Alitalia Reviews

The lady at the counter lied to our faces and said we came late. So finally we check in, and he tells us that we need to run to the gate otherwise they will close the gate and if we miss the flight it is not their responsibility. We started arguing that it's their fault we are late but he rude, arrogant and ignorant and started yelling at us that we should come to the airport early. We had to go get our vats money back and he told us we have to choose, either catch the flight or get the vats back.

Just to add this is happening with us carrying a 1 yr old, stroller and 2 bags. We run to the security check, and to the gate. We were being rushed. When we got to the gate we realized we forgot the stroller at security check. We told the staff at the gate that we forgot our stroller and if we could run and get it. The staff at the counter started screaming that it's not their responsibility and either we go get the stroller or miss the flight, we had to choose one and if we miss the flight then it's not their responsibility. On top of all this we requested a vegetarian meal which we did not get. Also we requested a bassinet which they did not give us. I had to carry a 1 yr old on my lap in a 13-hour flight. Overall worst flight experience. I would recommend everyone to not waste your money on Alitalia.

I mean, no one, not a single staff member could direct us... we wasted a few hours at that airport when we could have stowed our things in a locker and went to see the city for a couple of hours. Instead, we were misinformed not once, not twice, not three times, but probably 5 or six times by different staff, unable to write us a simple voucher for food. Staff was extremely rude and incompetent. Complete waste of time and money. Never flying with them again.

When I took out my iphone for my personal use, he yelled at me that he was going to call the police because I was taking his picture or making video. What nonsense! Then he called his supervisor to talk to me. I really don't understand what was all this show about. He also insulted me saying "mo parla inglese", really I'm not Italian. I just wanted to ask him about the solution of the excess carry-on luggage. I really did not expect this kind of customer service as frankly saying I enjoy traveling with Alitalia.

They finally gave me a contact for Alitalia so I could talk to them direct. After several emails and only automated response I have still not received the refund they promised. There is no way to talk to anyone there. I would like to see them lose their right to land in Canada if all they are going to do is rip Canadians off knowing there is little we can do. Come on Transport Canada. Do the right thing. Does anyone know of any legal steps I can take against these jerks?

To make matters worse our luggage was lost. Attendants should be retrained in service, and not spend so much time yelling at passengers for using the wrong BATHROOM. Heard they went on strike, for what? They don't do their job at all. If I was the corporation, I would let them all go and rehire people who have a passion for doing their job.

I believe Alitalia was fully aware of the flight cancellation days ago. They simply extorted money from passengers by not formally canceling the flight, thus requiring them to pay the penalty. To top it all off, after finally receiving an email notification from Alitalia that the flight was cancelled, I called to reschedule. When I spoke to the rep she told me that the cancellation was NOT YET IN THEIR SYSTEM!!! Can someone please explain to me how a major airline can function in 2017 without having entered the new millennium???

Updated on 03/31/2017: Purchased 3 tickets online which took me several days and I'm seriously not joking. I insisted until I could finally finish the purchase transaction online being this the only airline at the moment that flies into Pescara airport via Milan... Guess what? Part of the journey or the entire routing has been cancelled and at today's date I still do not know if and when I will be able to use the 3 tickets I have purchased for 1 trip in April and 2 in May.

Tomorrow is Saturday and while the local Alitalia office is closed I will have to call office in Rome from the Netherlands hoping to get a full refund or to be reprotected in another acceptable flight. This is no news and it's not happening to me now but it's an old story with an Airline that for decades has been saved from going bankrupt. The worse is the rudeness and arrogance of many of the flight attendants and the customer service receptionist that are covering the job thanks, most probably, to a favour received by a friend of a friend connected to some manager in the airline business. Another bad experience reason for me to stop flying Ah! L'Italia.

Besides having to spent so much time on the phone and only receiving apologies for the inconvenience and NO SOLUTION, I had to contact the department via email too, and the only answer I have received is that there's nothing they can do for my problem and the only way to solve it is by phone. Well, this is not a workable solution either! I have spent around €300 for a flight which I don't even know if I am in, no information provided, nor explanation or confirmation that I will be refunded. I am beyond frustrated at the moment as there seems to not be a solution and for such an enterprise, someone would expect some kind of customer service to say the least!

I waited all day for it and no one came. Again the Italian owner phoned them, the courier had crashed on his journey. Why did they not phone us??? When my case did arrive, my camera was missing. My telephone charger was also in the case so I did not have a mobile phone until I went to the Police and they helped me. Since being back I have not got any help from Air Alitalia to resolve this issue. What shall I do next? NEVER EVER FLY WITH THEM AGAIN.

The Food was close to inedible. I ate the fruit, buttered the bun, but the pasta going both ways was so overcooked that it crackled when you took a bite. I did take a bite and then spit out into my napkin. The snack was a dry bun, 2 pieces of ham and cheese and was the best thing they fed us... I was able to get it down by eating it open face. The flights were 11 hrs going and 12 hours coming back. After the crew rushed thru the drink/food service, they disappeared and only came thru the coach 1 time with water/cokes. Only Once in a long flight!!!!! Can you believe that?

My next door neighbor could not get any sound from the entertainment equipment. I was lucky as mine worked, however, it was a real pain to try and navigate the controller. The music was on the shortest loop I've ever experienced.... 8-10 selection only before it looped around. Talk about cheapo... No hard liquor was served in coach and when I asked for white wine, they served me about 4 oz... and they never came back for a refill. The flight left Casablanca at 0300. Who ever thought up a flight schedule like that? But some of the food service vendors were open once we cleared customs. Overall, these flights were so bad that we told our travel agent to NEVER book us on any Alitalia flight again. Please think twice about flying Alitalia.

When we arrived at Rome at 7:30 PM local time, we were taken to an Alitalia transferred desk so the airline staff can rebook our flights for the next day. The airline agent who handled my rebooking, changed my original flight from Rome to Baltimore via Atlanta to a flight from Rome to Baltimore with a two hour layover at JFK airport. He also told me that my luggage was checked in all the way to Baltimore where I could pick them up (which turned out to be wrong!)

In the meantime, we were told that we would be provided with overnight lodging at San Giorgio Hotel in the city of Civitavecchia (about an hour away from the airport) and every passenger would receive a travel kit including personal items such as toothbrush and toothpaste, and a change of shirt (again, wrong!). When we asked if there were any other hotels near the airport, they said no. Later, I googled hotels around Rome airport, and found several hotels right next to the airport, including Hilton and Hampton Inn.

We were told to wait in a passenger "lounge" for our hotel transportation. At 9:30 PM after a two hour wait, we finally got on the bus destined to San Giorgio Hotel where we thought was the hotel we would be staying for the night. We arrived at the hotel at 10:30 PM and were offered a late dinner consisting of what appeared to be leftovers from lunch. After dinner we returned to the front desk, where we were told by the front desk staff that the hotel was booked! They scattered all the passengers (about 50 men, women, and children) to various motels and inns throughout the city which all turned out to be substandard 3rd and 4th rate motels with unacceptable conditions.

