Hi all,
Couldn't find another thread to put this in but possibly it will be merged elsewhere. I remember commenting a few months back when searching flights to Europe that United was heavily trying to sell me flights on ITA Airways (the old Alitalia which is now part of SkyTeam). For the flights I took this week I actually booked the connection as United refused to route me through BRU/FRA/MUC all of which had SN/LH connections to my destination in the Balkans. Odd. But I took it because I knew my PPs would confirm on EWR-FCO and it was $400 cheaper than the other routings.

I was booked with a 5.5 hour layover in FCO. Blech. But Rome being one of my favorite cities this worked out just fine. The flight from EWR arrived over 30 minutes early so I now had a 6 hour layover. I "entered" Italy and went to T1 to check my bag on ITA so I wasn't carrying it with me as I had on the United flight. ITA had no issues checking my bag. They did fat finger my DL FF# when I gave it to them but it ultimately took and it recognized my DL status. No priority as I don't technically make DL Gold until February 1 (bummer). So no lounge, no priority boarding, no priority bag tag, etc. No big deal.

I went into Rome for a few hours and came back. Security was a breeze. The ITA flight was delayed 30 minutes because it took them a long time to tug the plane over to the E gate (int'l departures outside of Schengen). Sounds like UA in EWR in summer...

Other than the delayed departure the flight was fine. I had the entire row to myself so I was able to make poor mans business class and lay down for the 1 hour flight and nap. Bag came out on the baggage carousel very quickly (I was nervous as 6 hours sitting in FCO might have been an issue).

All in all I would have no issues doing this connection again. My flight on ITA was booked into "O" class and apparently a regular economy fare and not economy light.

-RM