This is the first time I am writing a post as an angry customer. Usually, and my friends will testify, I am very calm, but the connection we had this morning at Rome International Airport and the proceeding flight (AZ 808) with Alitalia to Tel Aviv was a huge disaster.
Our flight from NYC (CO 040, Newark-Rome) was fine, more than fine. This was only my 2nd trip with Continental, but will start looking more closely at their schedule, especially on Atlantic flights – the trip TLV-Newark, CO 080 went much more smoother than I thought a 12.5 hour flight will be. The Boeing 777 is amazing and the Continental service was great!
Don't fly Alitalia
Anyhow, back to Rome. We landed at 08:00 on Sunday April 11th, with a plane to catch at 09:25, from another terminal (Gate G). The horror began at the security check, as some 400 passengers (2-4 planes) waited in one of the most un-organized processes I had even seen. Six Italian officers with English similar to my Italian, lost control of things, and it took us 50 min to pass a security check, which had little to do with security: Some took their shoes off, others didn’t; watch/belt/rings were on/off, depending on your line; Laptop stayed in the carry-on bag; Our passports were NEVER opened; No designated line for handicapped passengers, which meant every 5min an officer let a handicap passenger into the front of the line – the same line each time (ours of course); Five Italian couples were also let into the front of the line, for a reason I (and others) couldn’t fathom; The crowd formed way behind the actual conveyer belts into a single line, only to disperse 5 meters before the belts, into 4-6 different lines (I mentioned only 3 belts, right?); a passenger came up to the security officer, saying he’s going to miss his flight – the officer sent him back, mumbling something in Engtalian.
The flight was scheduled to leave at 09:25, with boarding set for 08:50 via gate G10. Boarding started at 09:15, with a single line. At 09:25 another line opened, both leading downstairs, to a bus. The bus stood, full, for 10min, before taking us 100 meters to the plane itself. We waited for another hour on the tarmac with the AC turned OFF (!), finally taking off at 10:30. Alitalia – it’s 2010, and I know several teenagers that can produce a movie 10 times better than the poorly-animated-using-cardboard-figures-excuse-for-a-movie you showed. Drop me a line, I’ll send over some names. I only hope our 3 suitcases found their way in all that mess to our plane (post written in-flight).
Update: our luggage were a no-show of course, all 3 of them – left at Rome. Unfortunately, we were not surprised. They did arrive at our house at 11:00pm, 8 hours after we landed.
I love Rome, and Italy (very cool snowboarding slopes), but in the future, traveling abroad, Alitalia just made my bottom 2 airlines, alongside Iran Air.
