What I sent to Alitalia after my plane fiasco
My name is Amanda Battaglia and I am writing, unfortunately, with a complaint towards the services of Alitalia. I vacationed in Italy last week, flying into Rome FCO from John F. Kennedy airport with Alitalia on Monday, July 17 2006. My return flight, which was booked all at once through Orbitz, was from Rome FCO to Newark airport in New Jersey with a stop in London (Heathrow airport) on Monday, July 24 2006. My Alitalia flight from Rome was scheduled to land in Heathrow at 7,00PM and my connecting flight with Virgin Airlines was scheduled to leave at 8,30PM (all London time).
There was a delay on my returning Alitalia flight, because we were (as the captain told us) waiting for two passengers who had not yet boarded the plane, but were checked in. By the time they boarded the plane and we landed in Heathrow, it was approximately 7,25PM - a little over an hour until my connecting flight took off. Since Alitalia and Virgin Airlines were in different terminals, I had to take a shuttle bus to check in for my Virgin flight. When I got to the Virgin Airlines check-in, it was 7,40PM and fifty minutes until my flight. There were two young ladies at the check-in counter who said that because I was not there at least an hour before the plane took off, I could not check in or board the plane for Newark, even though it was still on the ground.
There ended up being a group of seven passengers (including myself) who “missed” our connecting flight due to Alitalia’s delay and their failure to check us in. Even though we were in the air and were helpless to contact Virgin before our arrival at check-in, we were unable to board our flight since Alitalia did not check us in or get us to Heathrow at the correct time. It was at this point that we were sent back to Alitalia to have our situation straightened out.
It took an hour to find an Alitalia employee. Although our Alitalia plane had only recently landed, all Alitalia personnel were gone from the “Arriving flights” terminal. We then went to a desk for Alitalia to, again, find no one. A sign was up with an Alitalia phone number to call, but there was no answer after several attempts. We finally found an employee at the Alitalia check-in counter around 9,00PM. He, noticeably upset that he couldn’t simply go home, told us that there were no other flights to Newark for the night through Virgin or its affiliates. The first one available was at 9,30AM the next morning and even at that, we would have to fly stand-by. We asked to check other airlines and he refused. We asked if there was even a single seat possibly in first or business class on the 9,30AM flight and he said we couldn’t take those because we had economy class tickets. We asked if we could fly into Boston or Philadelphia or Washington DC and he refused because it was not our “original destination” and we could not go on a flight that had a different mileage than the one scheduled from Heathrow to Newark.
It wasn’t until 11,00PM that we were finally ready to leave the airport Monday night. The Alitalia employee booked us on a flight for 6,00PM the next night and agreed to pay for a hotel for us for the night we had to stay over in London. He gave us vouchers for the 6,00PM flight, the hotel, breakfast, and dinner with one drink. Although it was late, he assured us that the hotel had 24 hour room service and that we’d be able to eat something, since the last time we’d eaten a meal was before we got on our 5,05PM flight in Rome. During this time, we also had to search for our baggage in the airport.
When we finally arrived at the hotel, the concierge was unable to check us in because their computers were down. They assured us that there were rooms available, but they didn’t know which ones, so that we needed to simply wait. We inferred about the vouchers for dinner and we were told that the restaurant was closed, so we couldn’t get any food. The Alitalia employee simply lied to us about dinner. We asked about getting something to drink and were told that we could each get one soda or water from the bar. We were given one small glass to drink and told again that there was no food. After finally agreeing to call Alitalia for permission, we were able to order a pizza for our dinner. A little after 1,00AM (2,00AM for us still on Italy time), we were finally shown to our rooms. Alitalia refused to let us use the phones to call home to tell our respective families and rides from the airport that our travel plans were forced to be changed.