For example, my hotel room had moldy walls, terribly worn out bath towels, and a crappy AC unit that took almost two hours to bring the room temperature down to a comfortable level. The flight from Rome to JFK was no picnic. Rude and inattentive flight attendants almost refusing to speak English to me (on a U.S. bound flight!) and malfunctioning entertainment system. I had to sit and watch other passengers enjoy watching movies on their consoles for 7 hours.

After arriving at JFK and going through U.S. Customs, I was told by the Customs agent that I must claim by bags at the baggage claim and recheck them at the American Airline check-in desk for my next flight to Baltimore, contrary to what the Alitalia agent had told me when he was rebooking my flight at Rome airport. Only one of my two checked bags showed up at the baggage claims carousel. Not wanting to miss my next flight, I grabbed my one bag and handed it in at the transfer desk. It turned out my next flight was in a different terminal at JFK, so I had to take the air-train to the AA check-in desk. By then I was already too late to catch my flight to Baltimore.

My luggage was finally delivered to my house 4 days later. I would not fly with Alitalia again even if they paid me!

However when I walked into the room for what I thought was a quick peek underneath my hijab, I got a full body check as well as a swab test for explosives. Which tested positive. The woman then did many more checks and asked me to follow her to various other stations for her to try again and again and again. Not only did she not explain to me what was going on, but she also wasted 30 minutes of my time, before the test magically appeared negative (which she then needed to check a few more times). This then lead to me rushing to my check in, which luckily was delayed. But seriously... never flying with Alitalia again. And I advice all other muslims to avoid them as well. So pathetic.

When we arrived in Palermo I recognized that my expensive Rimowa suitcase had only 3 wheels, thus one of the carriers damaged and lost a wheel of the bag. We were told to contact the “Lost & Found” counter where also other travelers appeared and a rather bureaucratic process started. After receiving a “documentation” I was told that I have to transmit this document to Alitalia within 7 days by FAX(!). Obviously, a very customer-unfriendly policy.

In Palermo it is almost impossible to find a mail drop for the regular post system, even more difficult to find a fax machine which is, of course, a totally outdated way of communication also in Italy. Our hotel in Palermo could not provide a fax machine. After traveling to the Lipari Islands, our hotel in Lipari sent a fax to Alitalia within the 7-day limit imposed by Alitalia, which they said it went through. However, the fax machine did not provide a confirmation. After missing any reaction from Alitalia for several weeks I found an email address, customer.relationsde@alitalia.it, and sent them again the documents, referring to my earlier fax, and a few pictures describing the damage. Surprisingly a formally friendly reaction from Alitalia arrived a few days later:

“As an initial matter, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced when traveling on Alitalia from FCO to PMO on flight AZ 1785 on May 16, 2016. We can fully understand your disappointment when your luggage did not arrive as expected. Please know Alitalia is committed to continuously work on improving our baggage handling procedures in order to minimize these occurrences. Alitalia settles baggage claims in accordance with the provisions and limitations set in Montreal Convention of 1999. Passengers seeking compensation for damages to their luggages must report the damage to the carrier within 7 days. This information is disclosed at our airport baggage offices and is published on our website www.alitalia.com.

"Our records indicate that your luggage was damaged on May 16, 2016 and you wrote to Alitalia on June 10, 2016 which is over the 7-day limit. Consequently we regret to advise that we must respectfully deny compensation. In the case you have sent the claim within 7 days to Alitalia, please provide within 5 days to our e-mail address customer.relationsAT@alitalia.it the following documentation: The original receipt you have received when you have faxed the claim (as we need the exact date on which you have sent the claim to our department).”

I did as suggested, described the situation, mentioned the date of the fax, named the hotel as witness but never obtained an answer from Alitalia. Finally I decided to contact my credit card company which offers some type of travel insurance. The credit company had outsourced the handling of claims to an insurance company. After requesting some additional information they paid compensation, based on the time value of the bag (which was about 1/3 of the original price).

I really hope that insurance companies stake out claims to the carriers in cases like this. As many other complaints on this site describe: Alitalia is unserious and tries to avoid liabilities with tricky rules and behavior. BTW, when returning from Catania to Milano the plane was late and we almost missed the connecting flight to Vienna. Thus, whenever possible I will try to avoid flying with Alitalia.

We left our hotel on a tour and after over 47 phone messages to Alitalia baggage (several of which they just hung up instead of helping) over the next 10 days we still hadn't received the luggage (even though we had confirmation 5 days before we returned home that it had been sent to Venice - Our final destination). Went to the Venice airport to return home - baggage services was closed until after our departure flight. We were able to convince an employee working check-in for Alitalia to accompany my sister into the baggage claim area to search for the luggage (the only way she would be allowed in according to the information desk) and after searching through the 100's of pieces of undelivered luggage she was able to find it. I gave the second star ONLY because of this employee. It was a nightmare experience trying to deal with this airline.

The plane was 40 minutes late so my mom and I frantically ran, following the transfer signs, to the first transfer desk we found. After waiting in line, the woman there, who seemed annoyed and made comments about her job and the customers, slowly looked at us and held us there for fifteen minutes. Gave us absolutely no information, looked at our documents and raised her shoulders. Said some stuff in Italian although we addressed her in English, interrupted me annoyed when I tried to explain what had happened in the previous flight, told me not to raise my voice (I did that after seeing nothing was happening, time was flying and the employees said it was OUR fault!!!) and decided to pass us to one of her colleagues because 'we had lost our plane anyway'. This person also gave us no useful information, just said we probably already missed the flight and there was nothing they could do about it at that desk.

At this point I decided to take my chances and run like a crazy person through the airport with my mom, hoping we would somehow find the gate on time. Before arriving at the gate we saw another transfer desk, so I thought we should also ask there, but the person was less than helpful, only repeating the number of the gate. Not being sure if it was at all possible to get on without a boarding pass, but not seeing ANY other solution, we sat in line and tried to explain AGAIN our situation. The woman there, chewing gum and annoyed by the situation took our IDs to...do something, did not understand some data and asked yelling from across the table what my mom's birth date was. (Of course it was written on the document!!) When I wanted to come closer so that she may understand, she barked at us to stay in line. She finally got the papers and came back to us, giving us the tickets with no apologies while still chewing gum.

This flight (AZ 494) also had a half an hour delay. (And it was NOT because of us, we miraculously managed to be there on time DESPITE all your airplane and airport staff!!!) I still can't believe the attitude of your employees, the incredible lack of respect or helpfulness and basically the enormous incompetence of the staff. And just to finishing off in style, the plane to Bucharest experienced some serious turbulence which nobody bothered to warn us or talk about, but I guess that was already too much to expect. Anyway, I don't know how you recover from an experience like this (now that I'm writing I feel sick to my stomach again) and to spare me the horror I'll be sure to avoid traveling with your airline in the foreseeable future.

