Alitalia

Alitalia failed to inform a 10 hours delay in accordance EC-261-2004 flight AZ-630, FCO to Mia. Please provide a little training to your counter personnel on how to treat people. They are rude and lack the information and knowledge on the international language English. I hope the best for your airlines and see you on my next flight.

Before I purchased some gift cards that Alitalia offered, I made a phone call to customer service to confirm the card use, restrictions and conditions. The agent who responded the call told me that I could use them the way I explained. Once I purchased and tried to pay the airline tickets with the gift cards, it showed all kinds of restrictions that I was not notified before. After spending hours on the phone with the airline, they refused to give me a refund. Now, I have $1,186.98 worth of Alitalia gift cards that I cannot use. I definitely feel that Alitalia robbed me.

I purchased two tickets ($1,400) from Alitalia for my two friends from Croatia. Flight was from Trieste to Toronto. I got electronic ticket receipt. Departure was on 11/18/11. Alitalia did not let them onboard before they pay 220 Euro for flight from Trieste to Rome. In the meantime I had to fax a copy of my credit card and my ID and they let them onboard from Rome to Toronto. Return was on 12/18/2011. Alitalia again did not let them onboard before they pay full price $1,400.00. Now, I paid $3,100.00 for tickets that originally cost $1,400.00. I disputed charges with my credit card and I emailed and faxed complain to Alitalia. Alitalia as of today did not respond and I'm taking them to court.

I booked my honeymoon with Alitalia and it was the worst mistake I've ever made. I ended up canceling and re-booking my connection flight because of their 3-hour flight delay. The worst part is that no one in Alitalia is willing to give me reason why it was delayed so I can't claim my travel insurance to get money back that I lost because I had to re-book at the last minute. I called all the contact numbers on the site (which route your call to one call center) and even asked them in the Toronto and Rome airports. If you're thinking of flying with Alitalia, you're better trying other airlines even cheap ones like Ryan Air or Easy Jet give you much better service.

For instance, if you press the button for assistance while you're on the flight, I can guarantee you that the light will stay on until you land. Flight attendants will walk right by and pretend not to see when you ask for help. Try it if you don't believe me. Alitalia is a waste of money and will leave you feeling bitter about your travel/vacation experience.

They deserve no stars. I left Florence at 7 am on Friday, the 16th of Dec. I had seen an email from Delta (was a shared Delta/Alitalia flight). That flight was leaving late. Instead of 9 am, it would be leaving at 11 pm, arriving in Miami at 4:30 am in the morning! I was traveling by myself with my 4 and 8 year old. At check in I asked the check in Alitalia about it and he said it was a mistake. I got to Rome and it wasn't a mistake. They were really taking off at 11 pm at night. I couldn't understand why. If I got an email at 5:45 in the morning, why did Alitalia not know this (by the way, there was no one from Delta in Rome and the flight was AZ, so Alitalia was responsible).

I asked if I could be put up in a hotel and leave on the flight the next morning at a normal hour, since it was too much to ask to have the children travelling that long. They agreed and changed my tickets. They told me not to pick up my bags, that they would transfer them on the flight out the next morning. That evening I received another email that they would be leaving late on the flight I was on the next day and to call them. I did and they said it would only be an hour delay.

The next morning, I arrived at 6:30 am. The flight was being moved to take off, instead of at 9:30, to 6:30 pm. I couldn't believe it. I had specifically asked the evening before if there would be another huge delay and they said no. They lie. The woman at the help desk was the rudest, most obstinate, just plain disgusting people I have ever encountered in 22 years of transatlantic crossings. I have lived in Florence for 22 years and speak fluent Italian, so there was no language problem.

I fought with them for an hour as they kept refusing to put me on an earlier flight from another city. They said they were all full, all this without ever glancing at their computer, after the kids started making huge scenes and I was hysterical. They decided to put me on a flight to Newark and connect with American to Miami. I had a 3 hour layover in Newark which was fine. They then treated me terribly saying I needed to first go back to terminal 1 to get my bags since I never should have left them there. I told them their staff insisted I leave them as I could have used them since I had no clothes for the night. They said I had to walk to terminal one and get my bags myself then check them in. It was a 20-minute walk with 2 kids, but I just wanted to get out of there.

I went to the lost and found luggage (after having to pass through security in T1 which took a half hour). The lost and found told me my 3 bags had left for Miami the night before. They wrote a paper with the container number and name that supposedly the bags were in. And I had to run all the way back to terminal 3 to get on the flight to Newark. They left after 2 hours delay. I missed my connection from Newark and had to be put on the last flight out which arrived in Miami at 12 midnight. The flight was an hour late. And when I went down to the J terminal at Miami from continental terminal, there was no one in the lost and found.

The next day I called and called leaving messages, but no one called back. I went to the Miami airport again. The lost and found office was closed and locked, even though it was 4 pm and they close at 5:30 pm. I went downstairs to check in and talked to a guy doing check-ins. He called the supervisor who called a baggage person who then searched for my bags. But they were not in Miami airport. He took down all the info and did the formal report.

I can't even give it 1 star. In short, I lost luggage on a flight from Venice to Brindisi in September. It was a very unhelpful and time consuming customer service staff via telephone and remarkably with no way to track the location of the missing bags. I got the luggage back the day before we returned home. I submitted a claim for items and clothing that I had to purchase both by email and by regular mail. All communication to Alitalia was completely ignored until I emailed again to demand a response. They said they received my receipts and would have a response in 30 days. Thirty days came and went with no response. I am sure they are hoping that I would just give up or forget about it. I have sent another email asking for resolution. I will never fly or recommend Alitalia ever again.

I called Alitalia U.S. three weeks ago to check if there is a place for me and for my 2 dogs (40 KG) on the flight returning from Frankfurt to Cairo. They said, yes, there is a free place. I reserved the flight, and then called again to confirm the 2 dogs on my reservation. The woman left me on the phone for more than one hour, and then she said, "It is ok. I have placed an order and please call us again after 3 days to make sure that they are confirmed." After 3 days, I called again and they said, "Yes, you have 2 dogs with you; each 40 KG in a separate kennel."

3 days before the flight, I received a call from an unknown number stating, "We are Alitalia and you have a reservation for 2 dogs, but we do not have a place except for one dog for the connection from Frankfurt to Rome." I said, "Please find for me a solution since I can not do anything." The woman said, "Ok, we will call you back later." I went to the airport yesterday and I found out that my dogs' reservation is canceled and there is no confirmation for the dogs. And after more than 4 hours of debating with the people on the counter, and after trying to call people everywhere, in the end they say, "Sorry, Sir, we have nothing to do for you, only one dog or nothing." Then they gave me a different reservation on Air France after 2 days. I paid 153 Euros plus 30 Euros for the hotel and the taxi and missed 2 days of my work.

Alitalia sent my eTicket with wrong dates and charged my credit card the wrong amount 3 times! Alitalia should be fined and closed for what they do to their customers. I am sharing with you my story for a company that is an absolute disgrace to Italy! After immediately calling their call center in South America and no one would listen nor help to point out the mistake, I wrote the NY office:

We are all standing here in our office in shock and want your Alitalia tape recordings. I have my entire staff, Melody our manager and my husband who all heard the speaker phone conversation also documented as well. So it will be very interesting to hear and share tape recordings. I have already discussed this defamation of character with my lawyer and your call center staff should seriously know that defamation of character is a serious action and he is very liable, stating false claims about an individual is illegal. I may also add that posing under different names, calling me back and leaving a message, which we have on record, as "Gerry the Alitalia Manager" was not very professional and does not put Alitalia in good standing. I am sure everyone will be pleased to listen at Alitalia.

I am a sterling professional and have worked over 25 years developing my name and business on the International market and would never, in a million years, drop anyone's name including yours for a discount nor anything else. It was not even a question. I did advise Gerry/Alfredo yesterday that I was not happy and already wrote a formal complaint letter to Elizabeth ** in NY who I knew personally. That is on record and again, I will be happy to share that. I called in for a Wednesday, November 23 change ticket, after going over some dates including: November 21 - Alfredo/Gerry said "the November 21 flight was only 1/4 full but the fare change was less". November 22 - Alfredo/Gerry said "the November 22 flight was a nonstop flight via Atlanta" and November 23 - Alfredo/Gerry said "the November 23 flight was 2/3 full but the fare was more, we confirmed Wednesday Nov. 23".

* Again, my travel date was wrong and my credit card charge was wrong (it was charged $379 three times). I called in immediately to go over both points but no one could answer me.

