RHWine

Flew CTA to LGW on 25 Oct on BA2595 in CE

Been advised by text to arrive 2 hours early as ‘Baggage Handler Strike’ could cause delays.

No fast track security for BA tickets
No Lounge

Joined queue for passport control along with Easy Jet flight to Luton and S7 flight to Moscow. Russian flight over hour before flight time. Stood in slow moving queue with 3 officials checking all Russian passports in detail, for over hour with very stressed families behind us. Made it through passport control just after flight time, rushed to bus, with even more stressed families, and onto flight which had, of course, been held.

Have to say, crew were brilliant and very generous with the champagne!

But , CTA is an awful airport which must be treated with caution.

corporate-wage-slave

I don't think many airports look great during a strike or during the shadow of one, though CTA has had a few other brick bats in this forum over the years. Still, it's a means to an end, and personally I think Catania is a wonderful city to visit, with many good food options, a Norman cathedral, great people watching on Via Etnea and probably the best fish market in the Med.

RHWine

Don’t disagree at all. I could have made it clearer that there wasn’t any sign of of a strike at all, although difficult to see, just passport control slowness

and I totally agree about Sicily and Catania. Had a fantastic holiday there (arriving by train via Paris, Milano, Napoli and across Feb straights of Messina).

Just a helpful warning I hope!

corporate-wage-slave

The strikes affected these airports (at least in terms of BA offering a rebooking option): FCO – Rome Fiumicino, MXP – Milan Malpensa, VCE – Venice, BLQ – Bologna, PSA – Pisa, VRN – Verona. Or as the Italians would put it, dov'č la notizia? However CTA was hit by a storm yesterday.

PUCCI GALORE

Probably the wrath of God! I cordially detest this airport. It is utterly chaotic and I have not seen such rude or off-handed check-in staff as I saw there. I made a complaint via Twitter and on line as BA are paying for service that they are not getting. When I went to get a couple of glasses of grossly overpriced wine, the server informed me in English that Service Was Included. I replied in Italian that Service Was Not Provided.Whilst I agree wholeheartedly about Sicily, I am not a fan of Catania - I far prefer Syracusa. We have friends who live in Fiume Freddo and one of my favorite restaurants is at Sant'Allesio.

Frankly CTA is one of the worst airports in Italy second probably only to NAP - but that city is unique for all the wrong reasons.

RHWine

And what a storm it was, lasted all night with villa shaking thunder and whole sky lightning for hours and hours. Incredible.

Thanks for info on strike- I’d assumed other delays were storm related, so pleased to be put right.

RHWine

I’ve avoided Napoli Airport so far, but would love to go back to the city I loved and hated.

we stayed just down coast from Siracusa. Beautiful city agreed

PUCCI GALORE

I follow Simon Calder on Twitter and he warned about it on Wednesday (I think)

MarkedMan

BA treat a number of airports in Italy as primarily tourist routes which historically have performed well, so they keep the routes. PSA is another I am intimately familiar with. On a bad day they are a nightmare to get out of, exemplifying the worst of our country. Other times they're a breeze, but you wouldn't expect anything less when they are quiet.I don't unfortunately have much choice with PSA, as FLR is prone to cancellations on a shockingly regular basis. If you're flying south, it's a similar story, not much you can do about it. Just have to grin and bear it.

LTN Phobia

I sometimes flew out of MLA instead of CTA by catching a ferry from Pozzallo to Malta because CTA was further than Pozzallo for me. I never was particularly keen on CTA airport.