We informed her that this was totally unacceptable. She ended up doing us a 'favor' and assigned us 2 seats together in a row of 4 seats with us sitting in the middle 2 seats. This was exactly what we had hoped to avoid when we reserved out seats 24 hours in advance. When she assigned us our new seats, she yelled down the line of service reps not to use the seats she had given to us which I assume she bumped 2 other passengers from their assigned seats. I don't know what the Alitalia policy is regarding this matter but having told this story to all our friends no one could believe it! My wife and I fly to Europe annually but never again with Alitalia. Fortunately, the return flight from Rome went much smoother and our seat reservations were honored.

This is after Alitalia lost a luggage just 3 days prior, on a flight from Paris to Rome. We were told that the luggage will be delivered to the hotel, which it didn't. I have to make 6 phones in 3 days we were in Rome to hear repeatedly that "the courier is going to deliver today. We don't know when. Sometime before 10pm. We don't know when. Before 10pm". One time someone called and left a message saying that it will be delivered soon and they want me to call back. When I called back, another person told me, "No. It's not getting delivered today. It's at the airport."

We are ON A VACATION! How the hell do they expect us to wait around all day wasting the precious hours for the luggage that apparently never left the airport. Why do the Alitalia staff lie out of their teeth like that? Is this something the company is okay with? Horrible service and lying employees? I am going to make sure that I spread the word on the Internet if I don't hear from the company within 48 hours, which seems likely. Just because the flights are cheaper shouldn't be an excuse to be horrible at your job!!!

My wife and I were now back into standard economy seats about 17 rows apart instead of together in upgraded seats with extra legroom. Again, no big deal because we were told that the change could be made at YYZ's check-in counter. So we got there even earlier than usual and sure enough the change was effortless and happily accommodated... but they also wanted another $200 for the Extra Comfort seats booked on the new aircraft.

"I already paid that sum when we first booked 8 months ago," I said as I produced all the pertinent documents. "Yes, I understand completely," replied the very polite and professional agent behind the counter, "However, we cannot apply those funds to these seats at this time. If you pay for the upgrade now, Alitalia will refund the extra Extra Comfort charges back to your credit card." "Hey that's awesome," I said. "The original $200 was in US Funds eight months ago, today's charge is $200 Canadian and the Canadian dollar has taken a beating lately. This means I'm saving a few bucks compared to the original upgrade charge."

Great flight, terrific service and we even arrived nice and early. Heck, even our limo was ahead of schedule too. The bad news? There is simply no way on God's little green earth that I can figure out a way to reach anybody at Alitalia regarding an actual action plan to refund my money. It is looong gone in spite of repeated calls and e-mails that are firm but exceedingly polite. Oh, they talk a good game but just like every story I've read in this and other forums, talk is pretty much all they will ever do. That money is gone but at least our luggage arrived (first off the belt, go figure huh?). I had read some of the horror stories prior to booking but thought I had covered all the bases. Apparently not. Our next flight to Europe will either be British Airways or Air Canada, our two favourite airlines for this route. As much as we enjoyed the actual flight, I'm sorry to say we will probably avoid Alitalia from now on.

The "gentleman" who checked our luggage literally was yelling at my daughter and tossing our bags about angrily, shouting orders. I finally told him if he continued to act this way I was going to a manager. I was pushed by an attendant when I could get my shoes off fast enough for him at the security section and then he exclaims "Lord have mercy!!!"

I am disabled and was having a difficult time since there was nowhere to lean on or to sit down on... it truly embarrassed me. The plane was gross, food disgusting... and NO LEG ROOM at all!!! I was in so much pain by the time I got off this plane. It took days to recoup... and believe me they charge enough. The flight attendants were nowhere to be found and sour, it was next to impossible to squirm out of these seats to use the bathroom... let alone room for a tray table for the inedible food and beverage! On my return I flew KLM. I was treated royally!! This was the experience I had hoped for. The staff and experience was delightful. I arrived in NY feeling rested, they made the long flight do-able. I will NEVER fly Alitalia again ever ever ever.

I did have a rep call me twice, then no further communication, no return emails... It has been like having a "part-time job" to try to rectify this problem. I plan on filing a complaint with the BBB, Attorney General's Office and the US Dept of Transportation this week, as well as any other social media venues, such as Yelp to warn other travelers BUYER BEWARE! I was handed off from my original purchase by AIR FRANCE (another poor choice) that will not take any responsibility for this claim, though they are connected to Alitalia....Very, very disappointed. Between the out of pocket expenses for the month the bag was missing and the overall frustration of their poor customer service, I am at my wit's end as to what to do to settle this matter.

Day one, now was gone. We have missed on every single attraction we pre-booked. Day 2 and Day 3, our bags were still missing. When we arrived to South Africa, we have found out that our delayed baggage case was closed by Alitalia as our bags were delivered to Rome and they didn't think if we gave them address in SA, they need to send it to SA. They knew about our further flights. Now, we were fighting against the unacceptable system. During our 4 day stay at the conference, we were called to the airport twice more to come and collect our bags because Alitalia send the messages that bags were delivered. 2h drive there and 2h drive back. We wasted our time, could not enjoyed our stay or the conference. We paid money for petrol to drive to the airport. We spend a lot on the mobile phone bill. We went back to London with no bags and awful week of travelling with nothing on us.

Now, the whole terrible experience with Alitalia started. Email addresses given by them were not working. Only the customer relations service one but no one ever replied. Just once they called to tell me nothing new. I did my own investigation, kept calling Abu Dhabi and Johannesburg, and found my friend's bag that finally returned safely home. Mine, still missing. English Alitalia number is only for bookings so you cannot speak to anyone that wishes to help you. I spend another £100 on phone bills calling Rome only to be mistreated by customer service. Plenty of people just did not will to give me any answer or help me. One lady almost even shouted at me. Fax numbers to send complaints and claims were not working. Address that they give in London to send post with claims and complaints is not valid. System designed to avoid customers and make them go crazy.

The customer relations service only replied to my emails (few times) to ask for the list of the items inside my bag which I have sent 5 or 6 times! Ridiculous. I have not met so unfriendly and unhelpful staff ever in my entire world, and never been placed in the system that is against customer. So dissatisfied. I am not recommending to anyone to fly with them. Let's start with "what airline doesn't take their customers' bags!"

"In reply to your communication of September 30, 2015 we wish to renew our sincere regrets for the inconvenience you experienced on this occasion. We wish to inform you that you are entitled to a refund of the extra baggage allowance fee only in the cases if: The original flight was canceled and you refused the new flight proposed by Alitalia. The baggage for which you had previously purchased the extra allowance is lost and not found again within 45 days. Unfortunately, according to the presently established laws dealing with the extra baggage fee refund, we must respectfully deny your request for reimbursement. We sincerely hope that despite the occurrence we shall be given another opportunity to restore your confidence in our services. Looking forward to welcoming you aboard our flights in the near future." This seems like B.S. to Me. $80 of my money for a service that was not provided. Very poor customer service.

I read on the internet that this was a big problem a couple years ago and the Italian police cracked down. Well, it's still happening either in L.A. or Rome. Personally, I will never fly this airline again. In 50 years of flying all over the world and in the third world I've never had my baggage broken into and items stolen while in the care of an airline. I complained subsequently to the airline, with no response.