I have worked for 25 years in this industry and I will not allow an unprofessional Alitalia clerk to ruin my sterling reputation, as defamation of character is serious and is illegal. Alfredo/Gerry's unprofessional customer service is not acceptable. We are the largest incoming culinary tour operator to Italy and my staff would have never handled a case as such. And after this episode, I do not know if I will be ever traveling on Alitalia again nor referring customers as we always do. What happened with your call center is a disgrace on Alitalia and we are all shocked. I am requesting our November 23, Rome to Boston, with the fare change fee of $434 as stated by your clerk on Monday, November 14. We look forward to hearing back from you and looking for a solid professional resolution.

My husband and I were scheduled to return from Rome to Chicago on Alitalia on Oct 30, 2011. This was a nightmare and the worst experience ever. We had assigned seats and confirmed our flight the evening before our departure date. We arrived at the airport at 6:30am for our 10:10am flight and were told that our reservations had been canceled and that the flight was overbooked but if we wanted the flight, we could buy first class tickets. We were told that United (our connecting airline in US) had canceled the flight and Alitalia refused to compensate and referred us to UA .

We had to spend the night in a hotel and had to pay for it and our food. Alitalia refused to put us on the next day flight and help in any way. We found out upon our return to the US that Alitalia had canceled our reservations and bumped us. They do not answer their phones or emails, we ended up a day late and $240 additional cost for hotel and food.

Someone should stop Alitalia from being able to operate flights to US. They lie, are rude and treat customers atrociously. We will never fly them again and I am still trying to get compensated . They need to be stopped!

Please be advised we booked our round trip flight to and from Rome on 01/04/2011. We are going on the cruise with Celebrity Cruise Line from 09/15/11 to 09/27/11. Our flight back home from Rome to Miami will be on 09/27/11 at 09:20 am. We called Celebrity Cruise Line customer service several times to verify the time we will be able to disembark the ship to make it on time to the airport in Rome. They assured us the we will be able to leave the ship by 5:00 am and will have plenty of time to make it to the airport. So on 01/04/2011 we booked our flights.

On 01/05/11, we called a customer service supervisor and realized that we were mislead by Celebrity Cruise Line customer service and we will be able to leave the ship not earlier than 07:00 am, and we will not be able to make that flight AZ630 on 09/27/11 at 09:20 am going to Miami. We called Alitalia Airlines in less then 24 hours on 01/05/11 to change our flight to 09/29/11 . Your customer service representative told us that they can change the date, but there will be a charge of $200.00 per person. In our case it will be $400.00 in total.

We are asking you to please help us and wave $400.00 charge and change the date of the flight from Rome to Miami from 09/27/11 to 09/29/11 for the same time at 09:20 am. After all, it was not even 24 hours since we booked our flight. It is not our fault, we were mislead and trying to do the best we can to fix this problem.

I had to travel from Heathrow airport to Rome on 4.11.2011 at 6:00 and one of staff there was a racist to me and I decided to get of the plane. My name is Edison ** and I'm now living in ** House, which is near Gatwick airport. Please reply at the address above for an apology. Thank you. I am feeling very bad about this and I will take action court.

I used my mobile device to check-in, via delta.com's mobile site, the morning of the flight. At that time, we were given seat assignments for this flight. We came from Capri that morning, thus, took a ferry to Naples and then a flight from Naples to Rome; arriving at Rome FCO airport at 12:30PM, more than two hours before departure time. Upon checking into Delta Flight 8121/Alitalia 610, we were told by the check-in agent Eleonara ** that Alitalia had overbooked the flight and we would have to wait to get a boarding pass. We were led to believe that we would be able to get onto this flight. However, as we waited, she said the flight was completely booked and there was only one seat left in business class, but to keep waiting for the flight to close to see what happens.

We waited there for more than an hour as the entire Alitalia agents closed down the check-in stands and left. We were the only people standing there at Alitalia check-in. When the flight had closed, Ms. ** informed us that we were not going to be issued boarding passes and we would have to go to the Alitalia ticket counter to resolve this matter. In discussion with Ms. ** regarding not being able to get onto this flight, she rebutted by rudely saying "this is something the Americans imposed (overbooking), not Alitalia". To this I explained to her that in America, when flights are overbooked, the airlines ask for volunteers to give up their flight. They do not just choose people randomly, subject people as victims to this atrocity.

We were then told by Ms. ** that we would have to walk with all our luggage over to the Alitalia ticket counter. We informed her that we would only do so if she were to accompany us and so she did. Upon arrival to the ticket counter, Ms. ** spoke to ticket agent Francesca **, in Italian for a few minutes. After the conclusion of their conversation, Ms. ** just walked away from the counter without saying anything to us. Ms. ** was not friendly or empathetic in any way whatsoever. Rather, she was extremely cold and stiff, barely making eye contact with myself or my companion. Ms. ** took a few minutes typing on her computer, only to tell us that there were no other flights out of Rome that day. No other flights out of any city in Italy that day and no other connecting flights out of any other country that day.

In summation, there was absolutely no way to leave Rome that day. When we protested and said we wanted a refund, she said she would gladly refund us the money and let us go buy another ticket from another airline. In essence, leaving us totally stranded in Rome! According to her, if there were no other flights leaving Rome on any airline, how could we possibly buy a ticket from another airline? It is impossible to believe that there were no flights out of any other connecting city that could return us back to New York City's JFK airport! JFK is a very busy destination and surely, there must have been some flight from Rome to another city in all of Europe that would have been going back to JFK. This is an outright lie.

We asked to speak to a supervisor. This was when Marco ** came over to speak to us as well. I have no idea if he was a supervisor as he did not identify himself and his status to us whatsoever. Mr. ** again reiterated that there were no flights out of Rome or any other city, in any other country, on this day. We asked him if he could please show us on the computer screen where it says this to show us the flights were booked, so we may see with our own eyes and he refused to do this. We asked if one of us could be seated in the jump seat, he refused. We asked if we could be in a business class, he refused. Mr. ** told us that we would have to take the same flight on the following day (10/2/11) and that Alitalia would house us in a hotel and provide meal vouchers. Ms. ** also told us that Alitalia would provide myself and my companion 600 Euro compensation for this ordeal and they would contact us in 7-10 days to receive the money. She had us write down our contact information for Alitalia to contact us. It has been three weeks now and neither myself nor my companion have been contacted by Alitalia to receive this money.

As this conversation was happening, I was writing down Ms. ** and Mr. **'s name into my phone when Ms. **, without even looking up to look me in the eyes, took her name badge on her jacket and shoved it forward closer to my face while raising her voice to say "Is this what you are trying to look at? Here you go". To which I replied, "thank you, I already have your name written down". Given no other viable option, we succeeded to this. Ms. ** told us to go downstairs (with all our luggage), to go to bus stop number 11, to take the free shuttle to Satellite Palace Hotel. We were not given any other better instruction than this nor were we escorted down to the bus stop. We went downstairs as advised and did not see any signs for bus stop number 11. We went towards the right, asked police officers and they did not know. We went towards the left, asked other bus drivers and they did not know. After 30 minutes of walking back and forth and being lost in 85 degree hot blazing sun (to which I had a sunburn from previous days) with all of our heavy luggage, we finally were able to find the bus stop. It was completely in a remote location and several minutes walk from the airport. Upon arriving to the bus stop, we saw the sign that it only leaves every hour and we had just missed it by 10 minutes so would have to wait another 50 minutes for the shuttle.

At this point we were hungry, hot and exhausted and felt under duress to take a taxi cab to the hotel. We hailed a taxi and told him the name of the hotel. The taxi cab went the wrong way, going away from Satellite Palace hotel and had to turn around to go back to the airport and then onto the correct direction. It should have only taken 10 minutes to get to the hotel and it took one hour and cost us 30 Euro, which we had to argue with the driver or it would have cost much more. Satellite Palace Hotel is no palace at all. The room was dark, dingy, gross and smelled of urine! The light outside the door in the hallway was broken, so it was completely dark and we could not see to put the key into the door.

Once opening the door, since there was no light in the hallway, we could not see how to turn on the lights in the room. We had to ask a maid to come over and help us. The light over the bed in the room was blown out and not working. The room was so dark it was not possible to read in the room. There was no safe to lock valuables in. There were no plugs to plug in phone chargers. Again, the room smelled disgusting of urine. The TV didn't work. The meals at the Satellite Palace Hotel were disgusting, gross food. This hotel is a place where all passengers who are bumped from their flights are sent.

