Delta flight operated by Alitalia

Do you know for sure that your carry-on bag exceeds the AZ restrictions? If so then I would caution against it, you should always go with the most restrictive deminsions. Are you also checking luggage other than the 21"? The only reason I ask is b/c I have been a victim of over-packing and I promise you will live to regret it. Most airports have websites with maps that indicate the airlines that occupy each terminal. Sometime that is a large area, but you can at least get an idea and of course you have no idea which gates b/c those are not determined ahead of time. If you bought the ticket as a through fare and not a connection that you created yourself then it is probably a "legal" connection. However, and I don't want to alarm you, but the airlines are recently producing legal connections that are insane, such as 30 minutes in ATL or LAX. I have not done the DL to AZ in JFk, but if you arrive on time you should be OK. You can call DL or AZ or both and ask for the minimum connection time between those airlines in JFK. Hope some of this is helpful and happy trails!

Yes, with the wheels it is just over the Alitalia limit. No, I didn't plan to check anything else. Thanks for your response.
I knew the connections were tight, but hoped Expedia knew what it was doing. On the way home I have one that's even tighter, 1 hour 10 minutes in Amsterdam. I wanted a morning arrival in Rome and a morning arrival back in Portland ... I just wish they given me just a little more time between flights.

The airlines and the airports set a "minimum connection time" for all airports. These vary from aiport to airport and for the type of connection (e.g. domestic to domestic, domestic to international, international to domestic and so forth). This time is not the responsibility of the travel agent and has nothing to do with Expedia. As long as a connection meets this minimum connection time set by the airport, it is a legal connection and it will be bookable. But it also means that the airline has some responsibility towards you. They are required to accomodate you if you misconnect since they guarantee this connection, and it is (in principle) their problem and not yours if you don't make it. Thus, the airline has to to put you on the next available flight, and subject to local laws and airline policy, also has to give you meal vouchers and a hotel if you miss the last connection of the day and have to stay overnight. Of course, even though it's the airline's problem, it quickly can become your problem e.g. if all other flights are booked.

I don't want to alarm you, but Alitalia's website gives their minimum check-in time for intercontinental flights originating at JFK as 120 minutes. Here's the reference: http://alitalia.com/US_EN/your_travel/check_in/check-in_time_limit/index.aspx Someone on this message board a month or so ago wasn't allowed to board an Alitalia flight in Paris because they missed the 45-minute (at that airport) "minimum check-in time." If I were you I'd call Alitalia for some reassurance.

I think you are confusing check-in time with boarding time. Since both flights are with Delta, when you check in for their first flight, it will check you in for both. You can check in for flights at least 24 hours before the first flight. Last year I flew Spokane to Denver to Toronto to Barcelona all on different airlines but since it was a codeshare, when I checked in the day before, I could print out all three boarding passes. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Actually, my JFK to FCO Alitalia connection is 1 hour 50 minutes. Then on my return flight I have an early morning FC0 to Amsterdam flight on KLM which leaves on Delta for USA with a 1 hour 10 minute connection. Delta has sent me a confirmation e-mail for the whole itinerary, so I hope they would put me on another flight if I miss the connection. Another problem: in the e-mail Delta had my first and middle name as one word, which is, of course not as it is on my passport. My trip is in May so I hope that pesky problem cleared up.
I'm learning a whole lot (about what not to do) in planning an international trip. Thanks for all your help. I'm meeting my son (on leave from Iraq) in Rome, and didn't have dates earlier. Even though I researched flights for a couple of weeks, and got the best itinerary for the price I could, I should have paid more to avoid those tight connections.

Leslie is correct. Here's the relevant quote from Alitalia's "conditions of carriage." "6.4. The passenger must arrive at the boarding gate no later than the time specified by the Carrier at check-in."