I then told them to look at the return flight, that the same problem existed there! I was assured that the seat assignment was corrected and we would be in row 25J/K. When we arrived at the airport for return flight to Boston, we were told we didn't have seats! My husband showed the agent our paperwork, and we were told "Oh we don't assign seats"! We were then placed in row 43!!! Both of these flights were absolutely horrible! The planes were filthy, no setback entertainment, but rather archaic drop-down monitors in the center aisle!

Our flight home was on Sky Team. My seat was broken and it was like sitting in a hole! The seat across the aisle from me had no tray table, and the seat back was actually held together by duct tape! I have pictures to prove this! The seats were all stained, carpeting frayed/torn, absolutely disgusting! To top it off, when approaching Boston and customs forms were bring distributed, they only had them in Italian!!! I asked how are we supposed to complete these, and was told you'll have to get the English ones when you get to the airport! The very worst customer service I have ever dealt with! I will NEVER fly with Alitalia as long as I live!!! They suck!!!

I am already a diamond medallion for the flight but still we were thrown out and finally had to purchase the different flight as had a meeting with our client. The other flight costed us 700 euro. Also we missed the client meeting and might face a loss 500 million dollars because of this case. We would like someone to at least look into this matter honestly as if the ticket was not confirmed why the card was charged & a confirmation was sent? If it was suspended why we were not informed and a mail was not sent to the email address where the ticket was booked from? Why there was no call made from the airlines and that the ticket was not confirmed? Why after telling the representative about my status they should have asked for my card & let us go?

Please. I am waiting for a early & positive response as we have had a very big loss because of this behavior, and we should get a compensation for the same, whereas when we call the customer service we really get a very rude behavior of your representative. We would like first to cancel the flight & provide a refund & compensate for our loss as we had to purchase a very costly ticket and after that we had a business loss. We have also verified with the bank but they also have not confirmed that they had put any block. In case if they would have done the same the flight would have not been booked and in case if it was booked we would have a refund or cancellation mail. Please let us know what can be done here. Else we might have to take a legal action as it has hurt our dignity. Alitalia Etihad.com. YOUR PAYMENT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL! Your booking number (PNR) is: **.

I'm currently on hour 35 of sitting in 4 walls waiting, after paying a lot of money for this vacation from New York, and I'm still waiting with absolutely no information as to if and when their couriers will turn up. They don't provide you with any courier numbers and when you call their call centre they tell you they can do nothing and that they don't have the number of THEIR courier! We had to cancel our getaway to the Eolie Islands booked for today and are currently spending our vacation watching TV. DO NOT BOOK WITH THESE PEOPLE or rather book with them at your own risk.

We travel in Magnifica class only. I received a message on my Blackberry on June 11 that TERMINAL 3 was the terminal of departure on June 12. We were dropped off at TERMINAL 1, which as it turns out, was the DEPARTURE TERMINAL because of the fire a month ago. But we were told by someone when the driver dropped us off that we must go to Terminal 3. As you know, TERMINAL 3 is quite a long way from TERMINAL 1 at Fiumicino and my sister has an artificial knee so it is not easy for her to walk quickly. We get to TERMINAL 3 and no one, I mean, not one single person gave us proper information or any information at all. I speak Italian, so language was not a problem. But there wasn't one person who was helpful.

One gentleman actually said to me Che **! We were finally able to get to someone who told us that, in fact, we had to go back to TERMINAL 1 because TERMINAL 3 was closed due to the fire. There were no signs with any indication that there was a change. So back we went, and got on the Sky Priority line to check in. The young lady at the check-in counter was busy talking to another employee while she was checking us in so that took an inordinate amount of time to finish the process which cut into our time to get to the lounge and get my sister a wheelchair which she always needs to get to the aircraft, and when we asked the agent where the Alitalia Lounge was, she said at the end of the corridor with no further explanation. We asked her where we would go for the VAT since we had VAT forms that needed to be stamped. Again, NO ONE was pleasant AND gave us information that was incorrect. We had already gone through security and then we were told that we would have to go through security again if we wanted to go the VAT area.

We S. Gr Silvano Cassano -2- June 14, 2015. Had wanted to go there prior to security but we were not properly directed. It was beyond belief that there wasn't a single person who knew anything or cared about helping anyone. And we had arrived over 2 hours prior to boarding, leaving enough time for all of these procedures with which we are very familiar. Our plane was leaving from GATE 13 which actually was at TERMINAL 3 (and of course we were at TERMINAL 1) and after asking 6 different people, we were told that we would have to take a shuttle bus BACK to TERMINAL 3. “Where do we get the shuttle bus?” we asked. Someone at the customer service counter (a misnamed counter for sure) kept directing us to down the corridor that said GATE B. We kept saying that we needed GATE G but she didn't care and didn't explain.

Finally, her colleague indicated that we would have to walk all the way down through GATE B to get to escalator to get to the shuttle bus to take us BACK to the TERMINAL (3) which is where we were told the departure would be in the first place. After an hour and a half of this horror, we finally got on a shuttle bus which took another 15 minutes to get back to TERMINAL 3 and by then it was FAR too late to go to the VAT. During this time, my sister had not gotten a wheelchair and was having great difficulty carrying her luggage back and forth.

Once we got off the bus and into TERMINAL 3, we went directly to the gate because we were told that the lounge was closed (which was not true in TERMINAL 3) and the VAT was next to the lounge and we couldn't get to it. So, we went directly to the gate and I finally found a lovely young Alitalia employee (The first human of so many that we encountered that day) doing the gate check-ins. We briefly explained what had just transpired and she was very kind. She immediately took us to the lounge (which obviously WAS opened), ordered a wheelchair, which we never got and we finally sat down. However, we were never able to get to the VAT and as a result, after all of that totally unnecessary chaos, we couldn't obtain our refunds and now we are out of the money.

Our clothing was soaked with perspiration and we felt as though we had already traveled the 8 hour and 43 minute flight that was to come. This is not a way to treat anyone, especially passengers that travel in Magnifica. We always chose Alitalia but there is absolutely no excuse for this behavior and lack of professionalism. We have been cheated out of VAT refunds and had we not been there as early as we were, we probably would have missed our flight. The captain and crew on AZ # 602 were outstanding and the only positive result to this nightmare.

We have not been able to travel for the last four years due to various personal reasons and the new Alitalia that you claim is now in existence is a sorry excuse for an airline. The web check-in needs to be seriously fixed -- I have had the same Mille Miglia account number for 20 years and each time was told that it was the wrong number. When I called, customer service didn't know anything about the website, and told me the system was down. They were able to confirm over the phone, but I had one agent hang up on me.

The personnel at JFK are a joke. They are untrained, they are unpleasant and indifferent. Just ask yourselves how you would feel if all of this happened to you or members of your families. An apology or some voucher or coupon is not sufficient for what should have been a routine travel experience. I suggest you take a long look at the personnel you hire, retrain those you currently have and lastly come up with something that would continue to engender our loyalty as clients. The VAT refunds were not huge amounts of money, but they are our money and the inability to do something so routine was the salt in the wound. Alitalia was completely to blame for it happening.

