ITA Airways Unveils Fantasia Lounge for Unaccompanied Minors in Rome
The Fantasia lounge is open to the 13,000 children who travel unaccompanied with ITA each year
Photo: Fantasia Lounge for unaccompanied minors. Courtesy of ITA Airways
Unaccompanied minors traveling on ITA Airways can now relax and play in a dedicated lounge in the airline’s hub airport in Rome.
The new Fantasia Lounge is, in reality, located before security in Terminal 1 at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO). But conceptually it’s situated where the sea and sky merge, the ITA said, with walls, ceiling, and floor painted in the carrier’s signature blue.
Photo: Fantasia Lounge. Courtesy of ITA Airways
Floating between sea and sky is a large hot air balloon for children to congregate around. The lounge also boasts cozy porthole-shaped nooks stocked with games and books and furnished with Zanotta’s Sacco chairs, icons of Italian design.
Artwork contributes to a whimsical atmosphere and invites young travelers to explore and dream.
To pass the time before their flights, young passengers can play educational games provided by Italian toy brands Carioca and Quercetti. A library of more than 200 books from the Feltrinelli Kids and Gribaudo series caters to readers from five to 15.
Photo: Fantasia Lounge. Courtesy of ITA Airways
Guests at the lounge will also receive a flight book as a keepsake. Once on board the plane, they can hand it to the captain, who will write down important information about the flight, including the flight number, destination, flight time, and aircraft.
They can bring the book on future flights to rack up flight hours, and after their tenth journey with ITA, they can obtain a Junior Pilot Certificate by scanning a QR code on the book. A special Instagram filter allows them to share their accomplishment and their “pilot selfie” with their friends.
Photo: Fantasia Lounge. Courtesy of ITA Airways
Andrea Benassi, General Manager of ITA Airways, said: “During this year, 13,000 families have chosen ITA Airways to accompany their children on flights and therefore making the wait for the flight light, fun and creative for our young passengers is a source of great pride for us.”
The Fantasia Lounge is open to children flying on ITA’s unaccompanied minors service, departing from or connecting through Rome Fiumicino Airport. To book the service, open to children between five and fifteen, and access the lounge, parents should phone 800 936090.
The lounge is the fifth that ITA has opened since it launched two years ago following the collapse of Alitalia. ITA’s lounge network also includes the Hangar and Piazza di Spagna lounges at Rome Fiumicino, Piazza della Scala in Milan Linate Airport (LIN), and Piazza Bellini in Catania–Fontanarossa Airport (CTA).
Photo: ITA Airways, Airbus A330-900neo. Courtesy of ITA Airways.
Airlines’ unaccompanied minor services have recently come under scrutiny in the United States after several holiday mishaps straight out of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Spirit Airlines was forced to apologize this week after placing a six-year-old on the wrong flight from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). Instead of Fort Myers (RSW), the home of his grandmother, the child was flown to Orlando (MCO), 160 miles away.
Parents are also demanding answers after Frontier Airlines flew a 16-year-old traveler to San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU), instead of Cleveland (CLE) just before Christmas.
