I was watching the news yesterday and saw a teaser about a story involving Alitalia, although I wasn't able to watch the actual story. Does anyone have any current information regarding the status of Alitalia and whether or not it would be safe to travel with them in the next month?

I saw something this morning on the 'net about a scheduled strike... I can't remember where i saw it, but it said it would mainly affect passengers in December & January. I'm flying Alitalia in March, so I've got my fingers crossed...

Any more comments? May want to use them in February. I've read so many horror stories here it's giving me pause.

Thanks.

Bookmark this site:
http://www.whatsoninrome.com/strikes.php
for the latest news on Alitalia strikes. You can see that there are several strikes scheduled for Feb and Mar. (This is why I don't ever fly Alitalia any more.)

The news story you heard was probably about Berlusconi's comment that he wanted to merge Alitalia with Air France and KLM. You can find several links to those reports if you search on news.google.com.

Great. Feb 21 is a potential travel date for me. I'm glad I asked!

Anyway, I was very tempted when I saw a fare in the $470 range (NYC-MXP, VCE-NYC) for Feb 18-21 on their website. But it seems to be gone again. I was close to booking.

Everything else seems to be around $600.

I guess I'll keep looking.

One gratuitous piece of advice: always carry on at least a change of clothes (if not everything) when flying Alitalia. The last FOUR times I've flown them, they have lost my luggage. It's actually amusing in a way, but not so much when my wife and I showed up for a fancy party in Positano with only the hiking clothes we had on for exploring Pompeii.

Thanks for all the info... i'll check that site about the strikes periodically before we're scheduled to travel. We're also probably going to pack some spare clothes in our carry-on bags, just incase our luggage should get lost.

Thanks again!

Consider this possibility: anyone who is posting "horror stories" about ANY airline has obviously lived to tell the tale so apparently the "problems" don;t ultimately involve safety.

I'd really love to know why anyone who has flown an airline THREE times and had their luggage "lost" all three times would decide to go on a FOURTH trip...apparently there are other, more IMPORTANT factors involved than the luggage!

I flew Alitalia this summer for the first time and had no problems, or lost luggage. The only thing was that the food was even worse than your typical airline food, so bring your own.

After booking the tickets, I kept hearing they were going to go on strike during our trip, but as usual nothing happened.

-Sapete perché il Papa quando scende dall'aereoplano bacia la terra?
-Perché ha volato con Alitalia!

-Do you know why the Pope, after getting off the airplan, kisses the ground?
-Because he flew Alitalia!

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