your ITA flight.

Seek for award house on Aeroplan. ITA joined Star Alliance in 2026, so now you can e-book its flights with Aeroplan factors. Search the route on Air Canada’s website and search for enterprise class award seats on the flight you need.

Switch your factors solely after you see the seat. Transfers cannot be undone, so by no means transfer factors till you’ve got confirmed the award seat is definitely obtainable. When you see it, switch your 12,500 factors and e-book.

If you happen to can, seize the primary row of enterprise class on the A321neo. On this airplane, the primary row is the bulkhead, and it comes with additional house and a giant ottoman. It is one of the best seat in a cabin that is already actually good.

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