The next day, we decided to go to the airport four hours early. On the shuttle bus back to the airport at 10:00AM, I met several people (Americans) who had just been bumped by Alitalia in the morning. They refused to even get off the bus because the Satellite Palace Hotel was so disgusting to them. Thus, they were riding the bus with me back to the airport. These people all told me that Alitalia had told them the same thing, that there was no flight out of any city to get them home that day. It was impossible to believe that at 10:00 in the morning, there was no flight available to reroute these people. This, absolutely, must be a scam on Alitalia's part.

At the check-in gate on 10/2/11, when we checked our baggage in, the Alitalia agent was somewhat empathetic with our situation and said that she would mark our luggage priority and put the priority sticker on it. Baggage ticket: **, **. Getting through Rome's FCO airport security was horrendous, with multiple long lines, which took at least one hour. After that line, we then had to stand in passport control line which was also heinous, with several never-ending lines. Finally, once clearing these two lines, we were able to go to our gate to wait for the flight. At the Alitalia gate, which was round, there were only about 6 chairs available for anyone to sit in to wait completely uncomfortable. Thus, we stood around the gate like everyone else. The gate was then changed at the last minute and everyone had to rush over to the other gate and stand around.

The Alitalia gate agents stated they were now boarding the flight. They did not state who was boarding, in what order, or what seats were boarding first. Thus, everyone rushed around the gate and swarmed the entrance to board. It was completely disorganized and confusing. The Alitalia gate agents then started to yell at people that they were in the wrong line and the people at the front of the line had to go to the back of the line on the other side. When these people complained to them about not knowing, the gate agent said "can't you read the sign?" and pointed to the small sign that said business class. The gate agent then took the stretchy cord and shut off the line right in front of the people's face, not allowing them to board.

When boarding for myself and my companion finally occurred, again I had to show my passport to someone and then was asked for my bags to be checked, to which I complied. After this, we then had to walk down a large flight of stairs and enter a very crowded and hot bus. We had to take this bus to the airplane, get out and then (with all carry on luggage) walk up a flight of stairs to the Alitalia airplane. Once on the airplane, it was extremely hot. There were no air vents to provide cooling. My seat had duct tape on it, taping the armrests together. The controller on my seat was broken and my movie kept starting over and over again. The food on Alitalia was just disgusting. I did not eat the food and actually spit it out. It took one extra hour for the flight to board and leave Rome's airport. The flight took an extra hour in the air since there was a storm to be avoided. Arriving at JFK, it took an hour for the plane to find a gate to deboard the passengers. It took more than three extra hours to get to JFK than was supposed to.

In baggage claim, I watched as all of the priority luggage came down the carousel. Our baggage was not with them. We waited and waited, as all of the normal baggage came out on the carousel. Our baggage came out nearly last! My baggage was a brand new Delsey hard case 26-spinner luggage I had purchased and never used before this trip, cost $450. I bought it specifically for this trip. Upon seeing my baggage came off the carousel, it had a huge tear in the front of my luggage.

In summary, we booked a flight through Expedia.com on Delta to Italy and the return flight was operated by Alitalia. Alitalia overbooked this flight and bumped us from this flight. Alitalia refused to put us on another flight that same day, forcing us to stay one night in a disgusting hotel. We believe this is a scam by Alitalia as it was impossible to believe that there were no flights from any city on 10/1/11 to New York's JFK airport. Alitalia seems to only inflict this punishment only on American citizens as I did not meet any Italians at the Satellite Palace Hotel or on the shuttle bus to the airport. The customer service by Alitalia agents was abhorrent. The lodging and food provided by Alitalia was putrid. Alitalia did not request volunteers to be bumped from this flight, but rather just chose us and forced us to be removed from this flight. They lied to us, telling us that no other flight was available from Rome or any other city, in any country. What a lie! The next day, I met fellow Americans who were also told the exact same things and these people confirmed again that no volunteers were asked to give up their seats, but rather they were chosen and forced to stay.

Furthermore, we have never received the 600 Euros promised to each of us by Alitalia as compensation. Also, my brand new luggage of $450 was destroyed on Alitalia when my luggage was marked as priority. Expedia should know this atrocity is happening daily to people who book through their website and thus, should no longer do business with Alitalia. Delta Airlines should know that as an American, I booked this flight through you, an American company who I have faith in to treat me well and you subcontract through Alitalia, an Italian company who is treating your compatriots scandalously. I urge Delta to no longer do business with Alitalia. Airlines in the United States ask for volunteers to give up their seats on overbooked flights. Alitalia does not do this, they forcibly prey on Americans to bump them from overbooked flights. Then they lie to these people, telling them there are no flights out of any other city to get them home. This is a nasty scam.

I will never fly Alitalia as long as I shall live and I shall make it my urgent work to spread the word to let everyone I know, who will hopefully tell everyone they know, and they know what is happening to fellow Americans when they fly Alitalia. A scam.

I have a pre-existing condition that requires forward seating door to wing supported by doctor's letter. Airport staff refused to accommodate me. At our flight from Rome to Toronto, flight number AZ650, my friend & I were pushed into the furthest rear seats where I was forced to take additional medication so I would not be sick on the return home flight.

Alitalia planes were all filthy dirty with worn out seats, earphone jacks broken, disgusting drop-down food trays and bathrooms that never get cleaned. For the entirety of the 9 hour flight, the gagging from odors of piss and ** and people leaning and bumping into you was unbearable. The long distance planes were extremely noisy. The flights were very uncomfortable both ways.

Alitalia has the worst customer service of any airline I have ever encountered. I flew to Italy from JFK in May and they lost my bag for the entire trip. It stayed in Italy longer than I did! They offered me $50 a day ($500) for the inconvenience, but it is four months later and I still haven't received a check.

I have called (you can't get through to anyone) and emailed. I'm told that they mailed a check in July and they're waiting for it to be returned by the post office. Obviously, it is lost in the mail if they even sent it.

Two weeks ago, they said they'd put a stop on the check and issue a new one but I still haven't received anything. Shame on them!

I had traveled to Italy for a vacation with my husband, two kids and parents with Alitalia in June. My husband, kids and I returned on July 5, 2011; while my parents stayed longer. During that time, my father got sick and was sent to the hospital. My brother flew with Alitalia to go see him. Within a week, my father's misdiagnosed broncitis turned to stage 4 lung cancer. Within a week, I flew back with Alitalia to find out that my father had passed away that morning; only one week from the time he entered the hospital. My 82 year old mother paid an extra $500 to change her flight to come home with me.

We received the fax from our travel agent with the confirmed flight, and he had made sure to get her wheelchair assistance. When we checked in at Palermo, the lady at Alitlia told us that my mother's flight from Palermo Rome was fine, but someone else had confirmed her flight to Rome to Toronto, and got her boarding pass. She stated that it was given to a group, but insisted that it was probably just a computer glitch and would be fixed at Rome. She said that wheelchair assistance would take care of us, and bring us to get a boarding pass. So off, we went.

Our flight arrived on time, and we had one and half hours until our flight. I explained everything to the assistance people, and all they said was not to worry. We were sent from one place to another and another, and another; just to be told to sit and wait, and there was no problem. Everyone they sent us blamed me for not having my mother's boarding pass, no matter how much I explained. When we finally got to Alitalia Flight, the lady told the gentleman who assisted us that they were no longer taking wheelchair assistance at this time, and they were ready to close the doors.

Again, I tried to explain about what happened with Alitalia in Palermo, and the lady told me that she did not care what they said in Palermo because Rome is an international airport. When she first looked at the computer, she told me that my mother should not even be on this flight. When I showed her the fax, they started scrambling for her boarding pass. They told the wheelchair assistance person that she did not have any assistance, and to drop her carry bag and go. They managed to get her a boarding pass, but told my mother that she did not have any assistance and that she had better start walking if she wants to catch the flight.

So, I took her bag and her arm and walked her down. This is an 82 year old lady; in one week time had her life completely turned upside down, and was dizzy and not well most of the trip. I spoke to my travel agent to once again confirm that she had wheelchair assistance, and he did. I am just glad she did not fall and break a hip or something. To be honest, I would probably rate that trip as minus a star. By the end of that trip, neither one of us was well. I ended up at a walk-in clinic the day after.

My name is Dolores **. This claim is to request assistance for my daughter Giulia **. Giulia was to fly back to California from Palermo, Sicily on the date of August 21, 2011 at 6:45 am, flight # 1778 (booking reference # **). She was very ill and had to seek medical help. The airline was contacted immediately. She needed to be admitted. But because she is not a resident of Italy, she was released. She was still ill but under medication. She was willing to fly. A medical certificate is available to confirm her illness. This however was not enough for Alitalia to rebook or revalidate her return ticket.

