The trouble began on my flight backhome. When I booked the flight I was supposed to fly home on Sunday, March 22, 2009 on a direct flight from Rome(FCO) to Chicago at 10:15 a.m.
Rome time. I arrived at the airport on the morning of Sunday, March 22, 2009 prepared to board my flight. I stood in the check in line for Alitalia only to be rudely told that I was in the wrong line and needed to wait in a different one.
Once I waited another 45 minutes through that line I was informed that the flight I had booked was no longer scheduled for that day and I needed to go to the ticketing counter. After waiting 30 for the lady at the ticketing counter to get off the telephone, she told me that the flight I was scheduled to be on had been cancelled 5 days ago.
I found this very frustrating considering I never received an email or phone call stating that my flight had been cancelled. When I told her I had not been informed of the cancellation she apologized and said there was nothing she could do except put me on a flight to Chicago the next day, Monday, March 23, 2009.
She did not offer me any kind of compensation for the trouble your error caused me nor to put me in a hotel room for the night. Not only did I spend money on a taxi to and from the airport, but I also had to find a place to stay that night thus costing me more money. Not to make matters worse, I had a mid-term exam on Monday morning that I missed and received a zero for.
It automatically gives me a final grade of an F in the class which means I will have to retake the class next semester and spend yet more money (1, 100 dollars to be exact). I arrived at the airport the next morning(Monday, March 23rd, 2009) yet again for my new flight. The flight was from Rome to Chicago at 10:30 a.m. I arrived at the airport at 8:00 a.m. after I paid more money for a taxi driver to take me to the airport for the second day in a row. It cost me about 45 euro each way.
When I went to find the check in counter for my flight, the line was longer than the line for security. Due to poor planning, there were 4 flights to the U.S. all going out within 45 minutes of each other. It took an hour and a half JUST to check in. Then I had to go through security worrying along with hundreds of other passengers flying on the Alitalia flights that we would miss our flight due to your poor planning.
However, we made it through only to find out that the workers for the catering service were on strike. I completely understand that this is out of the airline’s control and workers have a right to strike and are protected by the government. I went to the desk at my gate to discuss with an Alitalia representative what to do about my connecting flight from Chicago to Indianapolis since I would miss it due to the strike.
Finally I had found what seemed to be the only polite and helpful worker I had encountered in the company. She found me a connecting flight and when I told her about my flight being cancelled the day before she said to go to another Alitalia counter and they would bump me up a class due to the mistake made by the airline. I went to that counter and the lady I talked to was the most rude and uncaring customer service person I had ever met. I honestly could not believe the way she was speaking to me. Other people in line behind me were shocked as well.
She told me that she could do nothing and that what had happened to me was not as important as other things going on with the airline at that moment. She had a harsh tone and rolled her eyes at me when I told her that the woman at my gate told me to come to her to receive an upgrade. She dismissed me from the counter and I went back to the gate to wait for my flight. Thankfully the madness ended there and I waited for my flight. After being treated as though I was not an important customer and that my time or money was not important to the company, I will never fly with Alitalia again.
I do not care if I have to pay hundreds of dollars just to avoid any mess like this again with this awful company. It seems as though it is poorly run and the people that are working at the Rome airport for Alitalia have not taken a course in customer relations