ljc4creb,

I'm sure your flight will be as good or bad as any other flight. It's really luck of the draw for most of the international carriers, so you're smart to take the best price and schedule that works for you. I think we've had excellent and poor experiences on almost all of them. Anyway, hope yours goes smoothly!

Weadles...Thanks, my panic attack is officially over.

Interesting read on your experiences with Alitalia. My husband and I are JFK-Rome bound on 4/21 on Alitalia. I didn't have any choice in airlines as I booked with a tour group. I don't enjoy flying to begin with so perhaps I'll just take an Ambien and try to sleep.

graziella: Alitalia gave us the forms at the airport in Milan when our luggage was missing and when we retrieved our luggage 2 days later, we were provided with a form and address in the US to submit the receipts. I called once to follow up and then was sent a letter advising it would be an additional 90 days. Total process was 6 months.

I, too, will be flying w/them in July for our 1st trip to Italy. Florida to JFK-Rome. (Equipment is a 777) It is a Delta codeshare...whatever that really means. As long as they do not go out of business and can get us there safely, the rest really does not matter to us. We paid such a low fare, I really cannot complain. However, I am wondering about seat assignments. I booked through Orbitz and it says seats will be assigned at check-in....what's the deal with this? Is that what normally happens on Alitalia? Or is it just because I booked through Orbitz? With such a long flight, I really hope to at least sit with my family & kids....but hey, we have a 6 hour layover @ JFK...guess we'll be plenty early!

tinamidon - I booked online on the Alitalia site for a flight that was also Delta codeshare and also did not get seat assignments, either online or in the e-mail confirmation. That always makes me nervous so I called Alitalia immediately and they did the seat assignment for me.

My first trip to Europe a friend and I didn't have seat assignments - as it turned out the flight was overbooked. In that case we got bumped up to first class on the way over. Since then however, I always try to have seat assignments.

I also called the airline and booked my seats both ways. I at least wanted a window but wasn't sure what/where was a preferred seat. I'm still learning how to travel.

Just wanted to share an experience I had once on Alitalia, back when smoking was still allowed on planes. I was flying from Paris to Rome, and during the pre-takeoff announcement they informed us that the smoking section was on the left side of the center aisle, and nonsmoking was on the right -- no, I am not kidding! Of course nothing like this will ever happen now on Alitalia, but I still shake my head whenever I remember it.

We've flown Alitalia on a few occasions. They're okay if absolutely nothing goes wrong. Any problem and they are terrible.
In early October, they had huge over-bookings because they had sold larger planes and had switched to flying smaller ones. At Malpenza we and scores of others waited for hours (not an exaggeration) while only two harried agents toiled with out-dated software and wrote paper tickets to rebook through multiple layovers. At this end, getting our compensation was another trial. And pay attention to the codeshare, because you may think you will be on Delta, but you may be flying Alitalia.
Recently I read that Aeroflot was bidding to buy Alitalia. Having flown both, I like to book my worst enemy on that combination.

And I was once told by an Alitalia flight attendant that I did not pack up my tray correctly after lunch. She proceeded to demonstrate to me and others around me how it should be done. Funny thing was that it was my sister's tray which I handed over to the attendant. My sister remained silent, yet smirking - like the Mona Lisa. I was not happy.

Marianna - lol that's funny. Alitalia is good for some laughs and a few memories. My ex used to make the kids laugh because of the faces he made while eating.

We just had a great trip on Alitalia - 777s both way and seemingly plenty of room, good entertainment, nice staff - a big improvement over our last trip a few years back.

I recommend.

jjk, looks like you were one of the lucky ones.

ljc:

I went to Italy for the first time in mid-February and had the exact same post-booking experience as you. In fact, scoured enough web sites and reviews to send me into a full-blown panic attack. Of course, I got to and from Italy just fine and am here to tell about it :)

But here's my advice:

1. Check this web site regularly: http://www.summerinitaly.com/planning/strike.asp
There's actually an Alitalia strike planned for 4/18 (24 hours). Good to check that site as much as possible leading up to your trip.

