faredolce

Hi you loverly Foderites!
I am getting psyched for my next trip to Italy this fall, and though it is not my first time, I need some advice.

This will be my first time flying into Florence, because I am taking my 79-year old mother with me. (Every other time, I have flown Delta into Rome). We are doing this open jaw, because I am returning from Rome. We are flying directly into Florence because that is what will be easiest on her; we are starting our trip in Florence.

Anyway, I am looking at the options and wondering which airline to go with. Delta has never really bowled me over. I have researched some opinions here on Alitalia and it seems to be a mixed bag. I lean towards them because of the plane change in Milan seems easy, but that may just be my imagination.

Other choices include Swiss Air, Air France (heard bad things about them from a colleague), Lufthansa, British Airways. Each involves a different city/airport plane change.

I know all airlines can cause troubles, delays, difficulties, and experiences will be mixed, but I was just wondering if anyone was willing to share. I really trust you people! I just want my mama to be the most comfortable she can be, and for the plane cange to be as smooth as possible.

Alitalia: thumbs up, thumbs down? Any other favorites?

I suppose it would be better if I had fewer options. I am usually paralyzed with indecision at the video store as well.

Thanks VERY much!
P.S. - I leave from New York, usually JFK

BarryK

Last month. we flew Alitalia from Newark to Skopje (via Milan) and back to Newark from Athens (again via Milan). No problems at all.

LoveItaly

Hello faredolce, Alitalia, many years ago that was the only airline we would take to Italy. But they have seemed to go really downhill these past years and I have noticed that several Fodorites have posted here on Fodors complaining about really bad service regarding Alitalia.

Delta has never really bowled me over either! Air France, that is the airline that my friends in Italy use (versus Alitalia) but they are not thrilled with Air France either. BA, Swiss Air, who knows? I understand that with having your mother fly with you that you want the best airline you can get.

I always have liked KLM (change planes in Amsterdam) and have always been happy with them. My daughter & SIL flew NW business class from SFO to Rome the first of June and they were very happy. Flew KLM from Rome to SFO the end of June in business class and said it was a miserable plane.

I sure don't have a clever answer for you but I sure hope you work out a comfortable flight for you and your mother. Wishes for a beautiful journey.

faredolce

Bringing Mom changes everything, you know?

Thanks, LoveItaly, for your good wishes and advice. The original plan was to fly into Rome and take the train to Florence - it kills time in terms of that early moring arrival. Maybe I should reconsider that option....hopefully I will get some more opinions/advice.

Thanks to BarryK as well....glad you had a smooth flight. I did read some nice reviews here for Alitalia.

Choices, choices.

faredolce

ttt

kate12

We flew Alitalia last September from Toronto to Rome and friends of ours did the same a few weeks later. No complaints.

Trish

I flew them a few weeks ago and had a bad experience, I was bumped off my flight to Rome with my frequent flyer ticket. I'm guessing overbooking is a fairly common problem for them because the check in counter looked like a refugee center. There was people who had been waiting for 2 days after having been late but not missed a connection due to weather and an elderly man trying to get back to Italy for a sick relative who like me also had a business class ticket with no seat (and his cost $3000) he told me these were the only people I talked to but there was others. To me Alitalia was mass chaos. Our flight to Milan since we didn't get on the Rome flight was on very old equipment but the food was fine and the flight was on time, the onbaord staff as ok with one exception of person who was not so nice. I flew KLM and Delta home but my husband returned home via Rome on the new 777's which he said was really nice there was no problem there except they accused him of needing a paper ticket even though he had an Eticket and wanted him to buy a new one but in the end they let him go. So if you do decide to fly them my advice would be to confirm your seats a lot and check in early.

Eloise

I've flown to Italy with a number of airlines. Among the best, in my experience, have been Swiss and KLM, largely because transfers at Zurich and Schiphol are easier than at, say, Heathrow or Charles de Gaulle. Their service is also quite good.

Statia

I've always been happy with Air France. I've heard so many negatives about Alitalia that I've always been a bit leary of using them.

bobthenavigator

I love these threads about airlines. It is my experience over the years that they are all bad--and they are all good. It really depends on the flight crew that day, the weather conditions, and the connect times--in other words, the luck of the draw. That said, I do agree with Eloise that Swiss is one of my favs, and I always try to avoid connects at CDG.

faredolce

You are right bob, they are all either good or horrific. I did spend a lot of time going over some old threads but somehow I thought it would make my decision easier to hear about more experiences. Thanks so much, everyone. If you keep posting them, I will keep reading them!

I too, wanted to avoid CDG, I have had so many colleagues fly to Florence on Delta and have problems with lost luggage and missed connections in Paris, which is what my motivation was in seeking options. Another co-worker spits nails when she talks about Air France, so I am nervous about them too. But in the end, I guess it really is about what is going on that particular day.

*long sigh*

Intrepid1

I agree not only the "praticular day...particular airline" idea but also the particular flight.

However, IMO, there is no doubt that some airports seem to be better at doing some things than others (an article in "The Washington Post" last week pointed out the luggage problems at Dulles because they don't have enough bomb machines for the amount of luggage being sorted).

I think Schiphol in Amsterdam is one of the greatest airports..huge but "seems" small when you traverse it; easy to move from one place to another. I say more or less the same things about Zurich...seems efficient...and despite Frankfurt's sprawl it seems a better option than CDG.

Whatever you do try to leave yourself enough time to actually connect and have a wonderful trip.

justretired

My wife and I avoided Alitalia when we booked a round trip to Milan this upcoming September (2005). Some research on the web seemed to imply that Alitalia is shaky (it has been close to bankruptcy for a while), and that it has constant problems with strikes. We were nervous enough about that to turn down a direct Boston-Milan flight, and instead book a 1-stop flight on Swiss International. We'll see how it goes. Note that Swiss International is not the same as Swissair, which went bankrupt a few years ago.

Here's a thread on transport strikes in Italy:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34641210

I should add that we've never used Alitalia ourselves in the past. We've had good flights in the past on Air France, Lufthansa, and British Air. On the one recent flight we took on British Air, the seat spacing was the closest I've ever seen in my life. My knees were up against the seat in front of me, and I'm only five feet four inches tall. Also, after several experiences, we tend to avoid London as a transfer point. It's a perfectly fine airport, but it takes a long time to transfer from the domestic to the international terminal, involving very long walks and a shuttle ride. That adds almost an extra hour to any international transfer in London.

Air France has twice scheduled us on flights with transfers at Paris CDG that were very short - less than an hour for a transfer from/to an international flight. But we made it each time. On one flight, we arrived late at CDG for an already short transfer. People transferring were taken off the arriving plane first, and a couple of Air France representatives met us at the bottom of the ramp. They hustled us into a car, drove us directly to the departure terminal, and we made the flight with time to spare.

- Larry

nonnafelice

Alitalia has the most convenient schedules for us from Boston, but I will never fly them again after losing a full day of one vacation to a strike. Alitalia has so many strikes that for me it just isn't worth the chance of disruption.

We've been satisfied with Air France, British Air, and Lufthansa on other trips (never have flown Swiss or KLM). One reason we picked Air France on a recent trip is that their flights go through Paris, and we figured if some kind of strike delayed our last leg to Italy, we'd rather be stuck in Paris than a lot of other places! We decided to book Lufthansa for our next trip because they had the best return times. A lot of flights home left so early in the morning that we would have had to get up in the middle of the night to make it to the airport.