Alitalia MilleMiglia - OLCI for minors

I don't travel with my 6 year old son on AZ too often, so don't have too much experience of OLCI for minors. However during my current holiday in Canada, I've now been reminded of how AZ seems to approach this differently to other airlines. (As well as being reminded how their online communication is substandard....)

I have two issues really:

1. Why do AZ not allow OLCI for minors, when many/most others seem to? For example, I couldn't web check-in for all three of us on LIN-FCO-YYZ on Friday on AZ, yet I could (and did!) web check-in for all three of us on Air Canada YYZ-YHZ today.

[The fact that Pearson terminal 1 was a zoo this morning at 7am is a side issue....making people print out their own baggage tags at the check-in kiosks totally negates the time-saving aspect of OCLI if you have bags to drop, and when you add general unfamiliarity with the process, including something as banal as how to peel off the right bits of the sticker-backs -not easy when you're sweating, handling heavy bags and a family, and worrying you're about to miss your flight- it made the whole thing a hugely unsatisfactory experience].

I understand it's something to do with Italian legislation about protecting minors (and not letting them be spirited out of the country without proper checks of the documents of the adults who accompany them) and I could totally respect this, but in that case it should surely be the case for all airlines flying from Italy.

2. Less easy to defend, why does the AZ site not give correct information?

e.g. http://www.alitalia.com/IT_IT/your_travel/check_in/web_check-in/web_checkin-popup.aspx

CHI NON PUO' EFFETTUARE IL WEB CHECK-IN
- Minori (fino ai 14 anni inclusi) che viaggiano da soli.
- Banbini fino ai 2 anni.

or e.g. http://www.alitalia.com/IT_IT/faq/webcheckinapp/popupchildren.aspx
in other words their specific "can kids check in online" FAQ

I BAMBINI POSSONO EFFETTUARE IL WEB CHECK-IN?
I bambini possono effettuare il Web check-in solo se viaggiano accompagnati da un adulto.

My son was accompanied by two adults, his parents, yet having laboriously entered all the passport etc. information into the system, I was then told I couldn't check him in. Two calls to AZ customer service confirmed that I couldn't do OLCI for minors, but nobody could explain the disinformation on the site. So, as a result, we ended up not getting the seats we wanted (as if travelling on a tatty old 763 wasn't bad enough!)

I recently did an online survey about their website and gave it a good hammering there, but it still left me with things to complain about that I hadn't been able to do, and this is just another one of those!

I am travelling ORD-TLV via FCO and not looking forward to it.

767 to Chicago also, and on the way back FCO - YYZ day flight, after connecting from Tel-Aviv waking up at 1:30 am for 5:00 am departure to Rome.

It is going to be very long with a 7 year old.

Wish there was Classica Plus, I might have paid for it, just for this flight, but it does not seems to be the case on 767.

Next year if they do not have airbus with personal screen on the transatlantic leg from\ to Chicago, I will pay more for that.

American Airlines\ United\ Delta do allow you. THe only reasoning for international that minors there are more regulations, e.g. a father taking his child outside the country without parental approval. Bear in mind that in the US there is no passport control on the way out like in Europe.

I could be wrong though.

Erez

Erez

Online check-in was until recently neither available for North America nor for children, so perhaps now it is available for one or the other but not both at once.

(probably not the right explanation, but just to say that AZ's online check-in is still in the slowly expanding/improving state)