Choosing an airline

Many airlines travel over the Atlantic and charge fairly identical prices for service that is of varying quality. In my experience, the most important factors are seat recline, personal space, and food quality; personal space is closely related to the widely available measure of "pitch", or the measurement from the same position on two seats, one behind the other.

Lately, profitable European airlines are distinguishing from unprofitable North American ones by offering far better service at the same price (or less, given the disparity in additional fees). Also, if your travel includes a connection in the US on any airline other than Continental, prepare to pack food with you or pay for undesirable cold sandwiches.

Here is some information updated as of November 2009 on transatlantic planes of airlines that publish fares to Milano or Torino. The information refers to actual planes, i.e. the operating carrier in case of codeshare.