My children frantically ran around, checking the hundreds of bags that were just piled against the walls...not a good sign. We were the last ones on the cruise...with no bags. There is nothing to purchase on a cruise, unless you want dress up clothing. Every day I had excursions planned for us. I never wanted to step into any stores in Europe, but found myself constantly scanning for clothing stores. The boys' bags showed up in five days. My daughter and my bags were missing the whole 10-day cruise. A nightmare!

We managed to find some clothes for her, I was not so lucky. We basically ate in the buffet every night. Could not eat in the nicer places without nicer clothes. The poor girls ASSIGNED to people with missing luggage took the brunt of my frustration and anger. I would not want their job. This apparently happens every cruise for them. One girl finally said when we were leaving...in a few hours, there will be more angry people coming to speak to me. Alitalia said that our last two bags were in the airport.

We got off the boat and were standing in the same line again at 8:30 in the morning...seven people already ahead of us with missing bags!!! As we loudly reported our horror for ten days without luggage, it finally sunk in to those around us that they were in for the same hell. The same girls behind the counter we had seen ten days prior...one had the nerve to say, "well you had an adventure!" My daughter had to be restrained. They now said they only found one bag, my daughter and I each secretly hoping it would be our own. They led us past the stacks of "unclaimed" luggage into a room with the now "found" luggage. There was my bag. I pushed past the non-English-speaking person at the door and found my daughter's luggage in there.

To now...this happened June 12, there is no one to speak to at Alitalia. Of course they would not want to hear the profanities of those of us who have suffered. I sent countless emails then started sending return receipt mail. Found out my email was not supported by them and had to use my daughter's. That got me somewhere, but not in a hurry. Someone would call every now and again, but you could not reverse call them back-sneaky people. To give some hope to all of you, I received a check last week for most of what I was seeking. Know that there is a cap on what they have to give...otherwise pain and suffering should triple what they give!! Good luck to all of you and NEVER EVER fly on this airline again!!!

We then had to stay in Catania for a night so that we could be at the airport in the morning to check on our bags. We had paid for a night in Scicli which we had to forfeit. We went directly to the airport the following morning and again waited in a hot hallway with at least 30 others at a window with one attendant from Alitalia. She looked up on the computer for information, she left the window for 5-10 minutes each time. She never returned with luggage but said that she had looked for it. Many of the people in line with us had come every day for 7 to 10 days to wait in that hotline with the other irritated, UNserved customers. We were told that they had no record that our luggage had reached Rome.

We started our vacation by finding a place to purchase some clothes. The ones I had on I had been wearing for 3 days. The first 3 days of our trip were taken up buying underwear, toiletries, clothes, medications, etc. - NOT SIGHTSEEING OR ENJOYING OUR TRIP. We expected to hear something from Alitalia - they had asked for our address in Sicily, our phone numbers, our email addresses, etc. No such contact EVER occurred even now that I am at home. Every day we would ask our resort office to check on our luggage. Many times the number we were given was either not available or no one answered. The website had no information on our bags.

All the receptionists at the hotels tell me it happens all the time. Are we living in some uncivilized world??? Everything is gone and after sending email with all the information (badge tags, case number, my contact details) - none has contacted me and the suitcase is still missing. It is the most horrible travel experience in my life! #NeverfyAlItalia #AlItaliafail #AlItalialostluggage #AlItaliasucks #AlItaliaLost #DonotflyAlItalia #AlItalia

The seats were dirty, food remnants and stains. The bathroom was disgusting and dirty - with one being broken. The food was simply inedible. Everyone complained. Bad choices for main courses and the staff were tired and unpleasant. The overhead lights did not work until you land. The entertainment system is outdated. Even the film choices are a year old. I would rather play Donkey Kong. This is not business class of today. Maybe in Kabul. It was a sad day for Alitalia. I would not fly the plane again nor would I recommend it. It was waste of money.

I filled all possible documents and forms; I wrote 6 emails, I send scanned tickets and receipts - the result is - an email with dossier number and 1 phone call with a proposition to get a compensation of 80?! I refused the proposal, asked them to email it (the answer was that the company doesn't have practice to write about compensations), resend the receipts again (because they said they are not in my file). This was on 6 of July. I am still waiting for a call, replies on emails they don't bother to write.

I have to explain that my receipts state very modest costs - around 270 altogether. They included the most needed things for going on excursions on shore - most of them historic places - sleepers, T-shirts, iPhone charger, some cosmetics. I spend twice that sum by buying items at the ports without getting receipts, but then, I was assured every single day that my luggage is waiting for me at the next port.

I could not buy any underwear or shoes on the ship and had no opportunity to take part in almost all cruise entertainments. This was a cruise week full of nightmares which proceeded for 3 more days in Venice, where I spend one whole day at the airport asking for information and getting only rude answers. On the way back with Alitalia my husband's brand new luggage was fully damaged - he was told he will get a 50 check for a next Alitalia ticket, which we calmly overturned. He send his bank account and is in process of waiting to be reimbursed... My case is still open. Of course I will never ever think of flying Alitalia again. But for the moment my only wish is to find a way to "answer" properly to Alitalia's and its Customary Service passenger treatment. Do you have any ideas?

UPDATED ON 10/24/2015: In my review, published on 7/26/2015 I described in length my vicissitudes regarding the loss of my luggage on flight AZ1473 on 22 May 2015, which was returned to me at my home airport in Sofia after 2 weeks, when I was already back from my vacation - cruise on the Mediterranean. In the next three months I had written 14 emails, send a fax and got three phone calls to negotiate at least the refund of the receipts of the items, I had to purchase, all at the sum of 266 EURO.

On August 4, 2015 I received a proposition that "The airline is happy to refund the sum of BGN 298.46 (150 EURO) by bank transfer, upon receipt of your bank details... duly completed and returned to our email address customer.relationsbg@Alitalia.it... within the next 15 days." I send an email the same day that I don't agree to be refunded with a sum half of the claimed. Since I didn't get any reply I wrote 4 more emails - on August 19, September 20, 29, and October 4th. Finally on October 10, I send my last email with bank details, thus agreeing on the proposed by the Airline 150 EURO refund. The decision to agree was difficult for me since I am not used to the type of aggressive communication style that Alitalia company uses with customers.

The practice of the company not to confirm receiving of emails is humiliating, the way the company takes advantage of time to downplay any customers' problem, together with their written and verbal behavior pattern, attributing and evaluating customers' claims describes a strategic policy - very successful and self-enhancing for the company but at the customers' expense. Fifteen days after my last email I am still waiting for Alitalia Customer Relations' reply.

Alitalia's customer service was so shockingly rude. They hung up on me 2x. When I started complaining they pretended they can't understand English and I was told off by a male cs who addressed me as "lady" that I just have to wait. All I can do was follow up on facebook and twitter, and again was even reprimanded by Alitalia of Netiquette when they don't even have a single respect and concern for their customers. I will not recommend Alitalia to my friends, family and colleagues if they plan to go to Europe. #neverflyAlitalia.

