ALITALIA review :  31 December 2008 : by R Harmon

Dec 16 we were to fly to Barcelona from Chicago, via Rome. The flight to Rome was cancelled so Alitalia put us on an Air One flight to Milan. We were to then go to Rome and on to Barcelona. The flight to Milan was late so we missed our connecting flight to Rome. Alitalia put us on an Iberia flight from Milan to Barcelona that left 10 hours later. After waiting 10 hours, Iberia would not honor our ticket and said they "never had an arrangement with Alitalia." The Alitalia woman then put us on a flight from Milan from Linate airport (an hour away) for 8:00 the following morning. Took a bus to Linate and spent the night there. Alitalia could not give us a hotel voucher. The woman in Milan said we could complain when we got home but made it clear that no one would do anything about anything ever. Our flight back went as scheduled, but our bag has disappeared. In Rome, on the bus to the plane, suitcases could be seen piled up on the tarmac, and scattered about, like they'd been left there for days. So we don't expect to ever see ours again. The plane was filthy, the staff dismissive. I wish the airline would just go out of business entirely and stop selling tickets because the tickets are apparently worthless.

ALITALIA review :  31 December 2008 : by L Adlington

Totally unreliable. We have had three flights booked through Alitalia, and so far have not been on any of them. Only through quick action on our part and booking alternative flights and accommodation (we would have been left in the airport) have we been able to be where we had planned for Christmas. Due to Alitalia, we didn't have any luggage though. As all clothes and presents where in the cases, you can imagine, how we felt. Never again. and I hope they receive everything they deserve.

ALITALIA review :  24 December 2008 : by L Friedman

Flight was cancelled without warning. Offer to rebook five days later- but that flight was cancelled too. Would never use them again. Ground staff was rude and unhelpful.

ALITALIA review :  11 December 2008 : by Alan Thompson

This is a warning for Alitalia passengers to check their bookings. Alitalia is making unannounced changes to its timetable, I only discovered by reading an Italian newspaper complaining about flight cuts to Puglia. My flight in late December to Brindisi via Rome can no longer operate as the connection with the midday flight from Heathrow is cancelled. I called Alitalia and got a booking on an earlier flight pairing. The rep apologised and said things are changing daily and advised me to check even the new booking ahead of the day. This is I guess down to consolidation ahead of the merger with AirOne.

ALITALIA review :  12 November 2008 : by Wayne Watson

Toronto to Rome return. Flights chosen because of convenient arrival, departure times. Both ways on old 767 Aircraft. Aircraft poorly maintained, washrooms not kept up during flight, food and other debris in seat tracks at floor level. Seat plugs for entertainment did not work on my seats either way. On return flight my emergency exit seat had a partial arm rest that was broken in half and was duct taped to cover the sharp edges. Flight crew indifferent at best. Meal service was adequate but after the service the flight crew disappeared and did not appear until about an hour out of Toronto. If you wanted anything you had to get up and go back to the galley and get it yourself. My question is if the interior of the aircraft reflects the quality of maintenance and upkeep then I have concerns about the overall maintenance of the aircraft.

ALITALIA review :  7 November 2008 : by Alan Thompson

LHR-FCO-BDS return. All flights on time. One suitcase missing on arrival at BDS, was there the next day when I went to check. Crews seemed chirpier than usual despite huge uncertainty that week over the airline's future. Planes are old but clean and very good legroom. Food drab. Very good price, always cheaper than Ryanair at half term.

ALITALIA review :  4 November 2008 : by Marco Sangiacomo

Rome - Dubai business class. Flight left with more than one hour delay due to traffic congestion. Aircraft was an old B767 and it showed all its age. Seats and IFE was very '80s style. Plenty of space, although seats are worn out, recline only partially and do not allow to comfortably nap, armrests badly scratched. IFE almost non existent, with no personal video, only an old projector and common screen for the whole cabin. Good food and service by the cabin crew. Alitalia did not supply Fast Track card for travelers in business class and this cost me a 2 hours queue at the immigration counter in Dubai. Alitalia Lounge at Fuimicino Airport Terminal C it's a joke. Overall experience: cheap ticket, although I've got more or less what I was expecting.

ALITALIA review :  27 October 2008 : by Francesco Gherardi

BLQ-MAD via FCO. Airplaines were quite old (MD80) but cabin clean and staff polite. Service was average except the sandwich that was a bit poor. MD80 seats very confortable and excellent legroom for economy class.

