ALITALIA review : 12 November 2008 : by Wayne Watson
| Trip Rating : 2/10 |
 |
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
| Trip Rating : 7/10 |
 |
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
| Trip Rating : 4/10 |
 |
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
| Trip Rating : 7/10 |
|
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
| Trip Rating : 1/10 |
 |
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.
ALITALIA review : 12 July 2008 : by Jason Burnie
|
Customer Rating : 4/5 | |
Mixed experience. Outbound LHR to Sao Paulo via FCO and MXP. LHR to FCO was on A320. Snack selection
very good. FA's not smiley but professional. Their English proficiency was good. Connection at FCO
was smooth. FCO to MXP was on ERJ145. Seat feels a bit cramped due to the size of aircraft. Again,
the selection and portion of snacks provided was reasonable. MXP to Sao Paulo B777, was a very good
service in general. FA's were friendly, except one of the stewardess. The portion and quality of
food was good. After meal service FAs seemed to disappear and stay in galley. Buenos Aires to LIN
via FCO on B777. The service was similar to the MXP-GRU. LIN to LHR was a bit of let down of this
entire trip. Our flight was delayed by 1:30 hrs. No information given by the upper line. I'd
conclude my experience as good, though there were some slips. I'll fly with them again if their
prices are competitive.
ALITALIA review : 9 July 2008 : by C Smith
|
Customer Rating : 2/5 | |
LHR-FCO-KIX. , I can't say that I have been impressed by Alitalia either, and I'm surprised that
they are supposedly Italy's premier airline company. If Alitalia are anything to go by, I dread to
think what the others are like! Arrived at LHR to check in my baggage and the assistant was most
unfriendly and not very welcoming at all. Travelling onto Osaka via Rome, I double-checked with her
that my luggage could be checked in at that point for the whole journey, she confirmed yes it would.
After a short delay we set off for Rome and arrived there safely (we too were offered cake - for
breakfast! I left mine). Once I boarded my onward flight to Osaka, after some delay we were all
told that the plane was not safe to fly. We then had to leave the aircraft, return to the departure
lounge and wait a further 2 hours before we were finally able to board another plane, to continue
with our journey (at least they were aware of the problem before we took off!). Once on board we
were offered an adequate lunch (the food was perfectly edible - not fantastic, but fair enough). On
a 12 hour flight, we were only offered lunch soon after we boarded the plane and breakfast only an
hour before we landed in Osaka. They are not overly generous with food, so would definitely
recommend you take your own. The staff took a long break during the flight, so it was a question of
helping yourself to water/juice from the rear of the plane. On the whole all the cabin staff were
really unfriendly, no smiles, no niceties, they all seemed very moody (unless you had children -
they made an effort with the kids, but sadly not the adults). As if things couldn't get any worse,
they did. I had arrived in Osaka, but sadly my luggage was nowhere to be seen! After travelling
for some 24 hours, tired and hungry, this was the final straw. Emotional and extremely angry at
Alitalia's incompetence, I was glad the Japanese airport staff were so accommodating and offered me
all the help they could. My luggage had got stuck in Rome - it finally arrived 2 days later!
ALITALIA review : 2 July 2008 : by Paul Beighley
|
Customer Rating : 2/5 | |
Casablanca-Rome-Cairo business class. Food was edible but uninspired. Be aware the 'medium haul'
flights have business class seats quite inferior to those on the long haul flights. We had a delay
on departure from Casablanca and I was disapointed not to be assisted by Alitalia staff to make the
Cairo connection. Had to plead to get through the security checkpoint and was told (wrongly) by a
representative I wouldn't be able to make my connection and wasn't willing to help get me through
security or expedite my getting to the next flight. No headsets were offered to the passengers.
Worst business class lounge I've ever seen - crowded, dirty, hot - I ended up using my Premier card
and going to the lounge next door which was much nicer. On balance I wouldn't bother flying them
business class again because of the lack of any significant benefit other than slightly better food.
|
PAGE:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4
| |
Customer Rating = from 1.0 (very poor) to 5.0 (excellent) |
IMPORTANT NOTE
Comments and opinions contained in these pages do not represent the views of Skytrax. All features contain unsolicited input from site visitors, and we
seek to exercise the minimum level of editorial control and censorship to ensure the widest debate and platform for customer opinions. We
will not publish submissions that contain abusive language. We cannot guarantee to publish all opinions submitted.
ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE
|
