I am leaving thursday for sicily, all my flights are on alitalia. I return on Sept. 7.
Should I be worried/terrified of my flights being cancelled and being stranded in Sicily (I know there are worst things) or do you think the airlines will come to all the ticketed customer's rescue?? HELP

You'll be fine; don't worry, have a WONDERFUL vacation in Sicily. Nothing is going to happen before Sept. 15, and probably not even for some time thereafter.

I sure hope you're fine, because we're leaving on Alitalia on September 17!

What are you talking about, what announcement? I made reservations for my parents on Alitalia for our trip in October? What, what is going on?

Here is from Yahoo! news:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...aly_alitalia_5

Cross your fingers. Things generally (almost always) work out (I realize that I can't make that sound 100% reassuring like you might wish).

Best wishes,

Rex

GREAT!

And I'm not supposed to stress!!!!

ttt

The Italian Economics Minister is reported to have told Alitalia's unions today to either accept the corporate restructuring plan "AS IS" (which supposedly includes a layoff of 30% of the airline's employees), or the Italian Government won't approve the 400 million Euro bridge loan, the airline will run out of money in 20-30 days, and 22,000 employees will be walking the streets. Alitalia's stock has plunged to 20 cents, the lowest in its history. More to come ......

is this likely to affect other transportation in italy (ie railroads, buses) with solidarity labor action?

Ya know, I purposely booked with Delta rather than an airline partnering with Alitalia so I could avoid having my vacation cancelled by strikes and such, but when I got my tickets (a paper ticket! so annoying!), I saw that the flight is operated by Alitalia. So much for that plan. Hopefully Delta will make good on its flight with or without Alitalia.

If the ticket is issued by Delta, they are responsible for getting you to destination, even if they code-share with another carrier such as AZ or AF. Having a paper ticket is an advantage when the carrier is liquidated, as it can have currency with other carriers (whereas an electronic ticket has no such currency).

luckily i have a paper ticket issued by AF. are they obliged to keep the existing schedule as well or get me to my destination "as soon as possible"