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Connecting Flights in Rome (FCO) – conflicting stories on checked luggage

Posted by (Dallas soon to be Italy) on

I am moving my family from Dallas to Italy and have been given very different stories from the airlines involved in my upcoming flight. American Airlines booked our entire ticket and we fly on American from Dallas to Rome and then on ITA (former Alitalia) from Rome to Genoa. Will American Airlines check my family’s luggage all the way through to Genoa, and will ITA actually do it, despite the connection in Rome and the change of airlines to ITA?

At booking, American assured me on the phone that their agreement with ITA allows for American to check my luggage in Dallas all the way through to Genova on ITA and that it will transfer to ITA without my doing anything else. When I called ITA to choose seats, ITA told me that they have no such agreement and that I will have to do everything twice (pick my luggage up in Rome, go thru customs and immigration and exit the airport and then reenter the airport, check my luggage at the ITA front desk for the flight to Genoa etc.) even though it is all one ticket booked by American.

What was your experience with getting checked luggage through to the final destination, connecting through Rome, on a single ticket using America Airlines and ITA? We leave on July 1. Many thanks!

Posted by
23301 posts

I don't anyone can given a guaranteed answer. Normally I would think that you would check all your luggage through to Genoa. You would go through immigration/passport control in Rome and customs in Genoa. I think I would trust American.

Posted by
4891 posts

American Airlines is part of the One World partnership. ITA is not. So I wouldn't be surprised if you can't tag your bags all the way to Genoa. I'm afraid you might have to wait to find out until you check in at the Dallas airport.

Regardless, you will have to go through Passport Control (Immigration) when you arrive at FCO. And a security check. If you have to recheck your bags you will do that after Passport control. You don't need to exit the airport, but you will have to exit the secure area and go to the ITA desk to check your bags.

FCO has its own website. You might want to look at their section on connections from nonSchengen to Schengen flights

Posted by
699 posts

When you look at your tickets on the AA website, what do you see? Is the itinerary actually booked as a single ticket?

You booked these tickets over the phone with an AA agent, and not on the AA website?

The determining factor as to whether AA can check through your luggage to Genoa is whether there is an interline agreement between AA and ITA. Here is a supposed list of AA's interline agreements:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/interline-agreements-earn-miles-with-multiple-partners/

AZ is the code for ITA, so that suggests an agreement exists.

After looking at your tickets online, I would suggest another call to AA and try to confirm the baggage arrangement. Also ask about boarding passes - will you have to also check in with ITA? And at DFW, make sure the baggage tags indicate Genoa with the ITA flight number as the final destination.

Based on an online search of flights from DFW to Genoa, there are no offerings on AA, while there are a number of codeshare flights with ITA's partners. Were you using AA miles?

Posted by
11198 posts

I find is intriguing that on the AA site I can find a DFW-FCO direct flight.

When searching for DFW-GOA, it seems none of the solutions goes via FCO.

I would plan on having to retrieve your bags at FCO and re-check them. You may get lucky when you check in at DFW and get them tagged to GOA, but to me it seems less likely, given the AA site does not produce a DFW-FCO-GOA solution.

Posted by
7570 posts

I have seen information that indicates that agreements with ITA have been in flux with a number of airlines.

The only advice I can give is:

Call American closer to departure and get the latest status. Be a bit insistent, since even unconnected airlines sometimes can transfer luggage, and apparently when you booked, you could.

At the very least, when you check in and drop luggage, you will know where your bags are going, either FCO or Genoa, because the tag and the agent will tell you. That is another opportunity to get them checked through to Genoa.

Posted by
2 posts

Markcw, you are correct. It is one ticket and American booked it all with me directly on the phone. Thanks to you, I just scoured the web and called American to learn all I could about “Interline agreements”. Despite being a regular traveler, I knew nothing of them (probably since I’ve avoided checking bags until now). I confirmed on the phone that American does have an interline agreement with ITA; ITA’s call center must not know about it. The scary thing is, both airlines call centers are so adamant that they are both correct. But I suppose if American tags my bags to Genoa instead of Rome, I’ll pray the bag handlers in Rome play ball.

If any one on this forum has heard of someone making this connection to Rome on American and then connecting on ITA to a domestic Italian flight, your past experience would be a wonderful proof point.

And thank you Frank, CJean and joe32F and Paul for taking the time to share your experience and perspectives.

It means the world to me and my family as we prepare to move our lives to Italy for the foreseeable future!

Posted by
44 posts

I have not flown AA but with Canadian airlines. Both times I've collected my luggage in Rome and rechecked them for the 2nd flight with ITA. Once to Naples and then to Catania. This year same thing from Rome to Milan.

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