ljc4creb - have a great trip! I've done so little planning and that's what DH wants! Just one tour in Rome and a car for two days in Tuscany. We will be in Siena for a week starting Friday, Florence for three days and then Rome for three days. LOL - maybe we'll run into each other! I'll look for your trip report when I get back!

Count me among the lucky group who has had multiple good experiences with Alitalia. I kept expecting the worst, but never had problems.

My route was Boston to Malpensa each time.

Flew Altalia Milan to Bosotn in July. Terrible. First despite confirming seat and flight 48 hours before departure. They changed our seats to the middle from window and offered no explanation. Second, we were now in the very last row and by the time we were to be served dinner they were out of food. Third, boarding the plane was a nightmare. No calls by row. Just everyone surging forward at once to get on the plane. It took almots 45 minutes to board while being squashed.

Finally, they lost all 4 piecs of our luggage. We got them at 12:30 AM 8 days aftre getting home. But in the interim, they would never return calls or even answer their phones. I had to go to the airport 4 times ans wait fro them to open their desks for some hours to speak to someone. Absolutely no help at all was offered.

Good luck!

I too was prepared for a nightmare experience with Alitalia after all I had read. However, we flew Alitalia 2 weeks ago from Venice to Milan, changed planes, and took another Alitalia flight to Heathrow and all went very well. The planes were in fine condition, staff were all pleasant, flights were all on time and no baggage was "misrouted". (We had a short one and a half hour connection in Heathrow to British Air which I'd become convinced we wouldn't make). Maybe we were just lucky but I won't be so quick next time to obssess over the negative reports.

I wish you all the bestwith your planned trip. I just got back - minus my luggage after spending 10 days in Sicily with no clothes. Alitalia was ZERO help - they could care less about you - their customer - trust me on this. They lied about saying it was found and now they can't say where it is. I was on hold for 1 1/2 hours yesterday for the NY customer service line and they never answered!
I WISH I had heeded the warnings on this board before I booked with them.
BTW - 7 others in our group also lost their bags on the flight and only 4 got them back.

Until this June I would have said - flown with them loads of times, never had a problem. However, this time they cancelled my flight without telling me and I only found out when doing a last minute check the day before leaving. I then had to rebook by phone on a flight at an inconvenient time, and still had lots of hassle at the airport.

But i wouldn't book with Ryanair at all.