Is ITA Airways or Lufthansa better to Europe?

Lufthansa scores 8.8/10 against ITA Airways at 8.5/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, ITA Airways wins 0 and Lufthansa wins 1. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.

Which is cheaper, ITA Airways or Lufthansa?

On the 21 routes where both were priced for the same week (November 8–14, 2026), ITA Airways was cheaper on 14 and Lufthansa on 7. Every pair of fares is the same departure and return date in the same cabin, so the difference is the airline rather than the dates or the cabin.

Does the aircraft change the answer?

Yes. ITA Airways scores 10/10 on the A350-900 and 8/10 on the A330-900neo. Lufthansa scores 10/10 on the A350-900 / 787-9 (Allegris) and 5/10 on the 747-8 / A330-300 (legacy). Check the equipment on your date before deciding.

Has Jon flown either of these?

Lufthansa, in business on a Europe route. ITA Airways has not been flown, so nothing here claims firsthand experience of its cabin.

Head to head

ITA Airways vs Lufthansa

Lufthansa scores 8.8/10 against ITA Airways at 8.5/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare.

By Jon Miksis · cabin data verified September 1, 2026 · fares for travel November 8–14, 2026

Best product each one flies

Scored on what can be verified. Service, food and ground recovery are absent deliberately: they need someone in the seat, and they live in the reviews rather than here.

One caveat on the Value line, stated rather than buried: Value is computed from business fares, and a carrier with too few of them does not get a Value score at all. Where you see a dash, we have fewer than three priced business routes for that airline and did not want to invent a figure from one or two — so its product score is the mean of three dimensions rather than four, and it is not directly comparable to a score built on hundreds of fares. The airlines with the most fares behind them are named on the business-class ranking.

ITA Airways

A350-900

Seat: 10/10
IFE: 8/10
Lounge & bags: 10/10
Value: 6/10
Product score: 8.5/10

Lufthansa

A350-900 / 787-9 (Allegris) · flown by Jon

Seat: 10/10
IFE: 8/10
Lounge & bags: 10/10
Value: 7/10
Product score: 8.8/10

Dimension by dimension

Seat: level
10/10 on the A350-900 against 10/10 on the A350-900 / 787-9 (Allegris).
IFE: level
Screens, connectivity and power: 8/10 against 8/10.
Lounge & bags: level
What the fare includes before you board: 10/10 against 10/10.
Value: Lufthansa
Median premium over the cheapest carrier on the same route: 6/10 against 7/10.

Where both were priced on the same dates

Every fare is November 8–14, 2026, so a difference between two rows is a difference between two airlines and nothing else. These are economy fares, while the cabin scores above describe the business product — read them as how each airline prices against its competitors, not as what its business seat costs.

Route	Cabin	ITA Airways	Lufthansa	Cheaper
IAD → VCE	economy	$693	$1051	ITA Airways by $358
BOS → ATH	economy	$724	$787	ITA Airways by $63
BOS → NCE	economy	$729	$780	ITA Airways by $51
MIA → VCE	economy	$748	$773	ITA Airways by $25
LAX → VCE	economy	$766	$981	ITA Airways by $215
JFK → ATH	economy	$779	$778	Lufthansa by $1
IAD → NCE	economy	$813	$862	ITA Airways by $49
LAX → NCE	economy	$930	$849	Lufthansa by $81
LAX → ATH	economy	$879	$903	ITA Airways by $24
IAD → ATH	economy	$936	$1089	ITA Airways by $153
MIA → ATH	economy	$972	$1018	ITA Airways by $46
LAX → VCE	business	$4192	$6305	ITA Airways by $2113
MIA → VCE	business	$4581	$5007	ITA Airways by $426
LAX → FCO	business	$10112	$4808	Lufthansa by $5304
JFK → ATH	business	$5251	$10461	ITA Airways by $5210
LAX → ATH	business	$5438	$6259	ITA Airways by $821
LAX → NCE	business	$5578	$5599	ITA Airways by $21
IAD → VCE	business	$6744	$6009	Lufthansa by $735
IAD → NCE	business	$10199	$6921	Lufthansa by $3278
LAX → MAD	business	$8217	$6967	Lufthansa by $1250
MIA → FCO	business	$9797	$7931	Lufthansa by $1866

What happens if the aircraft swaps

Both carriers are paying-the-same-fare-either-way propositions on some frames. The worst product each one flies:

ITA Airways

A330-900neo

Seat: 8/10
IFE: 8/10
Lounge & bags: 10/10
Value: 6/10
Product score: 8/10

Lufthansa

747-8 / A330-300 (legacy) · flown by Jon

Seat: 5/10
IFE: 8/10
Lounge & bags: 10/10
Value: 7/10
Product score: 7.5/10

ITA Airways: Thompson Vantage XL, the same seat family TAP flies, without a privacy door.

Lufthansa: The cabin Allegris is replacing. Still widely flown on US routes into late 2026.

Common questions

Is ITA Airways or Lufthansa better to Europe?: Lufthansa scores 8.8/10 against ITA Airways at 8.5/10 on seat, screens, lounge and fare. On the four dimensions we can verify, ITA Airways wins 0 and Lufthansa wins 1. Service and food are not scored here because they cannot be read off a spec sheet.
Which is cheaper, ITA Airways or Lufthansa?: On the 21 routes where both were priced for the same week (November 8–14, 2026), ITA Airways was cheaper on 14 and Lufthansa on 7. Every pair of fares is the same departure and return date in the same cabin, so the difference is the airline rather than the dates or the cabin.
Does the aircraft change the answer?: Yes. ITA Airways scores 10/10 on the A350-900 and 8/10 on the A330-900neo. Lufthansa scores 10/10 on the A350-900 / 787-9 (Allegris) and 5/10 on the 747-8 / A330-300 (legacy). Check the equipment on your date before deciding.
Has Jon flown either of these?: Lufthansa, in business on a Europe route. ITA Airways has not been flown, so nothing here claims firsthand experience of its cabin.

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