alitalia TRS-MXP-EZE (Alitalia)

Member Name: darcom

Product:	Alitalia
Date:	06/11/03 (762 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good safety record, comfortable seats, no bad surprises

Disadvantages: sometimes late

Few days ago i flew on this route and i now want to tell you my impressions.

Very early in the morning i drove to naples airport and i went directly to AZ check-in. I was told i had around 5 kilos more in my baggage but considering i was connecting and doing an intercontinental flight i was "forgiven". Well i think for the ticket price i paid this is a little favour, but anyway you never know what could happen with a heavy baggage, so "Thank u lady" i said and i proceeded towards controls. Aircraft was a Mcdonnel-Douglas MD82, developed on the base of the DC-9. It seemed a bit old, but that is just caused by its look (with rear mounted engines) because i checked the code-number and i discovered it was built in 1994... well, newer than many 737 that other majors operate. Its only problem is given by the loudy engines, so try to avoid last rows...anyway this was a short internal flight, smooth, almost punctual (3 minutes late). I did not expect anything to eat (you know internal flights have very poor services everywhere and it was also late afternoon), but i received some delicious biscuits and an orange juice, not bad really! We landed safely in malpensa and i proceeded towards my next gate for the flight to Buenos Aires AZ682 departing in late evening (21.30).

I had almost 3 hours to spend so i walked back and forth in malpensa through the shops and sometimes giving a look at the planes landing. Now i did not have to re-check-in (all done in naples) and at about 20.40 my flight was called and they were ready to embark. I then directed to my gate and waited to board.

I was flying economy and i expected a long flight with cramped seats but i was nicely surprised. I boarded a pretty big airplane (boeing777) that seemed also pretty new, and i found my seat in economy very comfortable and enough large and soft to sleep for some time during the flight. While we were boarding i took the chance to chat a bit with the man on
the other side of the aisle and he told me that our plane was brand new and that on the route MXP-EZE (milan-buenos aires) they just upgraded the service from an md11 to a B777, that is much more modern. Wow, i got a plane in the first days of service, what a luck!
Anyway the flight could be considered "normal", no bad surprises, good food both times and kind crew. They did not address u with those large smiles but they were very kind and paying attention to the needs of the passengers, and i appreciate this much more than a false kindness and few food! Another thing that impressed me was the dimension of the bathroom...hey you really could stand and move in it!! That is a bathrrom! Very clean also.
Flight time passed sleeping and using the in flight entertainment; every seat has a monitor in front of it where u can choose films, cartoons, games and a lot of stuffs to enjoy ur flight . This was my second time finding personal scrrens on a plane in economy (some europeans airlines have them but not on all planes). We landed in Ezeiza airport very early in the morning after an excellent breakfast on the plane.

My vacation in argentina was great but i had to go back in italy so sadly i took a taxi to the airport. Alitalia does not fly daily from malpensa to Buenos aires (i think 5 times weekly) so this time i had to take the flight to rome (departing at 14.25) and connecting there to naples. Again it was a brand new 777 (the same of the outbound flight maybe) and there is not much to say this time. Again pleasant service and food with a very professional crew, even kinder than on the first flight. The captain made his announcements and we departed on time going back home landing some minutes before 7AM in rome.

At 9.35 i had my flight to naples so i had some time to spare in fiumicino airport. When boarding was called, i went to the gate and boarded another md80 that seemed older than first one, but anyway u can't get always b
rand new planes! My flight was very short so i did not care. Nothing much to say about this flight, again those delicious biscuits and we arrived in naples capodichino airport 5 minutes late.

I tried alitalia in the past years and i think thay have improved a lot (at least on my flights on those new 777). Alitalia brought me to point A to point B, i got my luggages with me and i had no delays (except 5 minutes). Food was good being on a plane and taking in consideration the price i paid (much lower than other airlines), i think that the quality of the service was excellent. I give alitalia 5 stars for my two flights.

Summary: