1/10

ITA Airways Review by Lucie Cotterill

(Italy)

Trip Verified | When dropping off the suitcase at Heathrow, I was told that I also had to check in our two hand luggage trolleys (which are within the dimensions allowed by ITA, as stated on their website) because the plane was 'full'. When I asked if we could keep them with us as I was worried that they wouldn't make it on the next plane, given there was 1 hour transit time, I was told that was impossible and therefore had to open everything up to take out as many valuables as possible and further hold up the already slow-moving queue. What is particularly frustrating is that normally, if hand luggage needs to be checked in, airlines put a member of staff going down the queue to tell people before they get to the front, so that people aren't held up and those who need to take things out of their hand luggage can do so in less of a panic. The plane was delayed and there was general confusion at the gate about the reason. The aircraft had been changed and it had thrown out all the seat numbers. While I totally understand this is normal, and it has happened to me several times before with various airlines, again the communication was pretty poor - this could have been announced or better still, communicated through a notification on the app. On board, I immediately bought unlimited Wifi only to find out that it didn't work on either of my devices. When I asked, a member of the cabin crew told me that they were offering 30 mins free wifi anyway and there was nothing they could do because "it was working for someone else further down the plane". 10 USD completely wasted. We had to run to get our connecting flight and would have appreciated more guidance about where to go. Due to passport control not letting us pass earlier when we said we had a transit and only letting us pass when they were announcing our names in a final call, when we finally got to the gate, it was closed. Thankfully, the staff member on the gate, seeing the state we were in when we got there, showed pity and got us on the plane. 1 hour is not sufficient when buses from planes and passport queues in transit areas are understaffed and the gate for plane 2 is so far from the gate for plane 1. Only one of the three checked-in bags arrived. I was told to return, at my own expense, the following day to collect the missing bags. I did, but the office closes at 5pm. So again, at my expense, I had to return the day after only to find that the combination lock unit on one of the cases had been damaged and there was a hole in the side of my case. The assistant refused to give me a compensation form because "damage involving locks isn't covered" and told me to write to a complaints address for ITA. I wrote to the address, including photos of the suitcase and a list of everything that had gone wrong. No reply. I emailed again a month later. No reply. Until finally, almost 3 months later they replied to say they wouldn't pay anything because didn't get a property irregularity form before leaving the airport. What was I supposed to do? Put a gun to the head of the assistant who refused to give me one? No compensation for time wasted, petrol to keep returning to the airport to get my missing cases, and no compensation for money wasted on wifi that didn't work. Absolutely appalling service considering the price paid for the tickets. Do yourself a favour and fly low-cost - the service is the same, if not better. The only positive - some of the cabin crew are lovely.
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLondon Heathrow to Reggio Calabria via Rome
Date FlownJanuary 2024
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no