alitalia

Sam,

My wife and I flew roundtrip from Miami to Milan over Christmas. We checked one bag each (a Rick Steves' 21" Roll Aboard) and each carried one on (the convertable back pack version of the previous) and had no real issues to complain about. If there were any real issues, it was relating to the people getting on the plane as for some reason, no one wanted to follow the boarding instructions and a free for all boarding ensued. We also had some people stand up and start taking bags out of the over head bins while the plane was still going down the runway at landing. People in Italy seemed concerned about their belongings and were getting their bags wrapped in plastic. I would think that if you use good quality bags that don't stand out too bad, and you don't pack valuables in your checked baggage, you would reduce your risk of having issues just as much if it were any other carrier. I don't think you should worry about it too much.

Have a good vacation,

Dan

Sam your situation is a little like buying a car and then asking people what they paid for theirs.It only stresses you.You have tickets so you cant do anything about it.Have a few items in your carryon in case they lose your luggage and enjoy the trip.best regards

I flew Alitalia Newark-Rome at the beginning of December and it was fine. Did only carry-on over, checked one bag coming back. Checked bag (and the wine bottle inside) made it home intact. They never weighed the carryons.

Flight attendants were professional, and spoke English and Italian. Plane was the 2-3-2 seat configuration. I got extremely lucky and didn't have a seatmate for the flight over. Flight back was a little harder because I did have a seatmate and couldn't stretch out. Planes are a bit older so not very comfortable, but it was OK.

Flight landed in Rome 30 mins early. Going home, left 30 mins late.

Food was OK for airline food. I preferred the tea to the coffee. They showed two inflight movies (one english, one italian) and some TV. I tried to sleep most of the time so didn't really notice.

Jack's advice is spot on. You're already committed, so put anything you can't be without in your carryon. Overhead bins were very shallow, so watch out for that.

I have only flown Alitalia within Italy and I have found them fine except my flight has never left on time. One thing I have also noticed is the Italians take as much as they like on board as hand luggage and no one seems to bat an eyelid. I also agree the queuing thing isn't something they embrace. As you are an international flight you probably won't have any problems at all and I'd just relax, I'm sure everything will be OK.

We flew over there at Chrissmas.Atlanta to Milan delta and Milan JFK, january 7 on Alitalia.I would fly Alitalia anytime over Delta or any other american airline for that matter.Cutting corners to make a buck seems to be the motto of all north american air companies.So don't be scared,be very happy.Every seat on alitalia had a TV screen. you can watch movies,play games etc(missing on delta).The only common denomination is:embarrasing leg room space.But,hey,nothing we can do about that,right?Unless you can afford to fly bussines class that space is shrinking across the board.I am sure you'll enjoy Alitalia.Happy travels.

Thanks for the reassurance and information. We appreciate it very much. I'll let you all know how we do with the flights.