ALITALIA review :  18 October 2008 : by J Lindsay

London Heathrow-Milan Linate-Catania Sicily. Very poor. Our flight to Milan was delayed by fog, but we arrived in Milan 40 mins before our connecting flight. We had to go through security in the airport which confiscated our water bottles. Connecting flight was on time but we arrived in Catania and neither of our suitcases made it. At least 12 other people on the flight also affected. When we reported the situation to one of the three staff at the Alitalia desk in the luggage hall we were calmly told that 40 mins was plenty of time to transfer luggage between flights in Milan, but that it was probably arriving on the last flight of the day to Catania, and would probably be delivered to our hotel in the morning and within 24 hours - our hotel was an hour away in Syracuse. This seemed to be a normal occurrence. Our car hire company laughed at us when we explained and said "Alitalia - maybe you will get your luggage back this holiday!". The next day I called the number on the paperwork we were given to be told that the luggage had been located but it was not possible to know if it would be delivered that day as it was in the hands of the courier service and I should call again later. When I called again later, they told me it was in the hands of the courier service and may be delivered within 24 hours. I called again the following day to be told it would take 48 hours to be delivered, and the man on the phone was quite rude to me. On this day, the luggage was delivered to our hotel. I have no other major complaints with the airline, although the overall impression was that there were too many staff on duty (4 cabin crew on a small plane to hand out a sandwich OR cake and one drink?) yet things seemed to happen more slowly or inefficiently than any other airline that I have flown. The problems seemed endemic. I won't be using them again.

ALITALIA review : 9 October 2008 : by M Cecchini

Customer Rating : 1/5

I recently returned from Italy on Alitalia. If I ever go again, it will not be with this airline. The male flight attendants were rude, food was inedible, and the overall atmosphere on the flight was unacceptable. I can see why they're having problems. Also, few compensations were made for non- Italian speaking passengers - in fact, it was like a red flag to be treated poorly.

ALITALIA review : 7 October 2008 : by J Lewis

Customer Rating : 5/5

Economy Rome-LAX. The flight was on time and uneventful. The attendants were friendly and courteous - provided ample service, serving drinks and snacks. The drinks, soda, beer and wine were free. While the lights were out for movie watching / sleeping they provided self serve bottles of soda and water and a basket of snack cookies in the rear of the plane. The aircraft had personal video systems - watched 5 movies during the flight. Checkin at Rome airport was fast and we were able to change seats to a set of 3 seats leaving the center one empty for the 2 of us.

ALITALIA review : 6 October 2008 : by P Shepherd

Customer Rating : 4/5

Heathrow-Rome-Florence return. Staff and flight brilliant on the way, plenty of legroom . We returned late at night and had a one hour transfer between Florence and Rome. Unfortunately the staff on duty when our suitcases didnt arrive were rude - no apology, manners-and they made sure we felt a real nuisance. Terrible customer service in this dept only.

ALITALIA review : 3 October 2008 : by F Acierno

Customer Rating : 4/5

NAP-FCO-BOS. Left Naples on time. Crew passed out newspapers FA were friendly. FCO-BOS B767, new business class seats, lunch good, crew friendly and were helpful. They even passed out a questionnaire on the service -it looks like they are going on the right track.

ALITALIA review : 1 October 2008 : by Peter Batson

Customer Rating : 1/5

Madid-Rome-Athens. Worst flight I have ever experienced. Cabin crew did not want to be there. Inflight meal does not deserve a description and on arrival in Athens one suitcase missing, second suitcase so damaged that it had tape wrapped around to hold together and a third had its wheels so badly damaged that it had to be carried as you could no longer pull it. Good basis for a comedy sketch show on TV.

ALITALIA review : 26 September 2008 : by M Newman

Customer Rating : 1/5

I am a disabled passenger, and I travelled London-Milan-Palermo-Rome-London ( with a week in Sicily). I use an electric wheelchair, and when flying out was treated very well, but coming back very badly. Staff lacked knowledge about what to do with the wheelchair's battery. The debate went on for so long that, even though there was a 2 hour layover in Rome on the way back, there was no time to get anything to eat, or shop. The staff refused to take advice from their colleagues in London, and I felt very distressed at being questioned again and again by check-in and security staff. What was supposed to be a restful time on holiday turned out to be stressful and upsetting, in the end. The staff just didn't care.

