There was a time when flying was dignified and the airlines treated it’s customers as a priority. I think those times have passed and the more I travel, the more I feel like I’m a piece of cattle being herded in. Now this is not to say that every airline does this, but in my experience, most of them have taken this approach. Especially coming to Italy where even if you book another airline, you’ll probably end up on a partner flight with Alitalia.

On the surface, their tidy well put together staff belies the incompetence underneath. In fact, incompetence is a nicer term for what we tend to go through every year. Now the flights are normally okay- it’s typically the booking, seat arrangements, and the aftermath that ends up causing us stress.

I hate stress when I travel, I mean, who doesn’t, right? No one books a vacation thinking I want to put myself in the most stressful situations possible. Well, when you’re traveling in Italy during Ferragosto (the holiday I mentioned in my last post), there is no avoiding it- even when you’ve planned and prepared. So my advice to you is: roll with it and do the best you can to see what you want to see.

However, I digress as I am known to do. Let me get back to our flight out. We booked these tickets in January and had picked seats. Approximately 3 weeks before, we checked our reservation and noticed our seats were no longer assigned. We tried picking seats online but were denied, so we called Alitalia. Our representative was adamant that we could only pick seats online. Can you guess where I’m going here? We went back and forth, and 3 phone calls later, someone on the other line finally assigned us to a row all together.

Thank goodness we pressed, because otherwise we would have been separated for the flight. About 3 days before we left, Alitalia sent us an email about upgrading to a comfort seat at check-in. We thought, great! Not so much- again this could only be done online and that part of the site was not functioning. Again we called. Again the representative wouldn’t let us do it over the phone even though we were willing to pay. Finally they said to try at the airport…

From the tone of this post, I bet you already sense where I’m going here… It didn’t happen. The representative at airport check in even laughed with us about the functionality of the website. She said that she fields complaints all day long about it. Enough said.

We just moved on- but I should tell you that if you’re a global entry/TSA pre check holder as we are- Alitalia does not participate. Lucky us.

On a positive note, we did meet a really nice couple (James and Kate) once we made it to our gate. Rome was their final destination so we hope they enjoy every minute of their trip!

The flight, although long, was uncomfortable (remember that European companies squeeze in more seats), but fine. I should mention here that my other half wanted to purchase wifi to work and it never came on (this was a seven hour plus flight mind you), although I can’t say I was upset with him not working, he wasn’t thrilled. Our layover in Rome was a little longer than I prefer, but I am happy to report- they have streamlined the process of the passport check when you move from the international side of the airport to the national side- as long as everyone in your party is over 14 (we were traveling with a thirteen year old, so I look forward to not waiting in that long line next year). We hopped a short flight to Florence and that’s literally where all hell broke loose.

Let me explain. Picture about 300 people (two flights worth) standing around one of three baggage carousels (the other two carousels were empty and shut off). About 50 bags come off and one of the workers says (in Italian) “The bags from Rome are finished.”

Now picture 200 travel weary passengers’ reactions. Some people got upset, some people were confused, but a vast majority just started yelling and causing havoc. The staff actually told people they could not call over to the Rome airport to find out what happened. It took me about 15 minutes to get the paperwork I needed for the claim and by the time I finally found a pen and started filling it out, the carousel started again and out came the rest of the bags. Thankfully I’m not the type that panics (mostly because I buy travel insurance).

Problem solved. However, there shouldn’t have been a problem in the first place. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this happen either- so my advice to you is- get the insurance and pack a change of clothes in your carry-on. Past that- if you can avoid Alitalia, do so. If you can’t- be prepared to roll with it and make the best of it. This is your vacation after all. No sense in making yourself crazy before the fun even begins.

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