A full guide to Alitalia. (Alitalia)

Member Name: aex12

Product:	Alitalia
Date:	30/10/02 (693 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Normal airline improving., Better food.

Disadvantages: Some lounges are very small and have few facilities, Still has a bad reputation even if it's improving., Too many strikes, not always of Alitalia though.

Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane Spa is Italy's biggest airline, it is 62% owned by the Italian Government. It is Italy's biggest airline with two hubs, Milano Malpensa and Roma Fiumicino. A couple of years ago the Italian Government opened the airline liberalisation which made Alitalia wake up a bit and improve services. It now has competitors (mainly between Milan and Rome) and has recently created a great service called Link, flights between these two cities are now up to 62 times a day.

However Alitalia has improved a lot on other flights as well and Italian travellers are more and more satisfied with the Freccia Alata and Mille Miglia Club. Flying to Italians is a relatively new idea, it's not like the British that have the world's main hub, Alitalia is behind other carriers because up to some time ago people would accept any flight service because of the monopoly, but First and Business class services have always been very high. Now Alitalia has got competitors: Air One, Meridiana, Air Dolomiti, Air Sicilia and many more and has understood that it must wake up.

In the past 2 years a big reorganisation plan has been relaunched but that will take some time to set-up. First of all all the frequent flyers programs will improve a lot (Mille Miglia, Ulisse, Freccia Alata etc.), the customer assistance will improve by assisting passengers directly in most airports and inflight service will improve. As of now Alitalia has taken a big step in reorganising itself by creating its own ground-handling company, Alitalia Airport (www.alitalia-airport.com) that operates in: London Heathrow, Rome Fiumicino, Palermo, Catania, Brindisi, Cagliari and it is a good ground handling company because many airlines have chosen it for ground handling. In all the other Italian airports for ramp-handling services it uses the local airport authority or handling agent owned by the airport authority, for example if the luggage takes ages to arrive in Milan don
't blame Alitalia but SEA-Aeroporti di Milano Handling.

Direct passenger assistance is offered at all airports where it provides handling services plus Naples, Genoa and Lamezia, in all other Italian airports the steward and stewardesses checking you in will be employed by the airport authority. In any case all personnell in Milan and I'm sure in other airports too is highly trained and if there are any problems there is a representative of Alitalia Airport or Alitalia in every airport. Once I had a ticket problem in Milan, the SEA-Aeroporti di Milano Handling steward solved it quickly by simply making a phone call and was extremely professional with me. In Milan Alitalia has decided to renew the contract with SEA-Aeroporti di Milano Handling not because it does not want to assist passengers directly but because this company works well and has an excellent relationship with Alitalia and it can guarantee the professionalism of staff.

In any case 90% of the airlines still use SEA for ground handling in Malpensa and so this must mean that the company is good. As for what regards the on-board service: I've flown with British Airways, British Midland and Alitalia between London and Milan and I thought the following. BMI gives you a lot less food. Alitalia uses bigger planes than BA, if you're lucky you'll have the bigger ones that have got the TV every 3-4 seats with Candid Camera, British Airways has its own staff at Milan (for passenger assistance only) but that is not necesseraly a point more to BA, I actually found the SEA staff more professional than BA's but at the end I suppose that we all find rude staff somewhere in this world. Alitalia's inflight service is identical to both BA's and better than BMI's in economy, I find the food better to be honest, they serve Mediterranean cuisine and FRESH BREAD!!!! Anyhow the food on BA will be similar to Alitalia's because it's the same company that supplies th

e catering (LSG Skychefs, Lufthansa Group).

I've tried Alitalia in business class and I was surprised by the overall flight standard. A major thing that I think does not work with Alitalia YET are the lounges in some airports such as the one in Milano Malpensa, but don't worry they are remaking all of them and so service standards will go up. As for food I think it's the same that you find on BA or other European carriers, it will always be a bit different but it is not worse than other airlines on short-haul flights. In any case the food is not provided by Alitalia but by Servair (Air France Group) and LSG Sky Chefs (Lufthansa Group).

In conclusion I think that Alitalia is an airline with the same overall service standards as other airlines, I do however admit that it has only gone up recently because of competition. Alitalia will still face some problems in future but the future seems better and better, in a couple of years Alitalia will be seen as a very good airline. The main problem is faced by the fact that there are many strikes (not necesserally by Alitalia but could be of handling agents, airport authorities or air traffic controllers) because in Italy trade unions have still got a lot of power. At the moment there are problems but to be honest they are the same problems found in many other airlines. The staff is sometimes rude but I've found this everywhere, unfortunately. The good thing is that iln business class they give you a lot of food, try business class between Rome and New York, a very good Italian Chef has been appointed to cater this route.

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