Travel has been difficult to say the least, but as borders began to open up, we decided to book tickets to return to Italy both to see family and explore the country of our roots. The hubby and I discussed our fight options and we booked through Delta’s site so that we could enjoy the benefits of our TSA pre-check (rather than booking directly through Alitalia which doesn’t participate in the pre-check option). We paid a little bit more, but we figured avoiding the hassle was well worth it with so many other struggles involved with traveling at this time.
When am I going to learn that the best laid plans can always go awry? It started about a week prior to our departure. We got an email saying that we would be on a Delta operated plane. We couldn’t believe our luck! For those people that do not fly internationally, American plane seats have more room than those airplanes that originate in Europe. Maybe it’s because of different regulations, maybe it’s because Americans are just bigger people, or maybe it’s for financial reasons that European companies try to squeeze in more seats; however, no matter the reason- if you are flying coach- you want an American plane for the extra few inches in seat and legroom.
The morning of our flight, we checked in on our departure time and noticed that we had once more been relegated to an Alitalia plane. If you’ve read my previous entries you know how I feel about this particular airline so you can imagine the sheer let down we felt. Although for once the check in process was much nicer this trip- our ticket agent was actually personable and considerate, but my TSA pre-check never showed up on my ticket (even though my husband’s did). Go figure.
Something else that is totally strange and not located on any of the websites or advisories was the fact that my husband and I were told we had to change our masks. Apparently, in order to board an Alitalia plane you MUST be wearing a surgical mask. Reusable cloth masks are not allowed. Thank goodness we happened to have two in our bag otherwise we would not have been allowed on the plane. I didn’t even notice any of the shops selling them. I assume that if we had no other masks, they would have helped us find something, but I feel like they should have put this information somewhere for us to find.
As a side note, once we got to Rome we saw tons of people boarding Alitalia flights in re-usable masks. I’m not sure if it’s a rule just for international flights, just for Americans, of just for flights from JFK, however, the point is be prepared. Check websites and make sure you are bringing everything you need. For us to come to Italy we needed our passports, vaccination cards, and the European Digital Passenger Locator form.
That being said, there are a few other things that we found to be strange. Typically when you are on an international flight there is food and beverage service (this particular flight was about 8 1/2 hours). I absolutely hate airplane food and refuse to eat it so I’ve gotten into the habit of buying a sandwich and snacks to bring aboard. We did that figuring we would get some sort of beverage on board (a soda, glass of wine, etc…). Again, nowhere on any website was there a notification that this was no longer the case and we found out the hard way. They offered two tiny bottles of water (8oz) and that was it. We could not buy anything in flight at all. They did come through with a tray of hot pasta for dinner and some sort of cake for breakfast (both of which we refused since we had brought food), but I would have purchased drinks in the airport had I known prior to boarding the flight. I will be better prepared for the flight home and I do understand that they want to minimize the spread of COVID, but if they can offer a sealed bottle of water, then they can offer a sealed can of soda or a sealed small bottle of wine in my humble opinion.
Last, but not least, we were unlucky enough to be sitting in front of two very energetic children whose parent was sitting across the aisle. Now, when we bring the kids, we make sure they behave in the airplane. Apparently this is not the case with all parents. The children kicked our seats for most of the flight even though we asked them not to more times than we should have had to. Their mother was comfortably sleeping for most of the flight. They fell asleep for the last hour of the flight and I do admit that I fantasized about waking them up, but of course we behaved and let them be. I do say this to all the parents out there- long flights are tough- we all know this, but at least try to control your children so that the people around you can have an acceptable experience.
