The not so friendly skies & all you can eat...
Now I realize that America is a service based culture. Though not always practised, all businesses have the mantra that the customer is always right. I also realize that Europe is not nearly as customer-friendly. I understand that and have adjusted my expectations accordingly.
But...
Alitalia STINKS!
I have had the unforunate pleasure of flying with Alitalia twice now. I can easily say it was awful. I've never had such bad service. It's like they are annoyed that you are using their business. Sure it's not a luxurious carrier but I'm pretty sure that I should get more than two waters on an 8hr flight. Plus some decent amount of food that might come close to the size of an actual meal would be nice. Though even if they did provide more food, I wouldn't eat it. It's awful. You know it's bad if I would rather go hungry or pay inflated airport prices for some snacks.
This isn't even why I am mad now. I got over their lameness when I flew back from Christmas. No they managed to screw up again. First they forced Mona to buy a return ticket from Albania because the ticket agent was an idiot. Second when I called to see what her options were because she might miss her flight due to President Bush's visit, the agent (who I reached by calling the US number because the Tirana office was mysteriously closed) was awful and idiotic. She told me that nothing could be done. Mona's ticket could not be changed. When I told the agent that the ticket itself said that changes could be made for a fee of 50Euro, she argued with me. I told her I wanted to speak to a supervisor. She said the supervisor was going to be out for an hour or two. I said this was unacceptable. I needed to get the issue resolved. As I was being insistent, not rude yet, she actually hung up on me. I was pissed! I called back got everything taken care of and spoke to the supervisor. It wasn't even that difficult. Argh.
Moral of this story, NEVER fly Alitalia.
Oh, while I'm venting. Just because you order the "salad bar" and ask if you can get as much as you want, it doesn't mean that you will not be charged for each plate. I learned that the hard way. I ordered the salad bar at a restaurant in Tirana called Taverneta which is used to foreigners. The first time I took small portions of a few things to try them out. The next time I tried a few others. Finally I went back and got some more of each of the dishes I liked. Have you already figured out that I was charged for each plate? Yeah. Nice, huh. I said something to the waiter as we were leaving but I might go back and complain some more. Perhaps I was being foolish but at least the staff should know that there are people like me out there and you got be ready for the foreigners.
Ok. Thanks. I feel better.
posted by james @ 9:55 PM
2 Comments:
it'd be great if someone started a website like this one:
www.screwalitalia.com
ok, even a blg would do..
taverneta also sucks (and the majority of foreigners who eat there are italian) - been there once a year ago, not planning on going bad.
other than that, venting's good for one's health;)
I don’t know James—American Airlines isn’t too hot on my list these days. I was flying to Fort Bragg for work this week and it was a nightmare. Chicago has had a stream of thunderstorms this week causing all planes to be grounded for hours at a time. So, in my flight from Raleigh to Chicago we made an unscheduled stop in Cincinnati b/c ORD was shutting down. Yet, because Cincinnati was not equipped for our aircraft, we were stuck out on the taxi way from 4:00pm until 10:30pm with no food or drinks b/c we couldn’t get catering out their either. There was not a soda or bag of pretzels to be had. Finally a baggage loader brought out a case of water. Unfortunately, with a full plane it did not go far. Not to mention all engines were shut off --you can only imagine how hot it gets in a plane with no air circulating. It was terrible! Once I finally got to Chicago at midnight, they told me the next available flight they could get me on was in 2 days!!!!! With so many flight cancellations and delays, every flight home was booked for the next 2 days. Needless to say, there were thousands in my same situation and thus there was not a hotel or rental car to be had in the city. Luckily Wil loves me enough to drive up to Chicago at 1am and pick me up.
Argh. Airlines!
Natalie
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