ALITALIA review : 26 September 2008 : by M Newman

Customer Rating : 1/5

I am a disabled passenger, and I travelled London-Milan-Palermo-Rome-London ( with a week in Sicily). I use an electric wheelchair, and when flying out was treated very well, but coming back very badly. Staff lacked knowledge about what to do with the wheelchair's battery. The debate went on for so long that, even though there was a 2 hour layover in Rome on the way back, there was no time to get anything to eat, or shop. The staff refused to take advice from their colleagues in London, and I felt very distressed at being questioned again and again by check-in and security staff. What was supposed to be a restful time on holiday turned out to be stressful and upsetting, in the end. The staff just didn't care.

ALITALIA review : 21 September 2008 : by H Jackson

Customer Rating : 2/5

On line check in worked smoothly but boarding and take off Paris to Rome were late. Fortunately I avoided the baggage strike in Rome by having only hand luggage. On board catering was stodgy and crew were minimally interested in passengers. Return flight Rome to Paris was an hour late and at no point were apologies given. We were issued boarding cards and seat allocations and then told on the plane we could sit where we like which caused confusion.

ALITALIA review : 14 September 2008 : by P Kofobski

Customer Rating : 1/5

Travelling from Rome on 11th Sep and caught up by the strike of Alitalia - strikes happen, I witnessed one by Lufthansa earlier this year - but the difference is huge. Alitalia sort of wanted their customers to suffer unnecessary - they first checked all of us in, though they knew about the strike and informed us the flight was cancelled only after all of us showed up at the gate - and then we had to wait 2 hours for our luggage. If not this then I could have caught flight with Austrians and then with Air One - I missed both of them because of that and had to spend the night in Rome. And then they closed all the doors in all the terminals, all the Alitalia service points "did not know anything" and forwarded everybody to the ticketing, where huge queues appeared because out of 6 working stations only 2 were in operation.

ALITALIA review : 11 September 2008 : by Colin Hills

Customer Rating : 1/5

Check in at Heathrow was terrible. Only one desk open to process economy passengers. This girl was also answering the telephone and dissappeared with a passenger for five minutes. She went off duty and check in was closed completely for twenty minutes before further staff appeared. Supervisor refused to put in an appearance despite several passenger requests. Eventually said he was too busy to come. Young lad on self check in said they were short of staff and had to look after three terminals. Total time to check in 1 hour 20 minutes, although only about 20 passengers were ahead of me in the line. Disgraceful lack of service. On board service minimal. The sooner this airline closes the better.

ALITALIA review : 6 September 2008 : by T Freitas

Customer Rating : 3/5

JFK-FCO-LIS-FCO-MXP-JFK Y class. Buying the ticket was difficult, as the call center's agents' English skills were poor. Check-ins were fine, but somehow my pre-assigned seats always disappeared from the system. Lounge at JFK is average (the best point is that it has a runway/tarmac view) and in FCO and MXP are beyond poor and cheap-looking. FCO-LIS leg was cancelled and as a consequence I had to wait 7 hours in the airport for the next flight. Overall, FAs and ground staff were mediocre, careless and sometimes rude. Still, Alitalia's B772 has by the most comfortable Y seats I've flown. Plus it has PTVs with 12 AVOD movies and powerplugs (emPower). Food was above average and the price was very competitive.

ALITALIA review : 28 August 2008 : by B McLaughlin

Customer Rating : 2/5

DXB-FCO in Magnifica class, connecting to AZ codeshare (DL metal) to USA. Quoted price in dollars at alitaliausa.com using my USA card and billing address. Card statement shows $300 in extra fees for Euro conversion. Check in at DXB was chaotic; no transit passengers could get onward boarding passes. Had I not printed out my confirmation, I wouldn't have cleared transit security at FCO. Outbound 767 had holders for personal entertainment players but not the players themselves. Check- ins on DL legs were problematic; agents couldn't match my AZ reservations to me. Return 767 left an hour late without explanation and had no players, only 1980s-era TV projector. Old seats OK for medium haul but I'm glad I wasn't flying transatlantic with them. Seat side meal service OK but not spectacular. AZ lounge at FCO so bad the DL gate agent gave me a pass to the airport's second-worst lounge, Le Anfore. Nice to know somebody has standards!

