Alitalia

Booked a business class ticket, I regret it as it was nowhere near a business standard. No Lounge. No amenities. Not even a pillow. Old aircrafts. If you must travel with this airline, do not bother paying for business class, they do not have one. You will get packed in like sardines on buses to connect from one flight to another.

Bucharest to New York JFK via Rome FCO. To save time at our connection in FCO (only 45 minutes!), the Alitalia check-in employee gave us boarding passes for OTP-FCO and FCO-JFK, however the check-in line was very slow. First flight was normal with nothing special. Flight was delayed by 15 minutes due to air-traffic in Rome. Fairly clean aircraft. They served us some crackers, but nothing more. However, never fly Alitalia long-haul economy unless it's your only option! Ground services were pretty slow. We had to wait 15 minutes for a bus to drive us to terminal 3! Flight to New York also delayed, this time by an hour. Seats in the plane were extremely uncomfortable, there was an entertainment equipment box blocking me from having legroom, outdated entertainment systems, and bad food. That's why Alitalia plane tickets are so cheap.

We had flown with Alitalia many times in the past thirty years, and we had always been satisfied with the cabin crew and, of course, with the food and wine. Last year we choose Classica Plus, and it was great. This year we choose regular economy. Actually, before Classica Plus, we always flew economy, and choose Alitalia over its partner, Delta, because of its food service. This time we just couldn't believe it. The New York to Rome flight meal service consisted of dessicated pasta and a couscous salad. No vegetables, no cheese, and a stale roll. We thought it was because of an American supplier that didn't understand that this would be an unacceptable meal for an Italian. We were wrong. On the return flight we had a two-pasta combination which was terrible, and a salad of rice. Before landing, we were served an anemic muffin with no butter or jelly. I guess the new owners have no intention of continuing the wonderful cabin service that we have had in the past. We will now choose Delta.

Check-in smooth, Priority Security Line, excellent new Preludium Lounge at Warsaw Airport, one of the nicest loungest I've seen. Boarding on time. Quite old A320, with only 1.5 rows of Business Class. No welcome drink, but newspapers and magazines offered, Italian only. After take off - hot towels and meal, which was horrible. From an Italian airline I'd expect great Italian food and wines, but I got some mushroom salad with "feta"-like cheese and hot cottage cheese mixed with tomato sauce - inedible. There was no choice of wines, only one kind of each, I took red, but again, poor quality. Except wine glass on a tray, all other drinks were served in a plastic cup. After dinner, grappa and limoncello was served, again in plastic, but limoncello was too strong for my taste. Cabin crew was very nice and perfectly groomed, but food was disaster. No inflight magazine available in any seat pocket, only old and damaged shopping catalogue. Not recommended.

We arrived at Cagliari airport 3 hours ahead of time so we would be first in line. We explained at the desk that we had a 50 minute connection to make. Because we were travelling with a baby we had to go to the transfers desk in Amsterdam airport to print our boarding pass, so we could not check in early for our international flight. The lady at the desk was rude and surly. She said she would "See what she could do." When we asked for seats near the front of the plane so we would have time to make it to our connecting flight. "What she could do" was to place us and our two children at the very back of the plane in the very last row where we would have to watch every single other person disembark before us. The plane was 70% full, and there were many seats available near the front of the plane. After this she printed off our tags for checking our bags. She showed us one, showing that the bag would make it all the way to our final destination. All the other labels she didn't show us, and they all were going to the wrong airport altogether. Luckily my wife noticed our stroller tag and ran back to talk to someone else who wasn't so rude. We booked our flights through KLM, and unfortunately had to finish the flight to Sardinia via Alitalia. When we got to the desk to check in (again because we had small children) there was a lot of head scratching and confusion. They tried to charge us for our baggage that we had already paid for, which would have cost us an additional $200 Euros. We booked our flight through KLM and all our bags are entitled to go with us from start to finish. So after an hour at the desk while they made snide comments again we were placed at the very back of the plane. From start to finish the ground crew were rude and dismissive.

The cabin was staffed with quite a few FAs and we were told that the F&B manager was on board making sure that the service was up to standard for their new something or other ... it was a long spiel. Cabin seemed new, leather and seats reclined nearly but not completely flat. Food was a disaster and my expectations had been raised by the greeting. I ordered the veal (a mistake) and it was tough as I expected but the sauce that was on it was so salty that it was inedible. My traveling partner did not eat as he was asleep. When I asked for something else, I was told that only pre-made cheese plates were left and they all have blue cheese on them to which I am allergic. After that, it seemed that everyone was busy and no beverages or anything else was offered for the remaining four hours of the flight. When the plane was landing, I was asked for feedback and I said that I was hungry since they had no other food. The FA said they did have more food, and offered me something but at that point the trays had to be stowed, etc. I am not sure why this was handled so poorly, I was polite and understand that the crew does not make the food. Even some bread or any other option would have been appreciated and since the person I traveled with did not eat and some seats were empty, it seems odd that they thought they ran out of all other food options.

Boarding via busses was rather chaotic, some people needed to check in their hand luggage, others not. The flight was operated by Air One. Cabin was clean but worn out, several seats were disfunctional. The seat pitch was the smallest I have had in any airplane. I am just under 6ft and with normal weight, but I could not sit in any position without my knees being crushed by the seat in front of me. Shortly after start the man in front ofme reclined his seat (reclining is very limited) but this made any further movement impossible. The person in front of me claimed that he did not understand English, the stewardess tried to convince him to move his chair upright but he refused. Stewardess told me that it is his right to recline. Fortunately, it was just a little over one hour flight. Cabin attendants were friendly, served a soft drink and sweet or savory snack. Disembarking the plane was again chaotic, the first bus left the tarmac half empty, the second and last bus was overcrowded and felt suffocating, standing in the hot noon sun with doors closed for too long. It is difficult to avoid this airline whenever travelling in Italy, I also had better experiences with Alitalia (but you never know if it is carried out by one of their partners, it was not stated when I checked-in).

Verona to Barcelona on Embraer 175 departed late. The flight was good and the cabin crew was arranged of two staff. The flight from Rome to Barcelona departed late due to airport problems. The crew was helpful and smiling. The flight was cheaper then Ryanair.

Completely lacking the generosity of Italy. Alitalia may have a new livery but only serve a cup of coffee, water or OJ and some biscotti. I was starving and hoped to buy a sandwich and a glass of wine or Camparisoda. My next trip to Italy will be on easyJet, air Berlin or Ryanair.

Flight AZ165 from Brussels to Rome, Fiumicino on 5th June 2015. I was one of the passengers that were on time to the airport and at the right gate (A59). That wasn't the case with the crew who were late because of traffic problems! Airport announced that boarding wasn't possible at 17.55, we were told to board at 18.40. I was reassured that not only I would catch my flight from Rome to Athens (AZ722), but also I would have time for an espresso in Fiumicino! Meanwhile, Brussels weather deteriorated giving us the pleasure of being stay stuck inside the aircraft until 20.15. I agree that bad weather in Brussels Airport is not the airlines responsibility, but if the crew had been on time, the pilot wouldn't have lost the slot and the rest of our journey would have continued normally. On arrival at Fiumicino, all passengers stood in long queues from 22.30 to 23.59! When we finished, we entered a bus that should take us at Sheraton Hotel, about 20 minutes away. About half an hour later, the bus departed. I had to leave the hotel at 06.30. No time for espresso, no time for anything else. My new flight to Athens was waiting for me at 08.40, and again I would be on time. I wondered if your pilots would also be, fortunately this time they did.