Over breakfast the next morning, we realized that the Alitalia employee from the night before booked us on a flight into JFK airport, not Newark. After he insisted that we absolutely had to fly into the same airport that we were originally scheduled to, he put us on a flight to a different airport without even telling us. Since we had to check out of the hotel at 11,00AM, we headed back to the airport in hopes of getting a stand-by ticket on one of the earlier flights to the States. There was a 2,00PM flight to JFK and a 4,00PM flight to Newark in addition to the 6,00PM flight to JFK that we were confirmed for. Alitalia consistently argued that John F. Kennedy and Newark airports were basically interchangeable, thus making it okay for our flight to be booked into one or the other. They are, in fact, very different - they are in different states and are two hours away from each other. We were finally told that we would be provided with ground transportation between airports if we did have to take the JFK flight.
At 1,15PM on Tuesday, July 25 2006, all seven of us thankfully got stand-by tickets for the 2,00PM flight to JFK. We had to run to the gate over a mile passed security, but we all made it. When we landed in JFK we had to wait an hour after going through customs and getting our luggage for a car to finally be available to take us to Newark - a car which took the longest way possible to avoid tolls. At 9,00PM New York time, 32 hours after we’d left Rome, we finally arrived at Newark Airport.
I wrote this complaint very detailed in order for you to have all the facts and know exactly what we were put through all because of Alitalia’s failure to check us in properly for our connecting flight. What I did not include was the tone, the mood, the emotions that we also had to deal with on top of these activities. Throughout this entire experience, we were treated with little to no respect from Alitalia employees at both airports. We were consistently treated as an inconvenience and no employees made any effort to apologize for the situation that we were put in. No one ever took blame for what Alitalia put us through or tried to go out of their way to help us.
I am not only writing to illustrate how Alitalia’s customer service failed to keep their customers satisfied. I do not expect for these employees to be tracked down or reprimanded in any way. But I do expect something in return for the hours that I - and those six other passengers - had to spend being treated the way we were. Bottom line, it was unacceptable. If this experience is not compensated for, I will not ever fly with Alitalia again. What I do expect is to be a satisfied customer.
On a final note, I’d like to share something that was - of course - completely out of Alitalia’s control, but deserves to be stated. My grandmother passed away the morning of Tuesday, July 25 2006. If Alitalia had done what it should have and I was on the flight I was scheduled to be on, I would have been home Monday night and with my family for this event. Instead, when my mother got the phone call that her mother had passed away, I could not be with her because I was in an airport fighting with an Alitalia employee. This is something that can never be fixed, but I do place the blame on Alitalia.
There was a delay on my returning Alitalia flight, because we were (as the captain told us) waiting for two passengers who had not yet boarded the plane, but were checked in. By the time they boarded the plane and we landed in Heathrow, it was approximately 7,25PM - a little over an hour until my connecting flight took off. Since Alitalia and Virgin Airlines were in different terminals, I had to take a shuttle bus to check in for my Virgin flight. When I got to the Virgin Airlines check-in, it was 7,40PM and fifty minutes until my flight. There were two young ladies at the check-in counter who said that because I was not there at least an hour before the plane took off, I could not check in or board the plane for Newark, even though it was still on the ground.
There ended up being a group of seven passengers (including myself) who “missed” our connecting flight due to Alitalia’s delay and their failure to check us in. Even though we were in the air and were helpless to contact Virgin before our arrival at check-in, we were unable to board our flight since Alitalia did not check us in or get us to Heathrow at the correct time. It was at this point that we were sent back to Alitalia to have our situation straightened out.
It took an hour to find an Alitalia employee. Although our Alitalia plane had only recently landed, all Alitalia personnel were gone from the “Arriving flights” terminal. We then went to a desk for Alitalia to, again, find no one. A sign was up with an Alitalia phone number to call, but there was no answer after several attempts. We finally found an employee at the Alitalia check-in counter around 9,00PM. He, noticeably upset that he couldn’t simply go home, told us that there were no other flights to Newark for the night through Virgin or its affiliates. The first one available was at 9,30AM the next morning and even at that, we would have to fly stand-by. We asked to check other airlines and he refused. We asked if there was even a single seat possibly in first or business class on the 9,30AM flight and he said we couldn’t take those because we had economy class tickets. We asked if we could fly into Boston or Philadelphia or Washington DC and he refused because it was not our “original destination” and we could not go on a flight that had a different mileage than the one scheduled from Heathrow to Newark.
