Not Friendly

Not excusing their behaviour, but I would think all the Alitalia staff are pretty demotivated. The airline is loosing money and has been for a while and I would think they are pretty worried about their jobs. As far as the overweight charge there may be no opportunity to vary or modify that and you may have been unlucky and got a staff member that just didn't care. The survey to just a few passengers is standard. Unfortunately I seem to be 'marked' on the Cathay Pacific system and always get one, wish I wouldn't. From my experience the UNICEF envelopes do seal once you have put your change in them.

If I was you I would go onto the website and write. OK you may not get much of a response but you will get some satisfaction getting it all out. You may be surprised and get a response. I have been lucky and have only found the staff pretty helpful. I once thought I had lost my boarding pass and they were really good about it. Hadn't though thank goodness.

Luckily, we do not fly to Europe. That said, we have heard a lot of negatives about Alitalia. A friend of ours (native Italian by the way) said Alitalia was , in his opinion, the world's worst airline.

Passenger Service Agents are required to charge for overweight bags. Failure to do so could cost them their jobs. Why not weigh your own bags ahead of time? No surprises!

There are always plenty of "Secret Shoppers" in the crowd. Perhaps your treatment would have been observed and noted. Only through feedback from customers can and will a company improve it's customer service.

Why not voice your concerns where they can be addressed properly?

The random survey is just that, random. It is highly unlikely that each and every passenger would receive one. If you feel you must complain, there usually are other channels in place, survey form or not.

As for the UNICEF compaign, that is a different matter. The envelopes are sealed at some point. At some point, you have to trust somebody. If you're not comfortable with their procedure, then don't give!

I think it is an act of Goodwill that Alitalia is participating in such a campaign.

Good for them!

excellent points, XYZ----I've learned a lot from your postings

My experience exactly but with EasyJet. I will never fly with them again. We weren't charged for our baggage but because they wouldn't let us on our flight that they determined we were late for, even though we had made it just in the nick of time. My friend got yelled at by one of the workers simply because she asked his name.

Countless passengers show up "just in the nick of time" and expect to be accomodated. Unfortunately, that is not a realistic expectation.

Very few Pilots will want to hold up 300 plus passengers who could get there on time for the one or two who couldn't.

The check in process through to security screening, transport to the gate and the boarding process all take time. Such a delay could easily set a flight back 30 minutes, believe it or not. A delay at departure translates into a delay at take-off and arrival. Time lost is revenue lost. That's the bottom line.

IMO, that doesn't make an Airline any worse than any other. All Airlines operate under this principle! Understanding that is key.

And if they do delay push-back for late arrivers, it's probably b/c they know that the flight is already delayed for one reason or another. So if this happens to anyone, don't assume that this is a normal procedure. If you do, at some point, you will be disappointed!

I agree that some times one encounters staff that are burnt out or less then understanding,, and no one likes or deserves to be yelled at by staff.
On the other side, it seems some of the complaints I am seeing here are very unreasonable . If your bag is overweight you will pay, wieght limits are always well printed on airlines web sites and often on any travel documents issued. The cheaper your fare the more likely you will need to travel light.

Complaining about the Unicef envelopes is a bit weird since you are insinutating that the flight crew want to steal your spare change meant for starving children.. wow, that is a very heavy accusation, and I bet the envelopes actually did self seal and you didn't notice to pull off the seal paper.

Arriving " in the nick of time" well sorry, that is just your word against theirs,, maybe your nick of time was actually 2 minutes over the limit,, and they can't make exceptions since that could set a dangerous precedent for other lates.

Just FYI...
Did you know that the Passenger Service Agents working behind those counters are often not directly employed by the Airline that they represent?

They are often workers hired by an outside company who recruits and trains staff to work at various posts representing various Airlines. (I know that this is a fact b/c I was offered (and declined!) a management position with the major one here.) More and more Airlines are using these companies as a cost-cutting factor.

These workers are often poorly paid with poor working conditions. And inadequate trainning. The staff turn-over rate is really high.

I'm not making excuses for poor performance, that is unacceptable. I just wanted to give you some idea of what it's like to be working behind those counters.

So do exercise your right to complain effectively! Avoiding one Airline b/c an employee was rude could very well mean that is the same person representing the next Airline! So avoiding one Airline, doesn't always solve the problem!