Hi all!

I am Italian and a frequent flyer not only on Alitalia but also on other airlines (in the last 60 days flew AZ/CO/BA/IB/AA/DL) - never posted a trip report but I will probably do it soon.

I am a bit surprised by Opushomes report; I don't think Alitalia is the best airline in the world but I found the report a little bit unfair, also because a few days before Opushomes I made almost the same trip, FCO-EWR, connecting to CO EWR-SEA where I was upgraded to First Class.

Terminal B at FCO handles all EU flights - including AZ and KL. AZ domestic flights actually leave from Terminal A, and every airlines extra-EU flights leave from Terminal C. Information about this is clearly posted and for those who are not familiar with FCO airport, the terminal B and C are actually in the same building, but physically separated by a wall in order to separate the 2 geographic entities ... we are not talking about LHR or JFK here!

I don't know what's the problem with the check-in to LHR, since you Opushomes were not flying there, but I took the early morning LHR flight last month (leaves at 0740) and there were 3 check-in desks open. The flight was full but I think I got checked in in 5 minutes (Y class)

From what I know check-in desks open for flights 2 hours in advance, so I am not surprised that at 0630 in the morning no desk was open for a 930 departure! Nobody will show up that early, unless you were rerouted from an earlier flight like in your case.

The check-in woman was incompetent, that actually happens a lot (not only with AZ), and you might have a point here (the only other point you might have is about the old male stewards staffing your flight ...).

I have never had problems passing the police controls that protect US carriers ticket desks - just say where you are going, after all those are young Italian guys working as moving targets in order to protect American citizens

Alitalia does not have ticket folders because its original tickets are built as folders themselves, but maybe you had an endorsed KL/NW ticket ... with its folder?

Again, never happened to me to be permitted to go through unmanned security control (and I fly at least once a month) maybe you were tired from the early wake-up and didn't notice it (by the way, what were you doing in the airport at 435 for a 640 departure???).

Ok, there was some confusion during boarding because a door was broken, so what? You then board the 767 and find out that you have 1 inch more of room in Y class than on NW - now isn't this good news??? Doesn't seem the case, and then you don't like the bulkhead seat you asked for! Well ...

Oh, did you leave on time? There is no comment on this, so I think the answer is positive but you couldn't criticize

What a disadventure with newspapers, although you don't say it but it looks like they also had english newspapers (never found Italian newspapers on Italy-bound flights on US carriers) and, from my experience (last with AA ) most carriers don't care about offering long-haul Y class passengers free newspapers (in your case, you got 2 of them)

I understand you were happy with drink service but moan about the lack of ice - well, in Italy we don't fill glasses with ice like you do in the US and actually I will tell you that I don't really like it when in the US (on the land and in the air) they give me more ice than drink, but I understand that people living somewhere else on this planet might have different habits

I generally find AZ food pretty of good quality, even though I admit they might have some problems with overcooking pasta. However, they definitely have the best Y-class pasta that I know of, and I am Italian so I know!

And I would like to stress that wine is free on all AZ flights, including EU flights, in all classes, and NOT because of DL codeshare (?????)

Maybe the toilet on your flight was stinking, but I have to say, that never happened to me.

The aisles were narrow? How can that be? AZ has 7 abreast in 767 Y class, just like CO - so if aisles are really narrower, that means that seats are wider! It's as simple as that!

Sorry you didn't like the Italian flick - you know, I feel the same about US movies, but at least AZ gave you one of each, while not the same happens on US carriers

As far as my FCO-EWR flight was concerned, it was equally on time, crew was alright, airplane clean, food and wine of fine quality, and over and above they didn't loose my luggage

Then you go on and compare a Y class trip on AZ with a First Class (domestic) trip on CO: well, I think it is not a fair comparison!

I flew (upgraded) EWR-SEA a couple of weeks ago as a continuation of my FCO-EWR flight. I should be happy because I was upgraded, but I can be picky, too: the aircraft was a new 738, but there was no personal entertainment ... for a 5h30m flight, all they showed was 1 (one) US movie which I refused to watch. Music was bad. The dinner was extremely well presented but the stewardess was a bit too informal for my (European) taste (almost rude I would say). I had lamb but it was swimming in some american sauce which I didn't like. What was bad was the seat - is this domestic first class in the US? Pitch was tight and recline non-existent, couldn't sleep at all even though it was past midnight for me

I also found your comments about Italians and Russians a bit offensive for both

Dctorres, I think you should just go for your flight on AZ and everything will be fine - you will have an average experience, nothing more, but not the horror story that Opushomes pretends to have experienced

Ciao!