Italy - Blue Panorama Airlines- Blu Express??

We have carefully planned an itinerary which is an extension of a visit to our son who is studying abroad.

This itinerary includes connecting from other airlines in Rome to & from Sicily on Blue Panarama. Connections are not very tight but they were calculated with an acceptable layover.

Now I am reading many reports that this airline is unreliable and changes their schedules at the last minute often.

Please tell me there are people out there that have had good experiences with this airline so I can stop worrying about being stranded on one end or another?? Am I only finding posts from those who have had issues??

:confused:

I've flown BV on FCO-TRN and FCO-SUF so far, last time a few days ago.
I would not say it is unreliable, my experience's been good so far.
Most of the complaints, at least on the Italian-speaking web, is related to Blue Panorama, so charter / long-haul flights. But this industry is another story...

If you check in baggage, you can't make a proper connection, Blu Express is a lost-cost service: you have to collect the baggage, exit the transit area, go to the BV drop-off desks and check again your bags.

I believe that you also pay extra for the baggage. If you pay on the website in advance it is alot cheaper than paying at the airport.
I was considering taking an FCO-PMO rt on Blu since the Alitalia flights were $304 rt, but found a wholesaler and booked Alitalia for $132 instead. So it came out about the same for the dates, and now I can choose the seat in advance and the price includes baggage.

[QUOTE=hockey7711;17903784but found a wholesaler and booked Alitalia for $132 instead.[/QUOTE]

Care to share that link?

Post trip question.

I traveled via BV in march 2012 FCO -CTA and returned PMO -FCO. Travel went smoothly.

I took advantage of the online discount for payment of checked baggage for €10 per bag (€20 at the airport) each way. The online payment page was in Italian.

I am now home viewing my bill. Do they charge tax on baggage fees? could it possibly be that €20 in fees incure €14 in taxes???

€88 RT for the flight+ €34 bags.

Yikes!! Highway robbery! Kills that low cost incentive!!!!

could you copy and paste that wording in Italian?

could you copy and paste that wording in Italian?


Here is the email I received inviting me to pre-pay:


Desideri imbarcare il bagaglio in stiva?
Lo hai già acquistato?
Blu-Express.com consente il trasporto in stiva di massimo 2 bagagli a passeggero per un peso complessivo di 30kg a prezzi vantaggiosi.

Inoltre, il bagaglio acquistato online costa la metà rispetto all'acquisto in areoporto!
20kg - 10€ 10€ invece di 20€ per un bagaglio il cui peso non superi i 20kg*

30kg - 20€ 20€ invece di 40€ per uno o due bagagli il cui peso complessivo non superi i 30kg*
Acquistando il bagaglio su Blu-Express.com risparmi tempo e denaro!
Aggiungi bagaglio
*Il prezzo si intende per tratta e per passeggero. Non si considera il bagaglio a mano di massimo 10kg. Non è consentito il cumulo del peso tra bagagli di più passeggeri. Su ogni chilogrammo di eccedenza verrà applicata una maggiorazione di 10€ a chilogrammo. Costi di gestione amministrativa per pagamento con carta di credito non inclusi (5 euro a tratta a passeggero). Per maggiori informazioni leggi attentamente i Termini e Condizioni di Blu-Express.com.

My credit card statement shows 44 euros charged for 3 bags and then 34 euros for 2 bags on the return

?????

I can't make a dummy purchase now because I don't have a reservation, but I believe it's the sum of a (new) credit card fee and the usual baggage fee.

I can't make a dummy purchase now because I don't have a reservation, but I believe it's the sum of a (new) credit card fee and the usual baggage fee.

Thank you Alice,

I believe I paid for the flight originally Paid for the flight with a mc and paid for the baggage with a visa.

You mean to tell me they can add a fee to the original purchase made in Dec.? Can that be legitimate? I was paid in full prior? And if I had not added payment for the checked luggage would I not have had to pay either fee?

That just does not seem legal.

So it was €10 for each of the bags and about €6.75 per in fees. And that was the online discount I guess the new airline transparency rules dont apply in the EU? Not enough to make an issue with the cc companies but it seems "shady" to me.

I appreciate your help. thanks.

I've tried to understand the issue. I believe they charged a fee (7*2) every single time they have processed a transaction.
While a fee may 'expected' for the main ticket, this sounds new to me with regard to the second ancillary purchase. But it's the magic of the low cost world, i wouldn't be surprised. Have you taken a look at Crynair? At this pace, they will charge pax for the oxygen mask...
Anyeay, I can't tell you whether this is mistake, or their policy has been actually changed to enforce a fee every single time they process a credit card transaction. If it happens to me to book with them in the near future, I'll give a try and make a dummy booking for the bags.

Unfortunately, if that is not a technical error, I believe they have acted (almost) in accordance with the law, because they provide at least 1 payment method which doesn't involve any fee: the direct debit to a Unicredit bank account. I said 'almost' because it can be easily raised an objection: basically people not living in Italy don't have a Unicredit account (this is good :D ) so they are forced to pay a fee, always. Some recent decision issued by the AGCM, the market watch-dog, fined airlines in similar situations.

If you want to call them, the number from abroad is +390698956677. No email, but with skype or something like that, it shouldn't be expensive.