Giulia is 18 years old. This is her first time flying alone. She was to start college this week. The consequence is losing the whole semester of school. She has special aid assistance from the government. This will also be a problem re-establishing if lost because of her absence. She is very upset and scared. This is affecting her stability. Please help us in contacting the airline to book a flight for her return. My family is not economically fit to purchase a return ticket for her. If we need to pay a penalty, we will. Alitalia Airline's "customer care" phone number is unreachable. There is no office to contact in Los Angeles.

The round trip ticket from LAX to Palermo was purchased by a friend from Italy as a gift for my daughter's high school graduation. The travel office she purchased the ticket at will not do anything to help. They claim the ticket is lost. My husband was informed Alitalia Airline could upgrade the ticket. He spoke with a representative referred to him by a friend (no longer reachable). They will not book a flight because they claim they have no availability in her class. So, we are left waiting. And my daughter is upset. Please help us understand what we can do to file a claim and get assistance for Giulia.

**

On the 23rd of December, we, Karina ** and Daniel **, began queuing for a flight we booked on the 10th of September 2010 at 05:20 for the flight AZ201 which was due to depart at 07:30. We, and many other passengers in the extraordinary long queue, realized things would go wrong when we could see that there was 1 queue for 4 separate flights: 2 for 2 separate Rome flights and 2 for 2 separate Milan flights.

After 2 hours, we finally reached the check-in desk to discover that although we booked our ticket in September, it had somehow become a standby ticket. We could see that other passengers were also having difficulties checking in and the process was taking a whole lot longer than usually necessary. Frustrated and worried about what the rest of the day experiences with Alitalia might inflict on us, I asked about the transit prospects of our luggage.

What will happen to our luggage? Will it still be in Tel Aviv if we miss our connecting flight? "Oh yes, sir, no worries." was more or less the reply. Even at that point, I wasn't at all convinced. Eventually, we were re-issued tickets and boarding passes. However, we were not seated together which caused yet more frustration. After all that mess, we made it to the plane, and once everyone was sitting comfortably, we took off 2 hours late which, inevitably, led to us missing our connecting flight in Rome to Tel Aviv.

When arriving in Rome, we approached the Alitalia help desk and were told the next flight to Tel Aviv with Alitalia would be 9 hours later at 22:00. The guy, who was less than apathetic and appeared to be counting down the minutes to the end of his shift (which we found out was soon), said that there is nothing he could do and merely told us the next flight time and left it at that. Still worried about the whereabouts of our luggage, we asked where it was. He checked our tickets and told us that the luggage would be on the same flight as us. They will be in Tel Aviv when we arrive.

Then we asked him (not him offering on behalf of Alitalia) about what we were to do about survival in the terminal for 9 hours. Eventually he issued us with food coupons as though we were refugees in a detention camp. The meal we were allowed was hardly enough to keep a bird alive. And when we asked at the desk for more in *Oliver Twist" style, they said no. The hours passed slowly, and the flight we were waiting for finally arrived. However, yet again, Alitalia managed to stuff something up in their ticketing system. We saw many passengers queuing at the desk to sort out what appeared to be mistakes. And of course, there were also missing passengers from other connecting flights. Yet again, we departed 30 minutes late.

We arrived in Tel Aviv at 03.00, and after going through Boarder Control, we waited at the carousel for our luggage. It wasn't there. So we went to the Baggage Desk, and they told us that all we could do is lodge a lost baggage report, which we did. Again, we weren't told anything about emergency money, until we asked for it ourselves. This was after 03.00 in the morning, so all we wanted to do was get to our hostel in Jerusalem as soon as we could and get some sleep so we could start our holiday.

The next 4 days were an uncomfortable nightmare. Not only had we already wasted over 10 unnecessary hours in transit which could have been avoided, we now found ourselves in our destination without luggage, toiletries, medication, hygiene items, and clothes! Every day, at least twice a day, both we and our hostel manager attempted to get in contact with Alitalia on the phone and... nothing! It was just a recording. And we were asked to leave a message, which we did, but no one called back for 4 days! We also send an email to Alitalia in the UK, on the 25th of December, for which we only received an automated reply and still, there was no follow up.

We wasted hours of precious holiday time, waiting in the hostel until the Alitalia help desk office opened to hear this stupid recording. And we also had to waste valuable time looking for and buying clothing and toiletries. Not knowing where we stood (having not being able to get in touch with anyone at Alitalia), we also were forced to wash certain clothing in our sink by hand. 3 days into our holiday, we were telling a shop keeper from whom we were buying some clothing about our plight, and she offered to attempt to contact Alitalia. She spoke Hebrew, so she could understand the Hebrew prompts on the message system which sounded like they were different to the English. She managed to get hold of someone straight away.

I spoke with the operator and learned that one of the bags was finally found and on it's way to our hostel. My other one was still missing. But coming back to the hostel that evening, there was another letdown from Alitalia, because there were still no suitcases.

However, finally after a day out on the fourth day, we came back to the ostel to find both our luggages in the reception. But, it doesn't end there! The driver Alitalia used to send the luggage to the hostel refused to take them to the door, and the hostel manager had to walk all the way down to the main road outside Jaffa, Jerusalem, to retrieve them. But wait, there's more. Both cases were battered, particularly Karina's one.

Despite the trauma, stress, and a lot of lost time caused by Alitalia, we kept our chins up and got on with the plans we had been making about our trip. We just got on with our holiday. When it was time to go home, both Karina and I were happy to be going after a busy and exhausting trip. But we are not looking forward to sitting on another Alitalia plane. Again, both the Tel Aviv flight to Rome and the connecting flight to London were both late.

When arriving in London, one of the suitcases was unrecognizable--no handle at all, very dirty, and had a broken wheel. So there was more wasted time to try to deal with that.So in summary, More than 15 hours of lost, wasted and ruined time. Over 100 of unnecessary expenditure due to having to purchase extra clothing and toiletries (we have receipts for some, however, because of the ways of shopping in Israel, it wasn't possible to get receipts for everything. We also spent quite a bit on phone bills. Both mobile and pay phones. Not to mention the stress and absolute frustration at such incompetence.

I expect someone there to reply to this letter with the excuse that it was Heathrow's fault for all the delays. But we could see other airlines coping just fine with the disruption. And besides all that, it was just all the crap subsequent service which followed which left the most bitter taste in our mouths.

I've been waiting for 12 hours at Heathrow airport (while easyJet was traveling directly from London to Cagliari; Alitalia has been canceling all the flights, even the ones connected to another city, in this case, Rome). I finally departed from Heathrow to Rome at 6.30 am in a queue of people who are very upset by the airline behavior, which seems not to care about customers. Something more was happening. I landed in Rome and I couldn't find anybody that could explain to me where I have to go through to get my bag. Then, after asking a sales assistant in a Duty Free, I've been directed there. There, I discovered my bag was going to arrive directly to Cagliari, my destination flight.

Obviously, the person I've discovered it from was another sales assistant, in a same kind of Duty Free. So then afterwards, I got to my boarding gate to Cagliari (3 hours spent since my landing, looking for a ** Alitalia flight steward). While waiting (my flight was obviously late), I've met a really old but lovely woman from Paris, traveling on Paris-Rome-Cagliari. This lady didn't get to the check in before and shouting, the stewardess went for, "Qualcuno che parla francese qui? Signora, non parlo francese vada al primo piano a fare il check in." Another woman from behind said, "Then signora, premiere etage." The flight assistant then left her saying nothing but just talking to the other customers.

It's been unfair. The poor lady then left to the first floor, wondering what was wrong (because nobody explained her nothing). When I first passed through the boarding gate, the lady didn't say even hi or hello, nothing. She took my boarding pass and I said thank you. She looked at me and said (still shouting, obviosuly): "Graziee arrivederci." I felt like an idiot, it isn't because I've been speaking to you in English that you've got to answer in Italian giving me a look just like saying you're Italian on your passport, don't you speak Italian.

You see, now I do not only pay more than easyJet for a flight to Sardinia, I also have to listen to the flight assistant asking me to speak Italian to them. Ridiculous. When I'll get my flight back to London (if I decide to be treated like rubbish by Alitalia Customer Service), I'll be flying via Milan, I hope it will all get better. Because now as it is, I am not happy with the flight I've done.