2. I didn't see anything regarding your luggage but as best as you can do carry-on, you're always safer. I did however check bags on the way back from Rome as I purchased nearly everything I laid my eyes on and thankfuly no bags were lost. It was helpful that I was on a direct flight, certainly. If you're checking bags, then make sure to bring a change of clothes with you in your carry-on.

3. BRING YOUR OWN FOOD. I nearly starved the entire way over and learned the hard way when I about passed out on the damn plane. On the way back from Rome you'll have plenty of shops to purchase food from. Get yourself a sandwich or something 'cause trust me - energy bars just don't cut it after a while.

4. Don't get married to your seat assignment. Alitalia is notorious for changing planes (and therefore seats) at the 11th hour. This happened both ways to me, I think. It might explain why a few of you got the "seats assigned at check-in" message. When I called Alitalia, they refused to book me a seat. Thankfully my father has a friend who works for Alitalia and she arranged me a seat. Funny thing was, it got changed :)

I worried about everything too, but yo should be fine. Pack light, take only what you need and don't expect the friendliest customer service. This way, when you do get someone from the airline who is super-friendly (I did on a couple of occasions) it makes it that much nicer.

AntInNewYork, thank you. You made me laugh at myself. Buying the airline tickets was a "major" undertaking and after all the work finding hotels and getting nutty-excited about this, I felt totally slapped in the face. Like I said, keeping expectations lower than low and now I just have to tell my husband the great news. RE: the food, I thought you couldn't bring food or drink onto the plane and/or had to buy it past securtiy checks in the airport?

I think you can bring food through but not liquids (can someone double-check me please?)

In JFK I had a red-eye and only ate before leaving the house which wasn't smart. I should have tried to find something in the terminal. In Rome, there are places before and after security, so you'll be more than fine.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...e=AntInNewYork

The link above is to my trip report and if I remember correctly, I did go into some detail about Alitalia and the terminals. Also some tax-free information as well for when you make large purchases and have to deal with the paperwork at the airport.

AntInItaly, I just read your thread asking about Alitalia (just like anyone would not knowing). My mouth was open in shock from Pausanias or whoever that was with his/her responses. That is what you fear and have come not to expect here. If I had read that first, I may have never asked a question ever and that would be very unfortunate for me and others with the same questions. I feel people like to share experiences as much as helping. Perhaps that grouch is an Alitalia flight attendant.

LJC you must have been reading my first ever thread where I got absolutely slammed because I inquired as to the carry-on situation..is that correct?

The best part of that thread is what you didn't read.. there was another poster that was so nasty to me his comments were actually removed and I'm not at all sure by whom.

I got verbally smacked around on that thread but the good thing was that a lot of wonderful people came to my defense and I really appreciated it. Hence my still being here.

We flew Jfk-Milan-Budapest on March 9-10, returned on March 25. At the price we paid, we viewed the flights as our bus to Europe, so expectations were not high. That said, we had a nice plane and crew for both Transatlantic legs, and the Budapest-Milan portion was fine, too - a little more crowded on the return than the commencing flight. We (wife, myself, two teenaged daughters) were not able to sit together on the Transatlantic portions - and I mean four seperate seats all over the plane. Some would find that outrageous, but I told my family that traveling means flexibility (to a point, of course), and we all met interesting people on the way over and some of us did on the way back (I'm 6'2", 260, and was wedged in a middle seat between two other guys my size; the left-handed guy on my right, right-handed on my left, which made trying to eat a challenge for me at best!). Food was fine, still airline food, but tasty. Crew appreciates a little Italian spoken, like "Buon Giorno" and "Grazie", and a little sympathy expressed for their corporate situation also goes a long way toward breaking the ice. The beverages are in the back of the plane after the initial services, fine with me. If you are tall, negotiate with the person in front of you BEFORE they recline their seat; not only will you have crushed knees, but also it kills the viewing angle on the LCD screens, which need to tilt up more than they can - my only other complaint after seating arrangements. Checked luggage arrived safe at all destinations. Flight from Milan to NYC was delayed an hour at the last minute, but the time change had occured the night previous, and the crews were still catching up to the flights. All other legs arrived on time.