I recently graduated university and as planned for over 4 years, I began preparing for a 1 month Europe trip to celebrate the completion of my education. Everything was well and good as my mum and I boarded our Etihad flight from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi on the 29th of June, which then connected to an Alitalia flight to Rome from there. Upon arriving in Rome, my mother's bag was one of the first to come off the carousel and after waiting 1 hour and 15 minutes for all the bags to drop, mine was a no show. I immediately went to the baggage claim desk of Alitalia and asked for clarification and they then decide to tell me, "Oh yes we have your name here, your bag was left in Abu Dhabi. Do not worry, the same flight leaves this time tomorrow and your bag will be delivered to your hotel by midday tomorrow." So I waited, and waited and waited the next day until 4pm and the bag had not turned up like I was told.

For the following 5 days my mum and I contacted Alitalia from morning until night, only to receive no information and no assistance whatsoever. I was highly distressed, and so picked myself up and went to Fiumicino airport to search for my bag myself and what I saw was truly horrid. Hundreds upon hundreds of bags WITH TAGS CLEARLY MARKING NAMES ON THEM were tossed into a room with little regard, and had been sitting in the factory room of the airport for weeks - where I am sure the owners of the bags have been waiting for a call or a delivery which they shall never receive. I searched every single bag and mine was nowhere to be found, and after watching me breakdown at the airport, for I had irreparable valuables in that bag, one of the staff took me aside for a chat, informing me that if my bag has not arrived by the 6th day I may as well just accept the fact that it's gone because it won't be turning up.

I was absolutely disgusted by that information, and by the disregard that they had for people's personal belongings, and I am now 8 days into my trip with no luggage - having to put my mum thousands of dollars out of pocket to buy me necessities and cheap clothes to get me by. I wait daily with false hope that my bag will turn up but the experiences of everyone else with this airline has confirmed to me that my bag is gone and I will never see it again. This experience has made me reluctant to travel ever again, and I am sad to say that I have not been able to enjoy a single minute of my well earned holiday because this airline has been so unhelpful and so desensitised to the cause at hand. I don't know how it is possibly still running.

I do have travel insurance and I know I will be refunded some cost for the bag missing, but it will never truly replace what I had in that bag, and all I wished was for Alitalia to take more care and to do the one job that they are required to do. I am still hurting over the loss of my bag and nothing, no amount of comfort from friends or family will change the fact that my bag was lost. This company needs reviewing and I will be taking this case up with ConsumerAffairs legally.

They also lost my luggage. I was told by multiple people at the military base that Alitalia is the worst for losing luggage and they will not tell you when they found it. You have to keep going back to the airport, which I did three times. Then finally on the third try it was there, again dealing with very rude hateful staff. I just called Delta to get credit for my sky miles and was told to call Alitalia. I did and again got a very rude person who said I am supposed to talk to Delta and only wanted to argue instead of listen to anything I was saying. DO NOT FLY THIS AIRLINE, customer service does not exist!

It's a real shame. I have been planning this vacations the whole year to relax and have fun with my family and as a result of this company wrongdoings I'm having a very uncomfortable time. My recommendation is clear - avoid connections Aeroporto di Roma Leonardo da Vinci (Fiumicino) at all cost and above all avoid Alitalia. Terrible service even inside the plane.

I agree that bad weather in Brussels Airport is not Alitalia's responsibility, but if your crew had been on time, the pilot wouldn't have lost the slot and the rest of our journey would have continued normally! Of course in that case, your airlines would have spent less money for accommodation of the passengers that lost their flights to other destinations. The nightmare didn't finish by our arrival at Fiumicino. All passengers had the great opportunity to meet each other, in the long queues in front of the counters of the Correspondence Passengers Assistance from 22:30 to 23:59! When we finished, we entered a bus that should take us at Sheraton Hotel, about 20 minutes away. About half an hour later, the bus departed.

That could be the end of the story, but it wasn't. I will never forget all those hungry people I had the great opportunity to know better in front of the reception of the lovely hotel. "The kitchen is closed" was the answer of the hotel after they had us wait in the queue until 01:30 (already, Saturday, the 6th of June) Alitalia will open it, I told to myself convinced that your company would take care of us. The lady in the reception disappointed me: "Sorry, the kitchen is closed." She was sorry, but I was also sorry, tired, hungry and angry, because I was on time at the beginning of my trip in Brussels. Your pilots were not.

By now it was 02:00 o'clock. Around me, that multinational group of passengers, was looking for some water, crisps or biscuits. There was not a buffet of sandwiches, was no milk for children crying. I felt lucky because I had a chewing gum in by bag. But, a thought came to me: It's better to keep it for breakfast, because I wouldn't have any time in the morning. I looked at my boarding pass. I had to leave the hotel at 06:30. No time for espresso, no time for anything else. My new flight to Athens was waiting for me at 08:40, and again I would be on time. I wondered if your pilots would also be Fortunately this time they did.

I call this trip "A TRIP FROM HELL", not to mention the fact that I had to miss a good part of the program offered and paid in advance; the stress, sadness, feeling scared, and having to venture all on my own, looking for transport that were to take me to Rome in order to acquire a temporary passport which costed $400.007 Ca., good only for one year. The consequences of the irresponsibility, lack of care and courtesy towards the customer should be felt by this airline which is well known (now I learned), in a very strong way.

Me and my friend were assigned different seats due to lack of seats. We tried to switch the seats with passengers, but nobody was ready for exchange. We decided not to bother the flight attendants, and then I fell asleep. However, when I woke up, a passenger who sat next to my friend wanted to switch seats with me. Since it had been 5 hours already I was wondering why someone suddenly wanted to change seats with me. I turned back to check with my friend, he was not there. Then I went to the bathroom. I saw he was bend on the floor and shivering next to the bathroom!! What a shock!! No one come to tell me! And no flight announce to ask for a doctor!!!

I asked my friend what happened. He said he was feeling dizzy and passed out, while I was sleeping. He also said the flight attendant made him sleep on the floor for several hours with one blanket near toilet. It was very cold on the flight, especially on the floor, how come the flight attendants make a sick passenger to sleep on the floor for several hours without any doctor or medical assistance??!! What if he die on the flight?! Nobody would know what happened!! And the worse thing is the flight attendant came and asked him to move to somewhere else! He was too weak to sit up. How come to ask a sick passenger move around instead of giving him a comfortable seat? I was standing next to my friend, it was so bad!

And finally the flight attendant made my friend go to the first class and ask him to get a rest. I was surprised to see so many empty seats in the first class then why they made my friend sleep on floor without medical assistance. This is so inhuman. Firstly, they offered seat so late and secondly they didn't allow me to sit next to him. It was a shame and racism!