On August 13, 2008: my wife transferred 240,000 miles from my AMEX to our Alitalia Millemiglia account. Between August 13, 2008 and August 28, 2010: we have been unsuccessful to find "available" seats on Alitalia flights for business class tickets to fly to Italy or Greece (from Los Angeles). We have been willing to spend more miles, but still your system would not make seats available to us. During this same period, we successfully booked at least 13 round-trip business class tickets with Delta Airlines, which did have availability when Alitalia did not. Before booking each flight with Delta, we attempted to book with Alitalia, but their system would never have availability (each time that Delta did). On August 28, 2010: Without notice, Alitalia removed our miles. And their customer service department won't do anything about this.

This is a nearly worthless airline. They did not crash the plane but everything else about the service stunk.

First, we decided to fly Alitalia for one reason and one reason only. That reason was that they fly Boeing 767-300 aircraft out of Toronto to Rome and that aircraft has its seating configured 2-3-2. We only purchased tickets after first checking the positive availability of seats with no middle seat so that myself and my wife could at least be minimally comfortable crossing to Rome and back. To make certain of our seating, we bought the tickets 6 months before the flight. This also meant driving for 3 hours from our home in New York State to Toronto Pearson Airport.

On the flight to Rome we were given our assigned seats. The seats were worn out and broken (you kept sliding forward and off the seat) and the food defied anyone to eat it. When we checked in to come home 2 weeks later, the counter agent informed us that our seats had been moved and we were now in the middle aisle and in fact in the middle and aisle seat of the middle aisle. We asked that this be changed back to our assigned seats and were told that this was not possible but that we should talk to the gate manager.

We did that and were told again that she was very sorry but that our seats had been assigned to people part of a group and that she could do nothing for us. Thus, we found ourselves far back and in the middle aisle for the 9 hour flight. Our seats were both worn out and broken. I think every seat on these very old planes are broken.

Again, the food stunk to say the very least. There is no order what so ever at Alitalia's departure gates in Italy with everyone pushing to get on the bus that takes you to the planes (I guess they have yet to hear of jetways). We had thus wasted out time and money in the trip to Toronto as we could have flown to New York City and then had a wide variety of airlines available to get to Rome.

The one interesting aspect of the flight was as the wretched old plane touched down in Toronto, there was wild happiness and cheering. I was not sure if it was for the landing (which was bad but did not kill us all) or for the fact that we could not get out of the mess that was this Alitalia plane. What a joy.

Over the 2007 Christmas season and into January 2008, Alitalia Airlines experienced a meltdown in Fiumicino and Milan due to a strike with baggage handlers. At the worst point during the 15 or so days of strike, a reported 6,000 bags were piled up in the rain in Rome. I was one of those affected people. After 10 days, I had my baggage delivered to me in Malta, the day before I flew back to the U.S. The baggage was soaked through, with the packed presents ruined, clothes ruined, moldy, etc. No compensation was offered at the time. The ensuing lawsuit became a class action and Alitalia's representative was a law firm in Chicago. I remain clueless as to what happened.

At one point, I was offered a compensation of $100 for the claim I submitted, which totaled to almost $1,000. Obviously, I declined, and that was the last I heard from anyone on the matter. I would like to know what the status is of the lawsuit, and if I'm entitled to anything. I can only assume that there are dozens of clients wondering what the story is, and how to go about posting their claim. My original claim was **, and despite numerous calls and inquiries, I have received nothing but brush offs from employees that either seem too disinterested enough to check or don't know how.

This is the toppers of all Alitalia stories. I flew with my wife, 22-month-old son, mother-in-law and aunt from Winnipeg to Bari. It was a 32-day trip. We flew Air Canada from Winnipeg to Rome via Toronto. No complaints there. We then continued from Rome to Bari via Alitalia. The problems occurred on our way back. We arrived at the Bari airport at 7 am for an 8:20 am flight to Rome.

We waited in line for the 4 Alitalia agents to rush through the passengers for the 7:20 am. All the while the agents would take turns leaving their stations to confer with the 'Boss Lady' in her office across the airport. The lady agents love walking back and forth with head in the air like divas on a catwalk in those cheesy green skirts and uniforms from 1976. So we got to the front of the line at 8 am. I asked one of the 2 idle agents if they can check us in. He asked, "Are you here for the 7:20 am flight?" I said, "No, the 8:20 am flight." He said, "No, it is too early and went back to texting on his cell.

Eventually, at 8:20 am, we checked in with another diva agent, now the problem came when we hoisted up a child car seat on the scale. She asked, "What is this enormous thing?" We said a car seat. She said, "You have to pay for extra luggage." We are shocked because we were allowed to bring the stroller and car seat for free all the way there with Air Canada. She said their rules are different. Needless to say it got heated. She got all ** and made a few calls, still no idea who is right. She then left the station and went to her 'Boss Lady's' office. Then came back and typed a little. We said, "We are going to miss our flight." She said, "No, you are not going to." Then she got up again and went across the airport to find her 'boss lady' at the cafe, we were watching her saunter around the airport without care in the world. Then she stopped to answer a few questions with the passengers in line.

At this point I realized she was flexing her weak puny 'government employee' muscles and we were going to be screwed. When she came back, I said, "Fine, here is the 50 for the car seat and another 50 (50 x 2 = 100) for my mother-in-law's and aunt's 2 extra luggage. We got our boarding passes. It was now 8:40 am. We head over to collect my mother-in-law at the 'waiting for a wheelchair' room along with all our carry on luggage. At that moment, the nasty evil 'boss lady' named Rosa walked by and said, "Look at all these carry-on luggage! Eight pieces for 4 people and a baby; you can't bring all these on the plane. You are all getting pulled off the flight." As she scampered into her hole of an office, I decided screw it, I want to get out of here and catch our connecting flight in Rome to Canada.

We zoomed through security and got to the gate. It was 8:50 am. The baggage handlers were rummaging through the cargo area on the plane for our luggage and we were told we had been taken off the flight. It left at 9:10 am without us. Wow. It gets better. My wife, furious, left me with our 22-month-old and 3 pieces of carry-on at the gate and she took off with the aunt and mother in wheelchair. She stormed into the 'boss lady's' office and said, "Now what? You owe us compensation." The 'boss lady' said, "It's your fault with the 8 bags of carry-on." They bickered back and forth, my wife had to go to the 'lost and found' area in baggage claim to haul out our 7 pieces of luggage, dragged them back to the 'boss lady' office.

The 'boss lady' said, "I have work to do, I can't help you." My wife responded, "This is your job, get us on a plane." She responded, "I can't spend all day." My wife then said, "You will take as long as it takes to get us out of here!" More fighting, then she got back at the end of the line and checked in again. She showed up eventually and said we are on the 11:30 am flight. We got rushed first in the plane with our 8 pieces of carry-on (which consisted of 3 roll type luggage, 3 tote hand bags, laptop bag and 2 shopping bags). This time the 8 pieces were okay. We now missed our 11:35 am Air Canada flight from Rome to Toronto.

In the end, the 'boss lady' named Rosa along with the check-in witch, flexed their muscles and 'showed us who was the boss'. They were the bosses. They call the shots and we ** them off. So they spited us. Alitalia is full of spiteful and mean-spirited women, evil like I have never witnessed before. If we were flying Alitalia from Rome to Toronto, I bet this story would not have occurred. We had to stay in Rome overnight. Hotel cost was 400 plus meals, then 4 x $150 change fee with Air Canada and we missed 2 days of work. I will write demanding that those two wenches be fired. They have no care for the passengers or Alitalia (how much did that cost them, to stop a plane and yank out our luggage). I know a letter demanding compensation is useless. They don't have any money to even operate those 40-year-old bad planes or upgrade those uniforms from the 70s.

Having traveled for many times with Alitalia and earned many miles (113.307), I have decided to enjoy the benefits of MilleMiglia Program as per their offer in the Internet. Since I have made a new reservation for a flight ex Athens Greece to Sao Paolo Brasil, I tried to upgrade my ticket from Economy Class to Business (which is one of the benefits of MilleMiglia Program). However, their Greek office declined my request alleging that there were no available seats in Business Class at the required dates (I first contacted them on 23/08/10, one week ago).

Entering their site then and even now, I see that there are seats available at the requested dates and hours! As a frequent traveler of Alitalia, I am totally disappointed and frustrated. Does this program they advertise even exists?

On 18th of August, I flew Alitalia from Rome to Toronto AZ650 and had a serious problem in that my seat belt was caught between the side of the plane and the seat. A stewardess passed me twice, but did not help. Nine minutes before landing, when we were clearly descending, I was in the dangerous situation of fighting to try and get my seat belt out. Can you help me and let me know to whom I can address this serious issue to?

