I have never flown this airline, have not heard or read anything bad or good. What experiences have you had flying on them? What type of plane would fly you from Rome to Milan, (to catch US return flight)-- a very small one?

You'll probably fly with an Airbus or an MD82, this is the normal planes for this route. Expect some delays (15 to 20 minutes), the service is good.......

Go to http://www.alitaliausa.com use the airport codes fco (Rome) and mxp (Milan) I *assume* you'll be flying out of Malpensa=MXP. On that page you can also click-on the aircraft type for a picture. HTH Regards, Walter

I always fly this airline to Italy and have had good experiences--decent food, pleasant service and no delays longer that 45-50 minutes. The only thing they're strict about, especially on the US side, is only allowing one carry-on, plus a small pocketbook. If your handbag is a totebag, they may make you check your carryon luggage. The Alitalia plane I recently took from Milan to Venice was smaller than a 767 but not what I'd call a puddle-jumper.

I just flew Alitalia last week and found it to be a relatively pleasant experience. Flew on a 767 from the US to Milan and a smaller prop plane from Milan to Pisa. Pretty comfortable, the planes seemed newer, hunky flight attendants and got to all my destinations on time!

Can you guys be serious !? Alitalia is very unpopular in Europe. They fail to keep to time schedules and their staff are possibly more often on strike then those of any other airline. Do a search on this forum about them and you will realise what I mean. You guys are either easy to please, or work for Alitalia.

Simon--don't believe everything you read--I fly out of New York City and have never had a problem with the airline over a period of many years. Now about the train strikes in Italy.....

We just returned from Italy and flew Alitalia. <BR><BR>The take off and landings were very smooth. However, the crew was not very impressiveat all. No one ever checked to see if seat belts were secured or bags were under the seat. They served meals without even a smile and were not visible for the rest of the flight.<BR><BR>Airlines are not known for their gourmet meals, however, Alitalia's food was basically inedible.<BR><BR>Given the choice, I'd fly another airline.

<BR><BR>We fly Alitalia periodically and have never had a problem. We just returned from Italy and flew Malpensa to Catania, Catania to Rome and Rome to Malpensa. All flights were on MD80s, on time and our baggage always arrived. Crew on flight into Boston was fine - maybe a little lax on the safety checks.

we just flew alitalia from jfk to milan-venice and return from rome. we had no problems. i read many horror stories about delays, bad service, smoking, etc. but we had none of this. the food was awful but that's no surprise. we had carry-on bags (2 kids, each with backpack, mom with backpack and camera bag and dad with very large tote) and noone bothered us about them. the crew was pleasant and even had a special 'kid pack' for my son with games (both way my son was given something). we did hear that the flight leaving 2 hrs after ours was cancelled. those people did get home later that night but did spend a lot of time in the rome airport.

Alitalia must be one of the worst airlines in the world -- rude staff, bad service, delays, cancellations. I would avoid this airline at all costs.