My friend is from Indian, a very nice and soft person. He always help people around, and doesn't want to trouble people. It was his first time travel to Europe. I was very sorry for him to have this bad experience. Also, I was very angry about the way that my friend and I had been treated by the Delta and Alitalia Airlines. I have lived in New York, USA for 7 years traveling around the world, and I work for New York Film Academy which has students from different countries. I have not found any issues with racism like this. This was my first visit in Italy and I was very disappointed. I hope some actions would be taken regarding my complaint. We booked the round trip flight from New York to Rome. I need a proper reply to solve the problem. Otherwise, I want to refund the tickets and book another better airline.

I was at the Fiumicino last Thursday when they closed terminal 3 due to a fire. It was a day I will never forget. Never mind the chaos and long waiting - but I lost a plane because it took me 1 hr 45 minutes to find out where to check in for Air Berlin. It wasn't signposted anywhere and I was sent in a different direction each time I asked somebody. The point is that ALITALIA is a partner to AIRBERLIN and the staff didn't know they were also to do the check-in for them! When I finally got somebody to do it (having phoned Germany and asked what to do and persuaded the Alitalia staff to take my bags) I was too late and the gates were closed.

I lost my flight! Today I flew from Naples to Catania. When boarding the small airplane I saw my suitcase below the plane waiting to be loaded (it is unique and easy to spot). I couldn't believe it when I arrived and the bag was missing! The airline has had problems for years and I had hoped joining force with KLM and Air France would improve matters. It just gets worse. If I can get on another airline I do my utmost to avoid ALITALIA. I can only say one positive thing - they have nice planes.

But to do this, we had to be driven back to Bologna to board an Alitalia flight to Rome because there was no direct flight to Campania even from Bologna. We sat around in the Rome airport for 3 hours because of this after a flight of about another hour to fly Alitalia to Campania, another one hour flight. Five hours to travel between two major Italian cities that should have taken less than two hours! Our Italian friends assured us, or rather warned us, that this was standard for Alitalia, a company loathed by most Italians for that reason, because of the lost tourist income and therefore jobs, and also because having an airline like Alitalia as Italy's flagship airline shamed their national pride.

I ask other passenger to call them, they said to press the button again. Flight attendant was very near me as I was sitting on seat 28 C but they were sitting at seat as we are experiencing soft turbulence. They were facing each other and the flight attendant with big curly brown hair was telling some interesting story to her colleague and everybody was laughing and yelling. I pressed the button again and she looked at me and shout: “Are you hurt?” I tried to yell back YES but she didn't heard me and she continued with her story.

Another flight attendant came from the opposite side of the plane and ask what I want. I said “just one glass of water”, and could not explain more she is already gone. I wanted to stand up to take water myself and to take my pill (pill/painkillers usually take 15min to start working so every minute counts) but I couldn't move. I wanted to yell to throw me a bottle of water if she cannot bring it to me but the words wasn't coming out of my mouth. I wanted to yell but I didn't. I start crying at one point I couldn’t bare the pain.

After 10 min before starting serving drinks flight attendant from the opposite side of the plane gave me a glass of water. When you have a feeling of your head is about to explode and you are in crucifying pain every minute counts. I told to the flight attendant from the opposite side of the plane, when she gave my glass of water that they are very rude. I am in pain sitting here and pray for a glass of water and all I can hear is laughter and yelling from flight attendant from the back of the plane. She couldn't handle me instead start yelling at me how can I say that, why I didn't say that is for pill and called my flight attendant (women with big curly brown hair). My flight attendant just make sound: Uh! and went.

Eventually pain decreased, flight long two hours came to the end. While I was standing in line to leave aircraft I turn back and looked at my flight attendant, she looked back. We looked at each other for two moments and then she commented to her colleague something like _(I do not know Italian, but what I understood from her body language and international words). This lady is .... (laughing)... this people ...and big laughter..

I wanted to run out of the aircraft. Putting yourself in the position when you are not controlling situation but your basic need are in hands of other people, and they are treating you like this. Was the worst feeling in the world. My punch line was when people are asking you for a glass of water, please give them a glass of water, usually they have a good reason. I do not know why everything happens as it happened, what I could done differently? Was the story of my flight attendant was worth my extra 15-25 minute of horrifying pain (I do not know Italian so I cannot judge). Was I just not sympathetic enough?

They then offered me less than half what my luggage was worth, that was at the beginning of March 2015. I accepted on the grounds that I was sick and tired of wasting my time with total incompetence! I sent my bank details expecting an imminent transfer which never came, despite a multitude of follow up emails with no reply! The reason I am now posting here is that I refuse to give up! I will not stop until they at least return the money they have offered. How I manage to refrain from using expletives, I am still unsure. I will never use this airline again and after reading the experiences of others, suggest that family and friends stay away too.

We started our trip on a luxury cruise and had no clothes to wear. The Crystal Cruise concierge called daily to the airline, and her first comment was Alitalia is the worst airline to get your luggage lost, every cruise we have the same problem! They will not give information and whatever information they give is not true. Usually they don’t know where the luggage is in their data. Our port agent has to pay money in order to get any information.

We spent over 500 US Dollars on calls to Alitalia several times a day using our cellphone while at sea. We were left every time on hold. I had the opportunity to talk to basically all the customer service representatives, who had very poor English and were very rude with no intention of helping. Each one of them had different information every time. We were visiting high-end ports such as Monaco, St. Tropez etc., where instead of having a good time I had to go shopping and buy clothes, which were very expensive!!!

We ended our cruise in Barcelona, where I had to buy all the clothes for five days of festivities for the Bar Mitzvah. We stayed there for a week and then traveled to Israel for the Bar Mitzvah and we then went to Paris for a week. Every day we were promised that the luggage was going to be sent to our hotel, which never happened!! Imagine a trip in which the focus everyday is calling the airline and the stress and tension on the whole situation!!

When we returned home finally a representative in the US gave us an email where we could send our claim. For the delayed luggage we were told that the limit to put the claim was 30 days, when all their customer representatives in Italy told us we could do it when we got home, with no time limit. So we didn’t get paid one penny. Now I know as a fact that this is done by the airline on purpose so they don’t have to pay. Concerning the lost piece of luggage they agreed to pay a minimal amount in comparison to the proved value of the luggage and of what we had to buy.

All the documentation proving this was sent by email, as there is no number to call on purpose. You cannot speak to any agent regarding this matter only email. We did not agree on the amount, but wanted to finish this situation and least get compensated, even if it was poorly. We sent our bank information with a signed letter of agreement by email. We never got an answer to the subsequent emails we sent and never received the deposit for the lost luggage.

Now I am sure that we got robbed by Alitalia two times and deceived by their employees. I will make it my purpose using all legal means to discredit this airline. Any company has never treated me like this. I have traveled all over the world and I can say this is worst airline!!

When confronted about the intolerably high cabin temperature that made several passengers very uncomfortable she replied that she had already asked the Captain twice to lower the temperature and that if passengers were unhappy they could ask him directly. When asked again about her name she replied that she wanted first the passengers names as she would have filed a report herself.

