Alitalia Passenger Reviews and Alitalia Customer Trip Reports

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ALITALIA customer review :  25 December 2009 by Jeanny Smeets   (Netherlands)

Amsterdam to Milan Malpensa to transfer to JFK. Flight in Amsterdam was on time and fine, nothing to complain about. On arrival in Milan we only had 45 minutes to get to our New York flight and that caused a problem. We had to go through the non-Schengen-gate and that took us one hour, and so, as you can imagine, a lot of stress. We were the last to come on board of the waiting plane (but, hey, at least it waited for us). The aircraft used was spacious and the service offered very good. Very nice cabin crew. The same goes for our flight back: from JFK to Milan to Amsterdam. I would fly Alitalia again but the next time I would make sure I had more time to transfer, especially in Milan Malpensa.

ALITALIA customer review :  24 December 2009 by Alvaro Macarron   (Spain)

MAD-FCO-NRT return with super cheap fare. Legroom on both A319 and 777 aircraft ok (I am 1.90m, and seen worse). Flights on time. Japanese meals on long haul sectors were fine. They should provide larger portions as we were hungry between meals and there was nothing to eat. Crews on all sectors were the worst I ever had, they just did not want to be there and did not care for their passengers, such a bad image for Italy. On the contrary, the Japanese FAs were smiling, approachable and warm. Some of their Italian colleagues bossed them around and almost mistreated them. I felt sorry for them. I would fly with them again only if they keep such low fares.

ALITALIA customer review :  12 December 2009 by Davide Greco   (Italy)

LIN-FCO-ORD and back on beginning of December. I flew my national carrier after three years. Check-in Milan took more than 20 minutes because of a problem in seat assignment system, finally sorted out and got two seats in row 42 (next to the toilets!) for the 10h flight to Chicago. Intercontinental flights operated by a 767-300ER, not the newest plane in the sky - outbound flight the crew was friendly and talkative and food was fine too. On the trip back to Rome there was again a long check-in. I think the situation could have been managed much better by the ground crew but they looked like they did not care too much. FAs on this flight looked very upset and did not seem to enjoy their job. Food was poor, as was the entertaining system. FCO-LIN on new and confortable A320, the best part of the journey. My overall impression is that Alitalia is in a very urgent need to renew its fleet and needs to work a lot to reach the level of its main European competitors - most of them are light years away in terms of organization and customer care.

ALITALIA customer review :  8 December 2009 by D Cassius   (Netherlands)

AMS-Sao Paulo-AMS via Rome in business. Intercontinental legs on very shabby 777 with uncomfortable cradle seats -unworthy of a Business class product. FCO-AMS leg on an even shabbier A320. Dirty, cramped and falling apart. Only positives - fare was OK, flights were on time and cabin crew friendly. Hope that things will improve once their A330 fleet renewal kicks in.

ALITALIA customer review :  7 December 2009 by Anthony Oberdorfer   (USA)

Boston/Rome/Munich. Boarding was efficient. Decent dinner but no alcohol except beer and wine available. After five attempts to attract a flight attendant with the call button two hours later, a steward came and turned the light off without asking what I wanted. Was told they routinely ignore calls because little children play with the call button! When I then asked for a beer, I was told policy is that no alcohol is served in economy class after dinner because they are afraid that 200 passengers might get drunk and start fighting each other. By that time the light in the seat next to me could not be turned off, eliminating any chance that I might catch some sleep. Lousy breakfast snack but at least the plane arrived on time so I could get off in a hurry. Uneventful connecting flight to Munich but since I had only carry- on baggage, nothing was lost. Overall, the worst aspect of the experience was the almost complete indifference of the flight attendants who seemed mainly interested in chatting amongst themselves and disappeared almost entirely as soon as they could. It all reminded me of my first experience with Alitalia some years ago. I won't fly the line again and would welcome their going out of business.

ALITALIA customer review :  4 December 2009 by Bruce Temkin   (USA)

JFK to FCO. Dirty, worn 777. Even the seat backs were coming apart. FA's were barely visible and never smiled. Very few announcements throughout. Food was atrocious.Flight did depart on time and arrive early, so can't complain too much!

ALITALIA customer review :  4 December 2009 by K Neill   (Italy)

Rome to Chicago. We were left sitting in the plane for 2 hours in Rome due to a ground crew strike. The aircraft was dirty with bits of wrappings and some accumulation of dirt on the seat edges. After takeoff we were served a poor quality lunch and next attended to by the cabin crew (who were brash) an hour before we landed - on a 10 hour flight. That left us with about 7 hours where there was no service. Passengers were walking up and down the cabin going into the galleys looking for something to drink or eat, quite incredible. Upon arrival in Chicago we were then informed that 160 bags had not made it onto the plane and which took 4 days to arrive from Rome! Never again will I fly this airline for as much as I can avoid it.

ALITALIA customer review :  25 November 2009 by J Remis   (USA)

The worst experience in my life. Flight from Rome to JFK - sat in plane for 2hr 10 min or so waiting to take off. Excellent weather but pilot decided to wait for late passengers. Seats were filthy, hot and uncomfortable. If you wanted a drink you had to help yourself. Missed connecting flight - airline did not put us in hotel, we did so at our expense. Very unhelpful employees both in Rome and at JFK with this airline.

ALITALIA customer review :  20 November 2009 by Sean Redmond   (Malta)

A dreadful airline. Barcelona-Rome-Palermo - that was the plan! Flight from Barcelona cancelled because of strike in Rome. In fairness they did put us up in a hotel. However on arrival on Palermo, no suitcases. Not just me but about 30 other passengers! Two days later still waiting! Never again.

ALITALIA customer review :  11 November 2009 by S Van den Berghe   (Belgium)

BOS-FCO-BRU: easily one of the worst flights I've had in years. First leg of the trip was 2h45 late (no reason, weather was excellent), so instead of connecting with the 9am flight to Brussels, I ended up arriving in Brussels at 6pm. Service was pretty much non-existent throughout the trip: after distributing the "food" (which was even to airline standards poor), the cabin crew disappeared. I ended up looking for a drink four hours later and was directed towards a cart to "get my own drink, we're busy chatting". Poorly maintained and dirty planes. One good thing though: the atmosphere was pretty good, as most passengers thought the service was so poor it was almost funny.

ALITALIA customer review :  28 October 2009 by P Dawkins   (USA)

Do not plan on getting anywhere on time with Alitalia. I was scheduled to fly Geneva-Rome- JFK. The Geneva-Rome flight was 1.5 hours late. Hence missed the Rome-JFK connection. Was put up overnight as a consequence and sent to Milan from Rome to pick up a JFK connection there. That flight was late, but they held back the JFK flight for us (about 1 hour delay on that flight as a consequence). Felt sorry for all the passengers on that flight who had been waiting without any air conditioning turned on. Looked like some of them might pass out at a moments notice. Of course my bags were lost. The phone number for Alitalia is on a permanent message. It all seems pretty hopeless. If you have a direct flight with Alitalia then it will probably be OK although expect to be late. If you have connections through Italy then make sure you have at least 3-4 hours between connections as I have gathered from my own experience and that of other travellers that their flights are usually an hour or more late.