ALITALIA review : 19 August 2008 : by R Klaz

Customer Rating : 2/5

AMS-MXP-JFK. Milan - New York return were disasters. Outbound FA was very rude, entertainment was poor and old and food not tasty. Seats small and uncomfortable. During inbound flight I was seated in a broken seat and could not put it back at all. So during this night flight I was forced to sit up straight for about 9 hours. Once in MXP the flight to AMS was delayed for about three hours, and there was no suitable place to wait. We were all put in a big room without any seats, had to sit on the floor and wait while no information at all was given about the delay, how long it was gonna take and why. The only good thing was the price, about 500 euro's all included roundtrip. But even for this price you can expect some service and comfort for a long haul flight.

ALITALIA review : 19 August 2008 : by T Thomas

Customer Rating : 3/5

LHR-FCO-ATH/SKG-FCO-LHR. Luggage did not make it to Athens upon arrival as it got stuck in FCO. Ground staff at Athens confirmed that Alitalia do not bother with connecting luggage during the day, but transfer most of it with the last flight of the day from FCO to ATH. We got our luggage 28 hrs later. On the way back FCO-LHR flight left late due to late arrival of incoming flight and then due to them loading the wrong amount of fuel. FAs good, catering very poor (cake/sandwich option. Not sure why this was called sandwich. Bears no resemblance to the actual thing. Tickets were cheap indeed, but obviously there were quality sacrifices to be made.

ALITALIA review : 12 August 2008 : by John Hammersmith

Customer Rating : 3/5

Rome Fiumicino - Tunis - Milan Malpensa Economy. Nothing to write home about but Alitalia does the job : they bring you safely to your destination. Seats old but clean. We were offered a drink, and could choose between a savoury or sugary snack. Later in the flight I asked the FA for a glass of water - I'm still waiting for it. Other than that, they have reasonable fares - would fly with them again, but I'll prepare my own sandwiches next time.

ALITALIA review : 3 August 2008 : by F Kleinen

Customer Rating : 2/5

AMS-FCO-ATH in economy. MD-80 was ancient, not much had been done to restyle its interior. Catering was minimal and varied in quality: a choice between a slice of cake, or inedible tiny white sandwich. Also the crew varied: generally nicely presented and elegant looking, but most of the time no effort at all was taken to even make some eye contact with passengers while boarding or offering snacks. Also forget about FA's smiling at you. After flying with Malaysia, this was a cold shower. AMS-FCO was delayed 40 minutes, so a lot of passengers where worried about their connections. Not a word about this was mentioned during the flight. Only after asking AZ crew on the platform, passengers were directed to the transfer desk. And from there to another one, where people started yelling to us to run and hurry up a bit. A lot of flights where delayed in FCO that day, so made it on the FCO-ATH one. Luggage did not however, and was delivered at accomodation the next day. Only reason for me to fly Alitalia: cheapest fare and saving miles because of Skyteam partnership. Tip: do use online check in. If you are in time, you can choose almost any seat in the plane.

ALITALIA review : 23 July 2008 : by F Schiavo

Customer Rating : 4/5

Caracas-Rome-Naples. Food good, the service nothing exceptional. Typical of Alitalia, they are limited to serve you, sometimes nicely, other times not as much. Boeing 767-300, my complaint is the lack of PTV screens in economy class - main and the other two secondary ones. In general the flight in Alitalia is far better that with Iberia.

ALITALIA review : 19 July 2008 : by B Riley

Customer Rating : 3/5

PRG-FCO-BUE Business Class. FCO to Buenos Aires on time and check in / luggage collection was fine. My only gripes were the state of the business lounge in FCO (shocking basement with zero snacks and broken WI-FI). Poor choice of food and drink on board and the seemingly compulsory disappearance of the stewards once the flight got underway. Given the price of the ticket I expected a lot more. Certainly Alitalia can't compete with its Skyteam partners for service.

ALITALIA review : 12 July 2008 : by Paul Gatto

Customer Rating : 3/5

MXP-DAM business class. The cabin is a basic 2-3 configuration. As this was not a full flight I was able to secure a block of 3 seats for myself after take off. A dinner served all at once on a tray was offered after take off. The meal itself was good. After dinner the crew vanished as is the case with most Alitalia flights and there was no inflight entertainment. Drank cups of coffee with cognac to pass the time. Landed on time in Damascus. Aircraft parked on apron but transfer to terminal was quick and efficient. Overall a good flight but value could be questionable.