It wasn’t until 11,00PM that we were finally ready to leave the airport Monday night. The Alitalia employee booked us on a flight for 6,00PM the next night and agreed to pay for a hotel for us for the night we had to stay over in London. He gave us vouchers for the 6,00PM flight, the hotel, breakfast, and dinner with one drink. Although it was late, he assured us that the hotel had 24 hour room service and that we’d be able to eat something, since the last time we’d eaten a meal was before we got on our 5,05PM flight in Rome. During this time, we also had to search for our baggage in the airport.
When we finally arrived at the hotel, the concierge was unable to check us in because their computers were down. They assured us that there were rooms available, but they didn’t know which ones, so that we needed to simply wait. We inferred about the vouchers for dinner and we were told that the restaurant was closed, so we couldn’t get any food. The Alitalia employee simply lied to us about dinner. We asked about getting something to drink and were told that we could each get one soda or water from the bar. We were given one small glass to drink and told again that there was no food. After finally agreeing to call Alitalia for permission, we were able to order a pizza for our dinner. A little after 1,00AM (2,00AM for us still on Italy time), we were finally shown to our rooms. Alitalia refused to let us use the phones to call home to tell our respective families and rides from the airport that our travel plans were forced to be changed.
Over breakfast the next morning, we realized that the Alitalia employee from the night before booked us on a flight into JFK airport, not Newark. After he insisted that we absolutely had to fly into the same airport that we were originally scheduled to, he put us on a flight to a different airport without even telling us. Since we had to check out of the hotel at 11,00AM, we headed back to the airport in hopes of getting a stand-by ticket on one of the earlier flights to the States. There was a 2,00PM flight to JFK and a 4,00PM flight to Newark in addition to the 6,00PM flight to JFK that we were confirmed for. Alitalia consistently argued that John F. Kennedy and Newark airports were basically interchangeable, thus making it okay for our flight to be booked into one or the other. They are, in fact, very different - they are in different states and are two hours away from each other. We were finally told that we would be provided with ground transportation between airports if we did have to take the JFK flight.
At 1,15PM on Tuesday, July 25 2006, all seven of us thankfully got stand-by tickets for the 2,00PM flight to JFK. We had to run to the gate over a mile passed security, but we all made it. When we landed in JFK we had to wait an hour after going through customs and getting our luggage for a car to finally be available to take us to Newark - a car which took the longest way possible to avoid tolls. At 9,00PM New York time, 32 hours after we’d left Rome, we finally arrived at Newark Airport.
I wrote this complaint very detailed in order for you to have all the facts and know exactly what we were put through all because of Alitalia’s failure to check us in properly for our connecting flight. What I did not include was the tone, the mood, the emotions that we also had to deal with on top of these activities. Throughout this entire experience, we were treated with little to no respect from Alitalia employees at both airports. We were consistently treated as an inconvenience and no employees made any effort to apologize for the situation that we were put in. No one ever took blame for what Alitalia put us through or tried to go out of their way to help us.
I am not only writing to illustrate how Alitalia’s customer service failed to keep their customers satisfied. I do not expect for these employees to be tracked down or reprimanded in any way. But I do expect something in return for the hours that I - and those six other passengers - had to spend being treated the way we were. Bottom line, it was unacceptable. If this experience is not compensated for, I will not ever fly with Alitalia again. What I do expect is to be a satisfied customer.
On a final note, I’d like to share something that was - of course - completely out of Alitalia’s control, but deserves to be stated. My grandmother passed away the morning of Tuesday, July 25 2006. If Alitalia had done what it should have and I was on the flight I was scheduled to be on, I would have been home Monday night and with my family for this event. Instead, when my mother got the phone call that her mother had passed away, I could not be with her because I was in an airport fighting with an Alitalia employee. This is something that can never be fixed, but I do place the blame on Alitalia.
posted by Bellezza at 1:04 PM
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