The Alitalia Check-in time in JFK has nothing to do with it since you check in for the entire itinerary at your originating airport, PDX. You have to to respect the check-in time at at PDX for your flight to JFK, of course. At PDX you will check in for both flights. At JFK you have to find your way from one gate to the other. Chck with their website if you have to change terminals. As long as your are on one itinerary, you are protected in case of misconnection, e.g. if your first flight is late. Regarding names and spaces: Airline reservation systems do not do spaces, apostrophs, hyphens and special characters. Spaces, apostrophs and hyphens are always omitted in tickets and special characters are substituted.

Thanks for all your replies. They make me feel better. Hopefully I'll be able to find my way to one gate to another in time, if that's all I have to worry about. One concern was having to go through security lines again if it turned out I had to change terminals or something. So the name thing is nothing to worry about? They have a space between my first/middle name and my last name, so it appears somewhere they would have had the capacity to put in a space between first and middle name.
I would just hate to have a problem because of a one-space difference!

I double checked my ticket confirmation, and I DO have to change terminals at JFK. Land at Terminal 3 (3:28 p.m.) and depart from Terminal 1 (5:25 p.m.). Will I have to go through security again?? Or does Delta somehow facilitate international passengers leaving on Alitalia flights? (I assume they are partners or, as I keep reading on here, codeshare)

when you check in at Portland, ask them if they know the precise gate assignment at JFK, that will be one less thing you need to deal with when you get there. Also, if the flight is late (I hope not), you can ask the flight crew to notify the gate attendants that you'll need to get off the plane asap. They're often very helpful if you ask politely. They may gate check your bag for the Rome flight, but you never know (I personally would not check it, just hope for the best). Also, a word about Amsterdam - the last time I checked in at the gate for the AMS-PDX flight, it took a good 20 minutes (security questions, bag scanning). So on your Rome-AMS flight, use the bathroom on the plane and don't make any frivolous stops between landing from Rome and getting to the gate in AMS. If they can't check you through on the return flight, you might have to stop at a transfer desk for a boarding pass - if so, use one with a human attendant and ask politely for them to call the gate to tell them you are coming. There's only one flight a day to PDX, so if you miss it, you'll have to hope they can get you on the MSP flight (only 30 minutes later than PDX).

If you have to transfer between terminals at JFK, you have to clear security again at your new terminal. You transfer between terminals with the Skytrain, which has a dedicated line for connections running in a loop between all terminals. Regarding names and spaces: there are no provisions for middle names on airline tickets, there is only one entry field for first name and one for last name. If you provide a middle name it is merged with your first name as one word in the first name field. This is standard, no problems.

The name thing is no problem whatsoever. My ticket constantly lists my name with the first name and middle initial as one word.

Thanks so much for all your answers. I'm reassured about everything except my original question, about whether or not I have to meet Alitalia's carryon limit if it's theoretically a Delta flight. I guess I'll check to be safe, but the airline has a terrible reputation for losing bags. I'm always reading about everyone using RS wheel-on 21 incher as carry-on bag, but no-one ever mentions having to transfer to a foreign-operated plane and having to meet international size requirements. in all my research, it appears that the operating airline's limits apply, UNLESS there's some kind of a baggage agreement, of which there was just a brief mention somewhere.
I think international travel, at which I am a complete novice, is not an exact science.

Elaine I'm in a similar position as you (regarding the luggage restrictions) and while I'm going to try to carry on only, I'm going to plan for having to check (in other words, have a change of clothing in my backpack, not having any valuables in my suitcase that i might have to check, etc). sometimes even if they advertise a weight restriction, they don't enforce it. That happened to me on a Swiss air flight out of LAX. they let me carry my carryon and my backpack on and didn't weigh it, even though i know it was about a kg over. Regarding losing bags, though, my understanding it's not the airline, it's the grounds crew at a particular airport. All you can do is plan for what might happen if your bag is delayed for a day or two. Good luck!

I wouldn't worry too much about losing luggage. If it happens, it happens but in all the travel I've done everywhere I've only had bags delayed three times and only one of those three was during normal operations (the other two involved extensive delays).

You shouldn't have a problem going over because the gate and ground crew doing the carry-on checks will be Delta employees at JFK.