kaseyh

I plan to fly from Boston to Rome in March 2006 and can't decide between Air France (changing in CDG) or Alitalia (changing in Milan). I am leaning towards Air France, but I have heard such awful stories about them. Is Alitalia any better? If I do fly Air France, how much time should I leave to make my connection? The layovers can be as short as 45 minutes, but there are other choices too. I don't want to sit around in the airport, but I have never traveled internationally before and don't want to miss my flight.

Thank you!
Kasey

rkkwan

There are many more awful (or horror) stories about Alitalia than Air France. The problem with AF is CDG airport. You need more than 45 minutes there to clear immigration and most likely change terminals. At least an hour, 1:30 is better.

If you want to, you can take a chance with a short layover, as they'll rebook you on the next flight. There are plenty between CDG and FCO.

I'm booked on a ~1:10 connection at CDG (IAH-CDG-FCO) on AF myself on Dec 25. I'll report back my experience.

petertherabbitt

i would opt for alitalia and the change in milan. we have done this everal times before without any problem but our experiences at cdg airport have been terrible unless you have at least 2 hours for a transfer. i would just asoon have syphilis as go thru cdg again

justretired

We've flown Air France a couple of times in recent years, and have had good flights each time. But they do tend to set up short connections at CDG.

On one flight from Boston to Madrid (in November, 2003), we came in to CDG late, convinced we'd miss our outgoing flight, as we had only a 50 minute layover (which the Air France reservations clerk had assured us was perfectly normal). The flight attendants asked others to stay in their seats to allow those with short connections to leave first. We were met by two Air France personnel holding a sign that said "Madrid", and they knew exactly how many passengers were making the connection. They hustled all of us (only 4 or 5 total) into a van that took us directly to the proper terminal, and then inserted us into the front of the security line. The security, though, was one part of the process they had no control over. If we had been selected for a more thorough search, that would have caused us to miss our connection. But in fact, we went straight through security, and made the flight - not with loads of time to spare, but we weren't the last ones to board.

Our luggage made it too, but what we can't seem to recall is ever going through customs.

We've had several friends who also made close connections with Air France. We've never flown with Alitalia, so I can't comment on that.

- Larry

Sarah

Hi Kaseyh,

I had a horrible experience with Alitalia and I am currently holding an expensive ticket with Air France!

www.kayak.com to watch airfares. I so regret not flying with AA. I am always in coach so I don't care about who has better food, more leg room blah blah blah.

I don't think you can really trust AF or Alitalia to keep your ticket agreement. He told me that both companies were famous for selling low tickets during high travel times and then reselling seats to walk up customers at the desk on day of departure.

... He said they dropped air france completely one year and actually moved the market index of the stock down (this is how big this agency is). After a few days AF made some concessions but he identifies them as very underhanded.

just food for thought.

I have absolutely been position where I had to accept passage on a lessor airlines for price. Yugoslavia Airlines always cracks me and my friends up when we reminisce our younger days of travel. Of course these airlines are not going to take you every time you use them.

kaseyh

Hmmm...mixed reviews I guess. I'm still leaning towards Air France. Is 1.5 hours long enough for the layover, or should I go with 2.5? How difficult is it to get on the next flight if we miss the connection? Do they charge extra? Is it easier to check our luggage or try to do carry-on? Thanks for all the advice!

rkkwan

AF should and will rebook you on the next flight CDG-FCO if you miss it. There won't be any charge. Flights between CDG and FCO are frequent - so the next one won't be more than ~1.5 hours later.

If you have checked luggage, you won't see them until Rome either way.

jlillberto

I had a 45 minute connection in CDG when I traveled in October. I made it. Returning I have a 2-1/2 hour connection. Due to fog at CDG, my flight from Copenhagen was delayed and my 2-1/2 hour time was actually about 30 minutes. I made it but only because an AF rep met me as I walked down the stairs to the tarmac. Just barely made that flight. So the best intentions can and do go awry.

kaseyh

Thanks. I just booked on Air France. I've got a 1.5 hour layover on the way over and a 1 hour 50 minute layover coming back. We'll see how that goes. The trip seems more real now that I have tickets!

rkkwan

kaseyh - You will be doing the same 2C to 2F as I will in December. I'll do a report of the actual procedure and time involved, down to the seconds.

Also, if you're booked on AF9830 to Rome, it's actually an Alitalia flight.

daffy_traveller

I've never flown Alitalia, but my last connection on Air France Rome/Paris/LAX was so short they didn't get our bags onto the CDG/LAX leg in time. By the time we got our bags 2 days later, they were damaged by TSA....short layovers can be disasters!

repete

Just flew IAD-MXP on Alitalia last week. Flights themselves were fine. Service was decent.

One problem: On the way over, ``Washington'' did not pack headphones for the audio and on the way back, the headphones were there, but the big screen did not work. I'm not a big movie watch onboard so I wasn't a big deal to me anyway.

rickker20

I would go with the direct flight from the US instead of stoping and changing planes in another country you just asking for problems. Alitalia is fine if you are going bussiness class but thats ok with any airline the problem is coach is bad like all other airlines the seats are small and you feel like a sardine. I flew Lufthansa to rome and that was the worst ever the 340 coach is terrible!!!!!!!!

Therese

Based on my personal experience, go with CDG over Malpensa. You'd think that the smaller airport would be less of a hassle, particularly given the very tight connections generally planned at CDG, but in fact I've never had a trouble-free connection through Malpensa: late departure, no departure, generally clueless and rude staff, etc.

I probably would have chosen the longer connection time at CDG, but since there's so much traffic there your chances of getting on the next flight out are very good---as long as the first connection time was "legal" and there's room on the next flight you should be fine.

Missing your flight out of Malpensa leaves you with fewer options, as there generally aren't as many flights (though there'd likely be one for FCO---it would be the return to the U.S. that would be problematic).