I have been loathe to fly on Alitalia since repeated problems on our trip five years ago. They lost 4 of our friends' luggage on the flight in and didn't find 2 of the bags for 8 days. On our departure from FCO we stood in the boarding area packed like sardines for over two hours with repeated and disorganized passport checks and no explanation. It was very unpleasant and I swore to avoid flying with them in the future.
To make my trip work using frequent flyer miles in September it looks like I will have to fly Alitalia. Has anyone got feed back on their performance lately?
Posted by
Tampa, FL, USA
1054 posts
I haven't flown them recently and am curious also to the responses on this question if anyone has
Posted by
Placentia, CA
1079 posts
I flew Alitalia at the end of September from Rome to LAX and had a very positive experience. I found I had a lot more leg on their 777 than I did on KLM's 747 that I flew to Amsterdam. The food was actually pretty good on the plane. I had no problem checking in or with our luggage. The boarding process was a little confusing and could have been better. The flight attendants were very professional. I would not hesitate to fly them again.
Posted by
St. Louis, MO
251 posts
I flew to Rome last July with Alitalia and thought they were great! We didn't have any problems with luggage and the service on the plane was good as well.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32405 posts
I've never flown with Alitalia, but it would seem that their service may have improved since your last experience....
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16240 posts
Haven't flown with them lately but baggage in Europe is not handled by the airlines, but rather by the company managing the airport (usually through a third party company to which the airport managing company outsources the baggage service). As such the handling of your luggage will likely have nothing to do with who you fly with. You should evaluate Europens airlines on their onboard service (flight attendants' customer service, quality of food, seating arrangement, onboard entertainment etc), booking issues, but probably not ground service which is generally provided by the airport company (insourced or outsourced).
Posted by
franktown, colorado
2252 posts
I flew on Alitalia just last week; Rome to Palermo and then Catania to Rome. No issues, a very pleasant flight, crew and comfortable plane. Luggage made all transfers just fine, too. But then each flight was only an hour!