When Ash canceled our flights from Calgary to Rome on April 17, Lufthansa refused to rebook us, so our insurance agency ended up having to book us on 4 new flights so we could salvage part of the cruise we were supposed to meet in Rome on April 19. I was aghast at the fare Alitalia charged for one way from Toronto to Rome and feel that they were taking advantage of the situation to "soak" passengers.

When I checked online to see the cost of one way tickets from Toronto to Rome with 2 days notice at various times of the year, I found that they were below $2,000 each. So how does Alitalia justify charging twice as much during the ash crisis. It is very unscrupulous and unethical. I want them to reimburse at least half the fares to my insurance company who compensated me. This is one of the reasons insurance rates increase and everyone suffers!

I had to withdraw over $10,000 from retirement savings, losing interest on my investments, to pay for the extra tickets. While I was reimbursed, the costs for the insurers result in increased insurance premiums. Emotionally it was like being held hostage, having to pay outrageous fees to have a holiday that was half over when we got there.

I flew from Chicago, IL to Rome, Italy with my family of six. We were to stay in Rome for 2 days for some sightseeing then move on to Tel Aviv for approximately 1 month before heading back home. Alitalia lost one suitcase on the Chicago-Rome leg which was returned literally an hour before we were to leave. Upon arriving in Tel Aviv, we were missing another separate suitcase, my suitcase containing every article of clothing I owned with the exception of the pair of clothes I wore in Rome and what was on my back. I filed a claim. They said that they would get back to me.

Here I am 1 month later, no clothes and numerous calls to Alitalia with no avail. I went to Tel Aviv's airport twice to talk to them. They couldn't find it anywhere! I went on their World Tracer' lost baggage web page and it seems they Have no record of that claim'. I've checked before and it seems as if they just deleted it. I wore the same pair of pants for weeks. Nobody cared. In addition to clothes, I had shoes, books, and some electronics in there. Awful airline. Numerous calls, emails and person to person contact. I don't care how cheap they advertise their fares. They'll get the difference back by taking your stuff. Easily 1500 dollars worth of lost items, probably more. I have to buy all that stuff again before going back to school. Who has that kind of money lying around?

Being Italian and bilingual, we decided to fly Alitalia from Boston to Rome to Catania. Big mistake. At least a 2 hour delay departing with no explanation. On return, we were told to be at Catania airport 2 hours before flight to Rome as it was an International connection. We arrived 2 hours before only to find the airport deserted, nobody at counters, not a single Alitalia agent! They finally showed up 1 hour before flight.

Arrived Rome for 10AM flight to Boston and already said delay to 11AM. That 11AM turned into 11:45AM with no explanation "tech problems". That 11:45AM resulted in approx 12:45PM departure due to having to "change two tires" and not once did they announce that meals or snacks could be gotten free due to delay and policies, one had to ask and complain! Never again! This was not first time of shabby treatment! In-air flight was okay but ground operations were horrible. We then learned that prior flights out of Boston and flights after ours had similar continuous delays. Our friends flew Swiss and arrived/returned exactly per schedule. Extreme fatigue from having to get up very early and then having to wait, wait, wait...Long

On a recent flight from LAX to Roma/Fiumicino, I flew Alitalia Airline Business Class with my girlfriend. Upon arriving in Rome, our bags were missing. I filed the Property Irregularity Report with the Alitalia baggage claim agent, and provided my full itinerary, so that the bags could be sent to any hotel on my trip. I was assured by the agent our bags would most likely arrive in two days.

After two days in Florence, and several phone calls, no bags. Most frustrating was the fact that we were never actually able to successfully communicate with a customer service representative. Although we called both the US and Italian numbers, we were met with recordings, dropped calls, and referred to the airline's website. When trying to track our bags via the website, the World Tracer program the airline uses was not updated; it ran days behind.

After being hung up on many times, a concierge was finally able to reach a Customer Service agent who told him our bags would arrive at our hotel in Rome by 3:00 that day, that was 5 days into our trip. We waited and postponed our train ride to Naples/Capri as a result, 6:00 PM -- still no bags. When we called again, the agent stated the bags were given to a courier and it was out of Alitalia's hands, and there was no way to know which courier company was used.

When I tried to locate the bags again via the World Tracer site, the account was closed. I never received my bag while on my vacation, and to this day my suitcase is still missing, and the Customer Service line at Alitalia is a recording, stating, "due to the large volume of calls, we are unable to answer". I have sent via FedEx all receipts and filed a complaint with the Airline, still no response. I am seeking $594 in purchased necessities/clothes, and $3,290 to replace the items in my suitcase. I am not hopeful.

My family of 5 was also not allowed to obtain seat assignment for our flight from Rome to Chicago, since it was booked through Air France. I had a meltdown in the Rome Airport when the staff told me that my 8-year-old had to sit by herself for 10 hours. There was nothing that could be done. My entire family was scattered throughout the plane. My husband had to remove me from the area because I was so upset. Are you kidding me!? We had to beg other passengers to move so that my 8-year-old could sit with me. My other daughters, 11 and 13 were also seated apart and my husband was in the back of the plane. Avoid this airline at all costs! It is not worth the emotional stress of dealing with an incompetent airline.

Although they sold me 5 expensive tickets from LA to Italy and back, they were not able to give me any seat assignments for the return trip because the airline flying back from Italy was actually their "partner" Air France and they don't have access to Air France's seat system. When I called Air France, they couldn't give me a seat assignment because the ticket was issued by Alitalia and they don't have access to Alitalia's system. How wonderful. Not. It seems to me that if they cannot fulfill the reasonable expectations of their customers, the folks at Alitalia shouldn't be selling tickets! If they can't link up with their "partner" airline then they shouldn't use their "partner" airline to book a route that they hold themselves out as being able to service.

My step daughter left BUD July 8, 2010 On Alitalia 7525 7:15a.m. local time and was suppose to get on a connecting flight to Newark at 9:50a.m. Her flight was delayed a few minutes, they had to wait to dock and disembark then were taken by bus to the next flight location. By the time she got to the plane it was gone.

Alitalia demanded 70.00 Euros to put her an another flight which she did not have and they sent her away without help. She was able to contact us by a phone with a phonecard which she purchased with her last money and let us know what happened. We called Alitalia customer service at 1-800-223-5730 but they were unable to give us a direct phone number to the desk at the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy to resolve this, and they claimed that this can only be resolved directly at the airport. We spent 6 hours on the phone before we were able to get her on a flight for tomorrow July 7, 2010. Any number we reached, we were not able to locate one person who can speak English and can help us.

We had to wire her money via Western Union so she could pay the difference even so it was not her fault that she missed her flight and eat and have a drink. Meanwhile, she is stranded at the airport without support until tomorrow morning with none to talk to about anything. All scared. We have no way to get in touch with her. We made countless international calls and ran out of options. Alitalia failed to guarantee its passenger's safety. It took us hours trough Airport security (the only place some employees speak enough English) to even let her know that the money is on the way and her flight is tomorrow. We were able to find out somehow through the 1-800 number that they never put her luggage on the plane for today. consequently, they knew she will not make the flight.

For the second time this year, I flew into Rome and Alitalia lost my luggage. The first time for four days, I picked it up at the airport the day I left. This next time, I was transferred to them unexpectedly (I swore I would never fly them again) and they lost four bags. We are now on our third day with no word from the airline. Worst part again--they don't give a **. Absolutely no effort to respond to emails, calls, anything. Even the Italian joke about the terrible service--run down planes and horrible service. It is embarrassing to be an Italian.

When my school traveled from Rome to Toronto, we had a very uncomfortable flight. The flight attendants were all sleeping at the same time, only once did they come clean up half the garbage from the plane, there was **** on the magazine in the seat pocket in front of me, and we had to make an emergency landing in Montreal because of someone having a heart attack. When one of the passengers asked if we were landing in Montreal (since we were losing altitude fast with no warning of what's going on), the flight attendant said no, we are not landing in Montreal.

Not even a minute later, they finally announced on the microphone that, yes, we are making an emergency landing in Montreal. I'm not sure what took so long for them to tell us that we were stopping there because we had already dropped a lot of altitude with no warning of what was going on. No one felt comfortable and we all felt uneasy with the flight. When we finally landed on the ground, the pilot landed going way to fast and had to slam on the brakes with all of us smashing into the seats in front of us. When we finally made it to Toronto we also landed the same way.

Never will I want to fly on Alitalia again. It has been the most insecure feeling I have had while on any plane.

After going through the lengthy paperwork process for bringing a pet overseas, this is not the kind of problem you need! The airline personnel twice assured my husband by telephone that he did not need to buy a cage for our dog and that he could rent one from the airline for $40. When he arrived at the airport, the folks behind the desk said they knew nothing about this and our dog was refused admittance on the plane. We then had a choice between missing our flight or abandoning our dog.

