Frankly if I am to be convinced that Alitalia is sensitive to media portrayals, I'll need more evidence than that cited in these postings.

Of greater (but still pretty low-level) interest to me is the exposure of Orbitz et al. The law of agency being what it is, I'm not sure if Orbitz's liability is as limited as their boilerplate says it is. They brokered a contract which was consummated; they formed the interface between buyer and service provider - in essence they were resellers of the product. The "product" was the airline tickets and appurtenant rules. On Orbitz's T&Cs it says I have the right to review all the applicable rules before the sale, and that I can obtain a printed copy of the "filed" (with US and Canadian governments I assume, since my travel involves passage through the US) tarriffs and conditions by going to any sales point where the airline tickets are sold.

Of course it doesn't say what happens when the rules provided to me by Orbitz are altered post-sale, so I assume their position is that it reverts back to the general language regarding their limitation of liability for acts of others.

But if they know the rules have changed and don't tell me, then I don't know that they're off the hook on complicity in an illegal (not criminal, probably civil) act. The term of art is "bait and switch."

What I do know is that Orbitz and Cendant, like all travel agents, undoubtedly carry a honkin' big errors and omissions insurance policy. The standard in E and O cases is that the haddee goes after the E & O-carrying company, the insurance folk step in and see what's up, then they go after any parties whose actions (defects, etc.) precipitated the issue, in this case breech of contract. The ensuing dance of the lawyers can and often does entail a lot more expense and executive distraction than the monetary value of the breech itself.

As for what a court might do, I think the relief they'd grant and that we would request would be specific performance, i.e., follow the rules, rather than any monetary settlement. That would be the easiest thing for the judge to order, since Alitalia's actions here are so patently illegal.

The above implies that I give much more of a hoot about all this than I actually do.