I was supposed to fly FCO-CDG-EZE on Air France Business on March 30th, but around midnight two days before departure I got a notification on my phone, through the AF app, stating that my CDG-EZE flight was cancelled because of the strike. This was inconvenient on a personal note, because I had allowed for a 12-hour connection in Paris so as to have lunch in the city with some friends. Besides, FCO-CDG would have been my first Joon flight, and I was curious about trying them. Oh well.

Anyhow, it was late in the night —or too early in the morning—, so the Flying Blue hotline in Italy was closed, as it only operates during normal office hours. I contacted Air France through Facebook and Twitter and got no response after half an hour or so. And then I thought I have always had good experiences with KLM’s social media team, so I sent them a Whatsapp message. Jackpot! I got an answer five minutes later. I told the wonderful KLM person that I would accept changing my flight to a nonstop FCO-EZE, either on Alitalia —preferably— or on Aerolíneas Argentinas. Some 10 minutes later he/she booked me on AZ 680 on the same day than my AF flight. He/she even selected a window seat after I asked. KLM social media team is always fantastic.

I then sent a few e-mails to my Parisians friends cancelling lunch, and went back to bed feeling relieved this issue was sorted out.

Fast forward two days and I got to Fiumicino at 6:30pm, i.e. with lots of time to check-in because, I thought, these re-booking things are never so easy. I walked to the Magnifica counters and after a small wait I was greeted by a nice Alitalia agent. She did find my PNR but couldn’t see the ticket, so asked me to go to the AF ticketing desk, which I obliged. There was a free agent at the Sky Priority counter, and the AF lady did lots of typing for over 10 minutes until the printer spat out my ticket. “It’s been a hell of day, I suppose?” I asked. “A nightmare”, she answered with a smile.

Back to the Magnifica check-in, where the agent was now able to print my boarding pass and tag my bag. I asked for an open check-in because I had to go through customs in order to get my tax-free stamp, so then walked with the suitcase to the customs stand, from where they took care of checking-in the bag, which is a good thing.

Security through the Sky Priority lane, and immigration with the e-passport gates, took no time. I really like Fiumicino for this.

Quick stop at the duty free shop for a bottle of grappa, and it turned out tonight’s flight would not leave from the satellite but from the main terminal, so the lounge was the older Casa Alitalia off gate E11. The place was absolutely packed with Korean Air passengers, who left some half an hour later. I sat with a newspaper and a glass of Aperol Spritz, prepared by the nice barman, until boarding was called. The only problem with the lounge, apart from the sheer amount of people, was the wi-fi, which took a long while to connect.

When I got to gate E24, boarding was well underway, but the agent made me skip the line when I showed him the “SkyP” on my boarding pass. Exchanged a few smiles and “buona sera” with the flight attendants, one of which came to take my coat, and then settled in seat 2J. The seat is very comfortable, with lots of space for stretching. On the armrest were the three quintessential Alitalia menus — food, wines and coffee.

I counted four free seats out of 24 in total, which I think is a good sign considering Alitalia’s load factors. I wonder if I was the only passenger rebooked from Air France.

Before taxiing the crew came with pre-departure drinks.



And then with newspapers (Italian and the International New York Times), and with the Bulgari ammenity kits.


I hardly ever use the in-flight entertainment on any plane, preferring instead to read and sleep. However, the IFE on this particular plane seemed quite dated, especially when comparing with the newer AZ planes. Tonight we were flying on 777-200 EI-ISB “Porto Rotondo” — funny, I flew it before when it still carried an Italian registration. Did they switch it to Ireland for, I assume, tax reasons?



After take-off, the flight attendant in charge of our section came seat by seat to ask about dinner. AZ is going thematic on its food services in Magnifica, and tonight we were being offered a menu based on regional food from Calabria.



This, as discussed on the AZ forum, is good news for lovers of Italian food —like myself—, but could go spectacularly wrong when catering is loaded at outstations. I consider myself knowledgeable on Italian food and have never cooked Ziti, I can’t imagine how the cook at an EZE catering company could know whether it is well done or not.

Tonight, however, the food was fantastic, probably among the best dinners I ever had on airplanes. The wine was a Primitivo di Manduria — a great suggestion from the flight attendant. “It is robust, strong. You’ll enjoy it and sleep very well afterwards”, he said.

Started with the broccoli flan:


Primo: Ziti pasta. This was the highlight of the service. Marvelous!



Secondo: sea bass filet.


Formaggio: the butirro —apparently, a typical Calabrese cheese— was particularly enjoyable.



Dolce: Tartufo. It was also fantastic, but I gave it just a few bites for the sake of my waistline.


I had a few interesting reads during dinner:



“Air France throws a lifejacket at Alitalia: more routes to the USA”



After dinner I had a small glass of amaro and then put the seat on the full-flat mode. I found it particularly comfortable, and slept pretty much for the remainder of the flight. I was only woken up twice — once during a small turbulence area over the Atlantic, and then because I was thirsty, so I walked to the galley to help myself with some water. I have to say, my only criticism of this flight was the temperature. It was too hot. Not unbearably hot, but I had to remove my sweater, which is something I hardly ever do on airplanes.

I finally woke up for good around 1 hour out of Buenos Aires, when flying over southern Brazil. The flight attendant appeared in no time next to my seat and asked whether I wanted breakfast. He offered to prepare some eggs, but I declined, going instead for the fruit salad and a croissant, and two double espressos.



The Italians have a cult for coffee, and I appreciate the fact that Alitalia serves it on nice cups rather than on bigger mugs.



I spent the rest of my time checking the Ulisse in-flight magazine. I think Ulisse is an appropriate name for an in-flight magazine. Not like Varig, which in the 1990s had a magazine called “Icaro” — Icarus seems not to be the right name for anything related to flying.

Everything was set for an early arrival into Buenos Aires, but we had to hold over the city for some 15 minutes, so landing was at the end right on time. For the first ever at Ezeiza, we had two jetways connected to the airplane, so Magnifica pax deplaned through door 1L. A positive surprise.

Seat, as seen after 14 hours being used:


Immigration at EZE was chaotic as usual, but the delay allowed for the bags to be on the belt when I got there. Customs took no time, and since a driver was waiting for me, I was on the way home around 1 hour after landing, which is quite good for Ezeiza standards.

So, this is the end of my most recent AZ experience. It's a brave new world when you are saved from an Air France strike by, out of all airlines, Alitalia. I had a great flight, and I hope you enjoyed your reading. Alitalia is the Phoenix of airlines, and everything looks set for it to once again survive its current crisis. I hope it is the case - they offer a very solid product, and, for us in South America, FCO is a very convenient European hub.

Ci vediamo presto!