When they found our bag it had never gotten on the plane to begin with and was sent to Toronto, it took 2 days to finally be sent out to our home for delivery. I will never fly with them again nor will I recommend them. I want to be reimbursed since it was over the Xmas holidays and I had coats, shoes, boots and gifts in the lost luggage. Thank God I was home for 3 weeks so I could get it back but I am afraid to fly home with them. What if they loose my luggage again!

We bought a can of sardines in Palermo, Sicily. I am pretty sure they were more comfortable flying back to NYC than we were.

Alitalia lost my bags on a flight from Italy to JFK Airport in New York two 10 days ago along with approximately 10 other passengers. The individuals at the lost and found in JFK were slow moving and generally rude to myself and the other passengers who were in the same situation as me. When I tried to call the number I was given to check on my bags no one picked up and I have left several messages with no return calls. When I tried to call a different number where I could get a human being to speak to, they hung up on me and refused my request to speak to a supervisor. So far the Alitalia web-site indicates that they have not found my bags. I will never, ever fly Aitalia again. They do not care about their customers at all. I have found many other similar complaints on the Internet and have no faith that my bags will be found.

I booked a flight on Alitalia. They spelled my name wrong. I am traveling USA to Italy, and they will not fix my last name on the e-ticket. They told me I have to buy another ticket. No other airline that I know of would do this. It was their mistake, as I certainly know how to spell my last name. I am ready to can the whole trip of which I would lose thousands of dollars because of this huge ridiculous problem.

And nowhere does it say on the e-ticket that if a name is misspelled, the ticket is non-changeable. And on the e-ticket, there is a website to review their policies and that link is broken. I have looked everywhere on their website and can find no such policy. It truly is the craziest thing I have ever encountered. I don't even want to go on their flight, as I am afraid the pilots might be as bad as the administration.

Alitalia lost my mother's flight with her medication in it on a flight from Miami, Florida to Rome to Venice. She has no way of getting any refills, and this might turn into a problem for my mother's health. As I look over hundreds of complaints from other passengers of Alitalia, it is very clear that they are not losing luggage but are allowing some kind of criminal scheme to occur. Why else would employees hang up on their paying customers who are politely asking about lost luggage?

My mother lost her medication, 20 days worth of clothes (including 3 changes per day), 2 $150 gala gowns, charger for her phone, and hundreds of dollars in face creams and make up.

I traveled with my kids from Boston to Cairo, Egypt, on Alitalia airlines for two weeks during the Christmas holidays. In Cairo airport, we went to pick up our five bags from the belt but unfortunately after waiting for more than an hour, we found that none of our five bags arrived. Many other families were unfortunate as well. We had to spend two more hours in Cairo airport to file a claim for the lost bags.

The next day we got a call from a taxi driver saying that our bags arrived and he will be delivering the bags to us. Unfortunately only four out of the five bags were delivered. This is when my nightmares began. The lost bag had our camcorder, family video recordings, kids clothing and many gifts. I kept trying to call Alitalias customer service thats located in Cairo airport for many hours everyday to get an update but the phones were never answered. The only way I was able to reach them is to drive to the airport to ask them in their offices.

I almost wasted my vacation trying to get someone to answer the phone. Two days before returning to Boston, I spent four hours documenting every detail about the lost bag, its contents, the purchase date, the value, etc. I tried to fax it using the fax number I was given in my claim forms but it never worked. After researching the internet I found some fax number that I was successfully able to use. I was sure Id be able to talk to the customer service once I got back to Boston since I thought Alitalia should be required to follow higher standards in US than Egypt but I was mistaken.

I kept trying to call their office in NY but it was no different than the situation in Egypt. Again I kept searching for another way to contact them and I was able to find an email address on the web. I sent them an email asking them for an update; they replied they will continue to search for my bag and that my bag is not considered lost until after one hundred days from the travel date. Now the one hundred days are passed and we didnt get reimbursed by the airlines for any of the emergency purchases we did in Cairo or the bag contents.

I need to be reimbursed for the bag and its contents. The value of the contents is 1086 dollars. Also I need to be reimbursed for the emergency purchases in Cairo, which is about 112 dollars.

My husband and I booked a flight through Cheap Tickets for a flight to Catania, Sicily on 4/21/08, business class, for $7000.00. We had to cancel on May 20, 08. We were told that we would have a $7000.00 credit to use within a year of our booking date. Also a $400.00/per ticket fee to change the date, and $50.00/per ticket fee from Cheap Tickets. We were fine with this. However, when we tried to re-book the tickets, 2/2/09. we have been given so many different excuses as to why we aren't able to use this $7000.00 credit. we were told we have to upgrade(this is business class, already!), and only certain dates apply, to even...we don't think we have your money anymore.

We have tried to be accomodating! We have told them that we will go anywhere they want to fly us, on any date they choose. we are not picky. There just seems to be no way around all their restrictions. The flight is actually operated by Delta, which we are Medallion Members of, but they say they aren't able to help. Is there any recourse we have? $7000.00 is an awful lot of money to just lose when we were guarenteed that we could use this within a year. Thank you so much for any help. Ps. At one point they had actually talked about giving us a refund of the taxes that we'd paid on this.

STRESS! Even though we fly quite often, $7000.00 business classs is alot of money to lose and get absolutely nothing for.

On Dec 23, 2008 I was heading to Europe (via Rome) to spend Christmas Holiday with family. I was traveling with 1 luggage and 1 cabin back pack. To my surprise at the final destination the baggage was missing. Alitalia representative was very rude and provided no explanation when I filed a complaint. I got my luggage back after 2 days.

On the way back to Toronto, Canada the luggage was lost again, and returned to me after another 2 days; this time however the luggage was damaged and Alitalia provided no explanation whatsoever nor accepted a complaint for damaged baggage invoking the Canadian Customs fault for this damage. All I can say is that personally I'll never again fly Alitalia, and I don't recommend anyone to board any Alitalia flight.

I borded my Alitalia flight from Athens,Greece Going to Porto Alegre Brazil on Saturday 15th November 2008 at 7.30 pm. When I got to Rome I went to my connection gate to board another Alitalia flight going to Sao Paulo Brazil. There I was informed that the flight was delayed from 10pm Italian time to 12 am. At 12 am we were informed that it would be at 1 am. At 12.30am they said the flight was cancelled and they took us to a hotel.

We did not receive any food or beverage until 7 am Sunday morning.Finaly we got on the plane 12pm sunday Nov 16,2008. We arrived at sao Paulo at 10pm Brazilian time where we where informed that we could not board the next flight to Porto Alegre and we would be going to a hotel. At 5.30am monday we were awakened and we were at the airport at 7.00am. Then we were notified that we might be on a flight at 12pm.

After going crazy with the people of Alitalia and Tam airlines I was put on a flight operated by Gol airlines at about 9am and reached my destination at 11.am. I feel that if I pay 1.200 euro for a flight like this I have been robbed. I want to know if I can be refunded part of this money? Number one: why didnt Alitalia in Greece inform us of the problem in Rome? Second when I got to Rome and saw the situation I asked them to fly me back to Greece and give me a refund, wich they denied to do.

1: simply exhausted 2: no body could pick me up on monday from porto alegre wich meant I paid 85 reais for a Taxi. 3: No luggage and no food or beverage at the hotel in Rome had me physicaly and emotionaly in distress. Not to mention The reason I needed to be in Porto Alegre on sunday was that I had to take my mother to a doctors appointment monday morning wich never happened.

I have a problem with Alitalia Airlines. They lost my suitcase in June 2007 in Palermo, Italy, and completely ignored any communication I sent them. The last thing they told me in June 2007 is that they found my suitcase and they would deliver it in 24 hours. I am still waiting. It is impossible to get through to them. Here are exerpts from my last letter to them. Any suggestion on what to do? A class action suit? Please help!

Alitalia Airlines Customer Relations, July 27, 2007 Dear Sir/Madam, I have sent Alitalia three faxes, one letter, and left you a message, and I have heard nothing from you so far about your negligent losing of my suitcase. It is impossible to get somebody to answer your lines, and your e-mail system does not work. I believe that you have obligations towards your passengers, and ignoring me does not absolve you from your responsibilities. I am sending you again the documents I have already sent you, hoping that you will not ignore me this time. I am not sending the proof of fax/mailing, and over two pages of notes of my communication or attempts to communicate with Alitalia, which show evidence of Alitalias lies and negligence. However, I will be glad to show these documents in a Court of Law if you were to continue ignoring me. I am looking forward to a prompt resolution of a matter that is continuing to cause me so much stress, financial strain, and grief. Please send my refund immediately, and contact me in writing and in English at the above address.

