ParadiseLost

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/...ness/EU-FIN-CO
M-Italy-Alitalia-Milan.php OR
http://tinyurl.com/2s568e

Just a heads-up for anyone who has booked flights into Milan or planned on connecting there.
Regards, Walter

wren

Thanks, Walter, for the heads-up! Thanks to you, I am ok! I just called Delta b/c we have award seats on Alitalia through them---the agent said there is nothing that he could do--we would have to cancel our vacation--no award seats are available on any of their partners...well, since I don't easily take no for an answer, I asked him to speak to his supervisor...when he returned, he said Alitalia will honor our seats and we can fly out of from Rome! I am thankful you posted and that I saw it!

ParadiseLost

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=35119883

You're Welcome and glad it helped there 'squeaky wheel'.

An Italian poster (tile) on rec.travel.europe posted info on this and I went to 'google news' and found the IHT report on the story.

I'll pass along your thanks and the url for this thread to him also.

Have A Wonderful Holiday! Regards, Walter

WillTravel

wren, good work getting that fixed. I can't believe the cavalier attitude of the first agent.

wren

No kidding about the oh--well attitude! I have been working on this vacation since last summer--we have deposits on hotels and apartments, car is paid for, etc. I learned long ago never to give up after speaking with an agent if I am unhappy with the response, and this just added fuel to the fire!!!

Walter--yes, tell the poster many thanks!

JulieVikmanis

Go Wren!! Enjoy your vacation.

txtree

Wren - nice work! What a nightmare it could have been (and I'm sure a nightmare for others). Oy.

wren

Hey Julie! Good to see you ! Any plans in the works for you and Vic?

JulieVikmanis

Yes, we leave for 6 days in Paris April 9, and another 6 days in Paris and the Loire in early May with our daughter and son-in-law to make up for the New Years trip we'd ordinarily be taking with our kids but will not because of the expectation of twins just prior. Pretty exciting. Just returned from a February trip to costa Brava and Barcelona about which I hope to post today. Rome should be great fun for you. Where else will you be in Italy or are you sticking with Rome?

wren

Actually, we will not be staying in Rome at all---we are concentrating on Venice, Tuscany, and Florence...until yesterday, I didn't know I would be in Rome !

Mikkih

so when do i worry? we supposedly fly to rome from newark in 2 weeks- should i be getting some travel insurance in case the flight gets canceled? I am really getting nervous about this airline!

Mikki

wren

Did you call Alitalia, Mikki? I would call them to make sure that right now you still have everything in tact...

AKNIC

Thank you to ParadiseLost for alerting me to this problem. I just called Alitalia and found out that my flight from Heathrow to Milan Malapensa has in fact been cancelled. The only options are to now fly into Linate. That would not be so bad, but we have nonrefundable hotel reservations at Malapensa. The good news is that we have almost two months to work on the flight change and hotel problem. I wonder if Alitalia would have ever contacted us about this change. Fodors is the best!

Carta_Pisana

thanks ParadiseLost - I'm flying NYC to MIlan at the end of May - it's still scheduled but the ticket is $300 less (that's lunch in Milan these days). I'll be checking weekly till I'm in Milan. Thanks.

kerouac

It's starting to look like Alitalia will be taking the big plunge before the end of the year. The unions keep rejecting the proposals of Air France-KLM, which is the only credible buyer of this moribund carrier. Quite understandably, Italian pride would like to keep this carrier under Italian ownership, but since it keeps losing a million euros a day, it won't last much longer the way things are going.

rkkwan

AF/KLM has walked out of negotiations, and the current Alitalia president just resigned.

tuscanlifeedit

I do hope all those with trip plans will get them straightened out.

I am thinking back to all the Alitalia discussions we have had here...

spinch

Pray for me. We have seats on 2 Alitalia flights at the end of May. Hopefully.

kerouac

It's looking really bad. Unless the Italian unions come crawling back to Air France on their knees, Alitalia might not last until the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Air France-KLM stock shot up 6% the moment it was announced that the deal had fallen through yesterday.

onyerpockets

Only yesterday I booked on Alitalia for July. Due to some misleading info re: a Carnival Cruise excursion, I booked our flight into Rome, thinking to get the transfer to the ship. I faxed the reservation to Carnival about 3 wks ago. Later, I accidentally discovered that the excursion was not available for our cruise, leaving me to find another way to Genoa. Hence, the Alitalia booking.

So it looks like we won't get the quickie tour of Rome. Already it's cost about $350 more due to the extra flight and whatever the cost of getting from Genoa to Savona will be, and that's IF we make it in time. Fortunately, we'll only have carry on luggage.

Incidentally, Carnival has still never informed us that the excursion is unavailable. So had I not found out about that, I could be stranded in Rome and totally miss the cruise.

Now with this new development, I guess that could still happen.... The cruise ends in Dover, UK, so that's where our return flight home is from... And this, our maiden voyage to Europe.
Wonder what they do to tourists who can't afford to get back home?! Sigh...