I will be flying to Thessaloniki, Greece this summer and want as many miles to credit to Delta as possible. Alitalia, a Delta partner, flies from Rome to Thessaloniki. I recently read about a couple not having their miles credited to their Delta account on several Alitalia flights. Is there anything I can do to assure that the transfers will take place and the miles credited to my Delta account?

A second question - what do you think about breaking the flight in Rome for 24 hours, staying in an airport hotel, to allow time to get a good night's sleep? Even if flying business class, this is a long flight. There are some flights that have a 19-hour layover between flights.