It is not my intention to blame Alitalia for this extremely disappointing event but, I am firmly convinced that if governance wants to reaffirm Alitalia brand equity and profitability it is about time that certain employees are severely reprimanded for their disgraceful attitude and eventually replaced with new ones more aligned to the needs of a company competing in an international environment.

When I call Alitalia Call Center, they tell me they are outsourced, and not actually belong to Alitalia staff, that's why they have limited possibilities of solving my problem. So I have to wait until Alitalia Central Offices analyze my case... In the meantime, nobody answers my mails, and my credit card has no limit left for me to use. I am about to start a legal process and wish to let this case be as known as possible.

Eventually there was a tightness in the air. I was later informed they shut off the oxygen in the cabin to decrease spread of flames which were apparently in the cargo bin. NO ONE ON THE FLIGHT STAFF MENTIONED ANYTHING, however. The plane eventually turned around for an emergency landing back at O'Hare. When we reached the gate, none of the flight attendants or pilots had said a word to anyone regarding what the hell was going on. I was in a complete panic at this point. Also, they refused to let anyone off the plane so we just sat there trapped in a plane with a fire somewhere on it.

When they finally let us out, still with no information, we had to wait for three hours before we even found out the flight was canceled! They had actually considered putting us back on that very plane! After waiting a total of 6 hours most of the passengers were detoured to Frankfurt Germany and we were set to fly out at midnight. What were we given for all this trauma and stress? A $12 food voucher for the airport WHERE FOOD WAS NO LONGER AVAILABLE BECAUSE IT WAS MIDNIGHT. We were unable to put the voucher to use before that time due to having to wait in line for 2.5 hours to reroute our flights.

The worst part? I explained to my father what had happened in detail, so the next morning when he called the airline to make sure my new flight from O'Hare to Frankfurt had landed successfully, they lied to him. They told him my original flight from O'Hare to Rome a330 had landed without problem and my father became immediately terrified for me due to this airline. I wrote to them to be reimbursed and they said in so many words that they were not responsible. Now I'm 26 and have experienced much better airlines and compensation for much more minor issues and cannot believe there's nothing I can do about this flight. This flight is the reason I have severe anxiety while flying. It was literally the worst experience I've ever had in anything in my entire life.

My wife and I checked in together at Malpensa [Rome]. We were three hours early. Each of us checked one bag. Take-off was delayed, so they had more than sufficient time to load the luggage.

On arrival at Pearson [Toronto] my luggage was on the carrousel, but my wife's was not. There was a very long line at the lost luggage claim counter because a lot of passengers were in the same situation. We couldn't just fill in a Property Irregularity Report and leave it at the counter, because we needed a copy and the counter doesn't have a photocopier -- they use carbon paper.

We returned home much later than planned. Shortly after midnight Toronto time [6:00AM Rome time] a gentleman who told us he was a contractor for Alitalia phoned and told us we could come to the airport and pick up the missing case. I explained that we had not slept in over 24 hours, could not possibly return to the airport [50 km from my home] and requested that he courier it. He cautioned that this might take a few days and I asked him to expedite the delivery.

The next morning we phoned the Alitalia lost luggage counter in Toronto [905 364-4166] and received the same message that other correspondents have described "The voice mail box is full -- please call another time." It remained full all day. An email was not answered, no Alitalia representative in Rome, Toronto or anywhere else could provide a contact phone number that would be answered, the web lost luggage registration form did not work, and the web-support guy had no idea how anyone could fill in the form on the web.

That evening, the contractor phoned again. He stated that he could not forward the luggage because my wife would have to be present for it to clear customs. We explained that we had a written declaration on file with Canadian Border Service, that the luggage had already cleared customs, that we had declared all of the contents, and that we had confirmed with Canadian Border Services that there would be no difficulty having it picked up by a courier. We added that other, international airlines that had delayed luggage delivery had couriered our luggage to our home. He phoned back a bit later and asked us to confirm all of the information on the customs declaration form. That is the last we heard from him. As yesterday, "the voice mail box is full."

Today we will probably to go to the airport, pay for parking or a cab, hope we can find a way into the customs area, hope that an Alitalia representative is working that shift, and if we are lucky, pick up our luggage. No doubt Alitalia will be pleased to be spared the cost of a courier. No doubt they will also be pleased that they will never have to deal with us again since we will not fly Alitalia in future.

If Alitalia does not reimburse us the cost of transportation and parking from our home to the airport and back we will file a formal complaint with IATA. In the imaginary scenario that they offered us a handful of first class tickets by way of compensation, we would return them and explain that we could not afford to fly Alitalia -- even on free tickets.

We accept that mistakes happen. We do not accept that a large, international airline neither makes an effort to prevent nor rectify mistakes. We are dumbfounded by their absolute refusal to assist a passenger by answering a phone or returning a message.

Our flight to Rome on US Air was cancelled and we were put on Alitalia from Boston to Rome. We had purchased business/first class tickets which we require because of my wife's medical condition. When we checked in at Alitalia, they refused to honor the class we had booked and instead offered us coach. When we protested, they got in touch with our booking agency and though they were told we had paid for business/first class, Alitalia refused to honor that ticket. At the gate they told us there was nothing they could do, handed us coach tickets and told us we could discuss the issue with the chief steward on the airplane. Which we did. He told us he could give us first/business class tickets but only for $2,509. We bought them anyway. Now we are trying to recover our money but as I stated before, they won't cooperate with our carrier.

This lack of support/consideration from their part is surprising but also unacceptable. Number of our valuable personal items were present in that bag, and we thought flying with a company like Alitalia would ensure our goods were secure or in case of problems it would avoid us the hassle of dealing with bad customer services. I have to say I'm not impressed at all. I understand the laws which govern Airlines in the EU in conformity with EU law and the Convention of Montréal stipulates that in case of DESTRUCTION, LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO BAGGAGE, The Airline is liable in the case of the destruction or loss of or the damage to baggage for a sum of up to 1,131 SDR (the approximate equivalent in local currency). In the case of checked luggage, the Airline is liable for the damage even if it is not at fault, unless the baggage had an inherent defect. The Airline is liable for damage to unchecked baggage only if it was at fault... but I don't know what to do as I'm not getting any reply from Alitalia. Can somebody help?

The top was completely broken off. The whole sitting area was destroyed - it truly looked like some truck ran over that thing. We filed damage luggage claim, but here what is interesting. They make you go and get a declaration of the value and condition of the item that was damaged. So we went to a store to get it but since it was bought outside Italy there is no one willing to help us with that paper because they simply don't know the value. Similar items, but not the same product are on their shelves, so tough luck, or I would say we are screwed. I heard a lot of horror stories about Alitalia and now I am one more person to add my story to their non-existent horrible customer service.

I would like to express my concern with the integrity of ALITALIA in the matter of handling my case. Professionalism, efficiency and integrity do not exist for ALITALIA and their customers. Lastly as a matter of choice I will never fly or recommend ALITALIA.

None of our bags made it to Venice when we arrived. After spending two hours in the Lost and Found line we filed the proper paperwork, provided a complete itinerary, gave them contact numbers etc. We spent the first two nights in Venice cal