I purchased a round trip ticket from Alitalia with one of the airline's telephone agent. The ticket was for a departing flight from the San Francisco Airport to land in Milan, Melpensa Airport in Europe. There was a connecting flight in Europe and the return flight was to land in the San Francisco Airport from Europe. The departing flight was to be taking off on December 25th, 2007 and the returning flight was to be coming back on January 12th, 2007. There was an unexpected change with the number of days I was going to be taking my vacation and I was forced to call the airline to request for a change in my ticket's itinerary. Once I got in contact with my airline's telephone agent, I was told that there was going to be a $1000 charge involved in the correction of my flight plan. The agent then also suggested another solution; a refund was suggested if I was to pay an additional $230 to get my money refunded. I agreed to that. The telephone agent processed the transaction and said that I would be refunded my amount within 10 business days. That original date of purchase of my flight plan package was July 8th, 2006. My phone call to Alitalia's customer service desk was December 16th, 2006. I called on January 20th, 2007 and requested information on the whereabouts of my refund and the ticket agent said that my refund was still being processed. I wanted to know if I was ever going to receive my refund.

I cannot afford to buy food, cigarretts, clothes, personal hygene items, or pay for a taxi cab.

Helping a neighbor who is 86 and speaks very limited English, I bought two Alitalia tickets from New York to Italy. We tried several variations of dates needing a 2-week trip and ended up getting confused and purchasing a 1- week trip by mistake. We realized the error the very next day, and tried to correct it. Despite the fact that he is retired, indigent and going to visit an ailing relative with his brother, Alitalia Airline refused to waive the $440 change fee. I tried calling back twice and even called their corporate office in NYC, but no one would help. Their rigid insistence on rules and regulations, and their refusal even to allow me to speak to a supervisor, were insulting and hard-hearted.

I was forced to pay the fee myself, even though I'm unemployed and was only doing him a favor. Otherwise, the trip he had saved up for would have been ruined.

I arrived in Italy on Monday, May 21st and my large checked luggage bag didn't arrive with me. I was told that it would be received within 24 hours. After over thirty phone calls with Rome and Venice, amounting in almost a $200 cell phone bill, I still have no bag.

I have been hung up on too many times to recount and have only received responses from their customer service (when not hung up on) that I will receive response within ninety days via mail as to the action they plan to take. I had close to $2000 worth of new clothes including many things that hadn't been worn, that were purchased specifically for this trip, which happened to be our honeymoon. I really would just like to have my luggage back and no one will help me try to locate it.

On 1/12/06 I purchased 2 round-trip tickets to Palermo, Italy on Alitalia thru Amex for a total of $1877.40 for travel from 5/22/06 to 6/2/06. Unfortunately in broke my foot on 5/12/06 and submitted ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS to Alitalia via fax and mail to cancel the trip due to injury. Alitalia NEVER ACKNOWLEDGED RECEIPT, but Amex did issue a voucher in the above-mentioned amount.

When I tried to reschedule a trip, within the prescribed time limit, I was told that my voucher was no longer valid. I contacted Amex and they agreed to work with Alitalia to get my money back since ill-health prevents me from travelling AND THE TICKETS WERE PURCHASED WITH A REIMBURSABLE CAUSE DUE TO INJURY. ALITALIA STILL DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF OUR CORRESPONDENCE. Amex has given up and suggests that I put a complaint thu the BBB.

money had to be borrowed from a friend, had to pay a taxi to wait for over an hour while the mess was resloved.

My total economic loss has exceeded $2,000 dollars. I have an itemized list of the contents in the suitcase, and receipts for things I needed to buy in Italy and LA. I lost atleast thirty hours of time due to this problem. I can provide the letter I wrote explaining my dillema to Alitalia, and phone statements showing the many times I called only to be transferred to the voice mail.

I am in the United States Navy and was stationed in the UK from 2001 until September 2004. I flew on vacation from Heathrow Airport, UK to Bucharest, Romania and from Bucharest back to the UK on a roundtrip ticket in September 2004 before leaving the UK. The airlines lost my camera bag with camera attachments and both manuals for two of my cameras (thankfully I took my lens and cameras out of the bag before letting them place it in the luggage compartment).

I filed a complaint at my arrival back at Heathrow with the airlines. I was told that I would have to contact the airlines at my home country so I contacted the office in New York as I was told via letters. Three letters to the airlines and I failed to receive a response from the airlines.

I called their headquarters in Italy and was told I had to call the NY office. I called several times as its now November 2005. I got a runaround with the airline phone number to reach a live person. I finally got a live person on the phone and was told they would check into it and call me back. No call ever came. I finally filed a complait with the New York Better Business Bureau and then and only then did I ever receive a reply from the NY office. In short the letter basically said touch luck - they were not responsible for the loss of my luggage due to their negligence. I still have received no compensation or any other replies from the airlines.

I am now in Seoul, South Korea and have attempted to contact them with no further luck. I have noticed online that quiet a few individuals have gone through the same thing (Lost luggage and no response from the airlines.)

I traveled by Al Italia from Bombay to Milan to Chicago on Flight AZ 626 on 03/16/2005. One of my bag did not reach its destination i.e. Chicago and we filed a baggage irregularity report with Al Italia. The lady at the baggage counter assured us that the bag would come by next flight on 03/18/05 and would be delivered to us on our permanent address in Milwaukee. We even left our contact number just in case there are any issues while delivering the bag. After number of enquiries with Al Italia & United Airlines for the delayed bag, starting from 03/18/05, we came to know through United Airlines representative in Milwaukee that the bag arrived Chicago on 03/18/05 and was shipped to Milwaukee by United Airlines (UA5612).

United representative told us on 03/21/05 that they handed over the bag to Package Delivery Service (PDS) on 03/18/05. We checked with PDS and they told us that no bag has been handed over to them. Out of frustration we went personally to the United Airlines office in Milwaukee. The representative took us to the officer (named Bryan) at PDS who initially denied having any bag. He then checked through some of his other files and found the delivery note and the driver who delivered. He gave us the drivers contact number and the name (Jeff).

We called Jeff to know the whereabouts of our bag but he didnt remember it over the phone. So we requested him to come in person and tell us about the place/person he left the bag with.

He came to our apartment and told us that he left the bag outside the apartment building in the unsecured area (area outside the secured main entrance to the apartment building) which is right next to the main road in the downtown Milwaukee and signed on the delivery note himself. When we asked him how he could leave the bag in the unsecured area which is outside the secured entrance to the apartment building and sign the delivery note himself he was answerless and offered us a check of $250 .

We refused to accept the check and contacted PDS. We told them we are not sure if what the driver is saying is correct also because there is no proof/witness that he left the bag outside the apartment building. PDS manager (Bryan) told us to report to the police about the incident. We filed a report with the police (report number - 050800363) and the officer told us that its an airline issue and they should be following up on it than us.

At last out of disappointment and whole lot of mental frustration in getting any help/solution from the airline officers in Chicago and Milwaukee, and PDS Milwaukee, we filed for a lost baggage claim with Al Italia on 03/24/05. On 04/12/05 we received a letter from Al Italia that our claim has been refused since the airlines liability is over once they handed over the bag to the delivery service. My point is that I didnt book my luggage with the delivery service but with Al Italia. So the only entity I know is Al Italia and they should be responsible for anything that happens to my bag if it is not received by me. Why dont Alitalia proove that they have delivered a bag to me?

My family and I were involuntary bumped (denied boarding) on our return to Newark, NJ from Rome, Italy on July 21,2003. We had purchased and paid in full for our tickets about 3 weeks prior to our departure and arrived to the check-in point hours prior to boarding. The entire trip was one of the most humiliating experince of my life and I will be glad to provide additional information upon requets, if needed.

Anyway, when we arrived back to the States (over 24 hours past the original
itinerary), I sent my complaint to Alitalia Customer Relations in New York;
they declined to respond for over 1 and 1/2 month, at which point they replied by not acknowledging at all their breach of contract.

Based on rule # 4 listed on our tickets, the company has to comply with the Europen Regulations (EEC) #295/91.

They denied that and my travel agent reported to my cedit card company that

we were late at check in (which is untrue considering that we were kept waiting/strained at the Rome airport for an entire afternoon to be told, 6 hours later, that they had 279 passengers wanting to leave and a 246 plane ready to fly.