We only heard about Alitalia's troubles after we had purchased our non-refundable tix in November, so I found travel insurance to cover our investment (Alitalia was not restricted by them) and we just watched the news until it was clear that our flights were still scheduled. We had a pleasant trip, and found an excellent value ($1930.00RT NYC-BUD for four). Relax and have a good time!

Just returned from Italy and flew Alitalia out of JFK.
Service was good but bring your own food it was horrible and on such a long food, you need to eat.

Just got back two weeks ago. Beware - my seats were supposed to be assigned, but when I got to check in at Alitalia, they weren't. They said my husband and I couldn't sit together. The weird thing was, there were lots of empty seats on the plane and the flight attendants told everyone to move wherever they wanted just after boarding, so we did sit together. They also lost my vegetarian meal request. Luckily, I had no problem with carrying a little food on.

No tv screens on the 767 from JFK to Rome! A 777 on the way back - it had tv screens, but they were broken. Buzzed a flight attendant 3 times to try to get some water. Finally, flagged down one who was just walking by.

Lost my luggage on the way home, but got it back the next day.

Took off an hour late both times for seemingly no reason. All other flights were running on time.

To sum up: we were not impressed with Alitalia! But they did get us to Rome, and that was worth it.

From Miami to ROme the food in business was the best I had in a plane for a long time. Go figure...

Lilli, I am expecting your kind of trip on this airline. I want to cry and laugh at the same time, although I may just cry all the way over there. Is it really possible to sleep even with a "sleeping aid"?

L4, I don't recall seeing, but are you sure that you can't do carry-on for your trip? You'll save yourself a lot of grief if you can.

Don't worry about the seat assignments. If you have more heart than me, then just keep calling Alitalia until you get someone who will assign you a seat. The most important thing is that you get on the plane. Undoubtedly they will shuffle all of the seat arrangements and then you and 20 other people will walk around asking each other if you can swap seats. Again, so long as you're on the plane, you're good...

I'm just like you - plan, plan plan. But my trip to Italy helped me to let go of some of that as there's only so much you can do after a while.

Again, check to see if you can take solid foods on board, pack some Ambien and an IPod if you have one. Yes sleeping aids can work! Just don't count on the TV. Whatever did we do before we had TV's on the seats anyway? You entertain yourself-books, magazines, puzzles, chitchat with the person next to you, and try to sleep.

And daydream, daydream, daydream :)

HERE IS HOW ALITALIA STOLE 240,000 OF MY MILES:

In August 2008: I transferred 240,000 miles from my AMEX to our Alitalia Millemiglia account in order to book 2 business class tickets to Europe from Los Angeles.

Between Aug 2008 and August 2010: My wife and I have been unsuccessful to find "available" seats on Alitalia flights for business class tickets to fly to Europe (from Los Angeles). We have been willing to spend more miles, but still their system would not make seats available to us. During this same period, we successfully booked at least 13 round-trip business class tickets with Delta Airlines, which did have availability when Alitalia did not. Before booking each flight with Delta, we attempted to book with Alitalia, but their system would never have availability (each time that Delta did). How is it reasonable that for at least 13 separate business class tickets, their partner Delta had availability, when Alitalia Airline did not?

On August 28, 2010: Without notice, Alitalia removed our miles from our account. And their customer service department says its their policy that we forfeited our miles because we hadn't used them.

FOR 2 YEARS, WE TRIED RELENTLESSLY TO FIND AVAILABLE SEATS ON ALITALIA FLIGHTS. ALITALIA WOULD NEVER MAKE ANY SEATS AVAILABLE TO US. WE FLEW TO EUROPE AT LEAST 13 TIMES WITH DELTA, ALSO USING MILES. WE TRIED FEVERISHLY TO MAKE USE OF OUR MILES WITH ALITALIA.

So how did Alitalia steal 240,000 of my miles? They basically made NO SEATS AVAILABLE to me for 2 years, after which time they deleted my miles from my account (WITHOUT NOTICE).

http://alitaliastolemymiles.blogspot.com/