Alitalia Airlines

What airlines are you actually seeing good reviews on?

I haven't flown Alitalia myself, but...it's Italy's legacy airline. A very long history of losing lots of money (and being propped up repeatedly). Certainly not the most efficient airline in the world, nor the worst. I've seen reviews that were great, and some that were awful. Like United, Delta, American, etc, etc.

Alitalia seems to always be on the brink of bankruptcy (or beyond bankruptcy) and always on the brink of being bailed out or bought by someone else. My primary concern would be getting stranded if the airline goes belly up at the last minute, but it has been to the edge so many times and was saved each time, it probably won't disappear the day before your flight. It's apparently good enough for the Pope.

Roberto can probably offer more insight into the current financial situation...

I'm more worried about the quality of the seats, service, etc. I booked our flights on Air France and didn't realize we would be on Alitalia. I'm not a seasoned international flyer so I definitely made a mistake when booking this trip. It is too late to change our plans but I want to have an idea what we will be facing on this flight.

I flew Alitalia in 2008 round trip from LAX to FCO. It was on the edge of bankruptcy then, so things haven't changed much. It was a great flight both ways, with great service.

One thing I do is to book all airfare with my American Express card. If something goes haywire, they have (or at least USED to have) a travel service that will assist in rebooking a flight to get you home. I need to check if that is still a cardholder perc.

We flew Alitalia from Rome to JFK a few months ago and it was fine. It is partnered with Delta so that is why we took it since we were headed to Atlanta. The plane was nicer (777) and newer than the usual 767 Delta uses most times. Food was good and in the pack with blanket, etc was a neck roll which I liked. I can't think of anything negative to say about this airline--but have mostly negative views of JFK!

I’ve made 12 trips to Italy, most of them on Alitalia. They are as good as the other airlines and I’ve never had an issue with my flights, their personnel or the comfort of their cabins. I feel that most negative airline reviews are based on a single incident on a single flight and not the airline’s overall performance. Sometimes passengers have unrealistic expectations in this day and age when we are treated like cattle.

We flew Alitalia once and it was fine. One fun thing is that because the flight attendants and a lot of the passengers are Italian, it's almost as if you're already in Italy when you get on board. Don't sweat it.

Airlines reviews are there to rev up anxiety, while most trips are totally uneventful. No point in worrying about this trip. Having said that, I flew Alitalia once and it definitely wasn't my favorite trip, but it's irrelevant...it got me there and that's all I care about.

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences, I feel a little calmer now! We are not overly nitpicky unless something is horrible. I will keep a positive attitude about our flight with this airline.

I booked our flights on Air France and didn't realize we would be on
Alitalia. I'm not a seasoned international flyer so I definitely made
a mistake when booking this trip.

You didn't make a "mistake": Alitalia is part of the same SkyTeam alliance as Air France (and others) and they codeshare routes. I live in a big Delta hub - also one the SkyTeam alliance partners - so when we've flown to/from Italy, one leg has usually been on Alitalia, even if we book with Delta. We've had aircraft that were fine and some which were a little dated (e.g. no seat-back screens) but it's been OK as long as timing and price fit the bill. We only fly coach so it sort of is what it is. :O)

We flew on Alitalia from Rome to Sicily and then from Sicily to Rome and then from Rome to Paris last month. All three flights were just fine. Their check-in staff was particularly helpful twice, saving us much headache. Their planes were newer and clean and their flight attendants good. I would fly them again in a minute. We actually book our original flight with Air France only ending up on Delta and Alitalia - code sharing you know.

Booked Lufthansa to Paris in 2015 and it turned out to be United. Horrendous flight from a space & service standpoint.

Didn't make the same mistake last year to Frankfurt/Rome, nor Naples/Munich/Chicago, made sure it was Lufthansa all the way. Huge difference.

Marci, I have flown Alitalia more than a dozen times as well as other airlines. They are fine.
They are no different than other airlines. I have seen these bad reviews myself and do not
agree.
I am sure people have bad experiences on all airlines but I doubt Alitalia exceeds at these.
Good Luck.

I like Alitalia. Heard complaints about the food but I thought it was good. If the food is free I am unlikely to complain.
Which is really the point about airline reviews ; who has a time to write a review for an airline... those that had an unpleasant experience is who. The thousands who thought the trip was fine, made it safely to their destination, they are not going to write a review.

My only concern with Alitalia is the possibility of them going out of business ; most likely another carrier would pickup the flight like Delta since they codeshare or KLM but you never know!

I flew Alitalia in 2015 from Rome to LAX and it was a very comfortable flight. We had 3 times the leg room on their 777 than we did flying from LAX to Amsterdam on KLM’s 747. My only concern would be if they were to go bankrupt.

As I wrote a few months ago Alitalia is under “Amministrazione Controllata”, a feature of Italian bankruptcy law similar to Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy law. Basically a committe of 3 Extraordinary Administrators (Commissioners) appointed by the Government is currently managing the airline. The plan is to sell it to the highest bidder, but the deadline to submit the tender offers have been postponed by Parliament several times. The new deadline is set for October 31, 2018. So far several have expressed interest, like Lufthansa, Delta, EasyJet, and even RyanAir.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/italian-parliament-votes-to-extend-alitalia-sale-per-449044/

But, as we all know, Italy has now a new government coalition which includes the neo fascist nationalist League, who does not want to hear about selling the Italian flagship carrier to another country’s airline, and have recently hinted that no sale will take place.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-05-17/italys-5-star-league-plan-to-halt-sale-of-alitalia-league-economics-chief

Therefore I would expect no change to the current situation, at least not this year. So, the only change the new government might implement for now is to require a new Airline Captain’s Uniform

It was t an error. It’s a code share flight, Alitalia, Air France-KLM, Delta are all part of the same cartel (SkyTeam), so you buy ticket with one but could fly with any of them.
Haven’t flown Alitalia for a few years, but I’m sure they are as good as the others. Actually they have several new B777 in their fleet, so you might be more comfortable than with others. For sure their food is generally better.

Since you fly from JFK to Rome, the plane will be full of Italians and Italian Americans from NY/NJ. That means total chaos, with people yelling, walking around, joking, eating pizza e spaghetti standing up, basically a marketplace where nobody sits down at their seat. It’s fun to watch, but if you plan to sleep, carry some good ear plugs, because all my flights from JFK to Italy have always been a noisy market. Basically you will be experiencing the chaos of Italy before you get there.

We flew Alitalia last year from MIA to Rome and booked economy comfort and had no problem. We are flying again next October but the cruise line would not book Alitalia due to their financial situation. As a result we won’t have a nonstop to Rome but rather have a stop in Madrid.

We flew on Alitalia spring of 2017, paid for upgrades well in advance and received confirmation, the night before they changed the plane and seat plan, I thought I caught the chance got new seat confirms etc, when we got to NY, they said my confirm was not good as someone else had the seats, the new configuration had no 1st class seats, a nightmare. Lucky my fights back to US did not included Alitalia. I filed several claims, no replies and no refund as yet. I also contacted Delta (which is where we set up the original flights, part of the sky team) no help there either. I am flying out of Milan this fall, and have avoided Alitalia. Good luck

New Alitalia crew uniforms just revealed: Alitalia staff get new designer uniforms despite uncertain future

Probably quite safe to book with them for a while. No doubt they will be looking sharp no matter how the finances are going! :)

I loved that once we were in the gate area, I felt like we were already in Italy.
Excellent service, and I’ve booked several flights with them this coming year.