After being in bankruptcy since 2017, Alitalia will finally be replaced by Italy’s new national airline, Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA). It’s still not entirely clear to me what we should expect from the new airline, but a major milestone is about to be reached.
In this post:
Alitalia will finally stop selling tickets
It has been announced that Alitalia will stop selling tickets for flights as of October 15, 2021. Tickets for travel as of that date are expected to be pulled as of August 25. That means that Alitalia is hours away from discontinuing ticket sales more than several weeks in advance.
For Alitalia tickets purchased on August 24 or earlier, and for travel on October 15 or later, customers can either receive a full refund, or can request a rebooking on a different airline (though the logistics there might be challenging, to put it mildly).
What will Italy’s new national airline look like?
While we’ve heard a lot of talk about Alitalia’s replacement, Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA), it’s still not entirely clear to me what we should expect from this airline. My understanding is that:
- ITA will receive a capital injection of well over a billion Euros over the next few years
- In part ITA will buy some of Alitalia’s assets, but the airline won’t buy Alitalia’s frequent flyer program (rather a new one will be created); this isn’t because Alitalia is trying to screw customers, but because the European Commission isn’t allowing Alitalia to participate in the open tender of Alitalia’s frequent flyer program
- ITA will grow slowly, and will initially operate a fleet of 52 planes (including just seven long haul planes), then in 2022 the airline will have 78 planes, and by 2025 the airline will have 105 planes
- ITA will only get 85% of Alitalia’s slot at Milan’s Linate Airport (LIN) and 43% of slots at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport (FCO)
- ITA will initially have under 3,000 employees, and that will grow to 8,600 employees by 2022 (up until recently Alitalia had around 10,000 employees)
- There had been talk of ITA potentially buying new planes, but it’s anyone’s guess how that plays out, and it doesn’t seem to be in the cards immediately
I’m not sure the Italian government or taxpayers are really winning here. Yes, Alitalia was a mess, but having to give up so many valuable slots at Italy’s biggest airports to competitors will make it even harder for the new airline to succeed.
With Alitalia stopping ticket sales as of tomorrow, it seems like ITA’s new website should be up soon — I’m curious to see what that looks like, as hopefully gives some more clues into what we should expect from the airline.
Bottom line
It’s hard to believe, but Alitalia will finally cease operations as of October, as the airline will be replaced by new national carrier ITA. This plan has full approval, and in the coming hours all Alitalia flights for October 15 and beyond should be pulled from the reservations system.
While we have a general sense of what the plan is for ITA, it sounds like the exact details are still being worked out, given the process that the national airline has to go through to buy some of Alitalia’s assets.
Can you believe that Alitalia will finally be no more, at least on paper?!
When we were young Alitalia was our favorite line. We flew many lomg trips and always with pleasure, the service was excelent and the pilots were excellent. It is sad for us to read what is happening.
I book flights in Sept 21, from London Heathrow to Milan for the 30th May. Just discovered Alitalia went bust shortly after I booked my tickets…have they been transferred to ITA?
how do i receive my money back from alitalia
How the transition from Alitalia to ITA has been handled is disgusting. The Italian government needs to step in and make sure consumers are not penalized for the bad business practices of a company within its borders. The irony is my flight with Alitalia is now listed under ITA, same flight number, date, time. Everything! So now we are left having to pay for tickets for a second time. I refuse to buy tickets from...
How the transition from Alitalia to ITA has been handled is disgusting. The Italian government needs to step in and make sure consumers are not penalized for the bad business practices of a company within its borders. The irony is my flight with Alitalia is now listed under ITA, same flight number, date, time. Everything! So now we are left having to pay for tickets for a second time. I refuse to buy tickets from ITA even if we have to take a canoe from Greece to Italy!!!
If any leaders from ITA are reading these comments, I have filed a complaint with the United States Federal Trade Commission and will continue to file complaints with various US consumer agencies. Changing the name of the company with the pretense of defrauding consumers is a terrible way to do business.
I am happy I used Platinum American Express Travel to book my November 2021 flights to Rome and back to Miami, because Delta agreed to honor those tickets, and all went smoothly. However, I must say, I took the non-stop Alitalia Miami-Rome-Miami route at least twice a year, and the service and food were always excellent. I shall miss Alitalia very, very much.
Yes I transferred point from Amex to my mille miglia account hope to be able to use them . Or maybe American Express should help us getting them back they may have more influence in the matter.
Yes
I have tickets from alitalia to travel December 6th 2021 know I have to try get my refund. And the crazy part they are still selling tickets with other websites. This is like reaping people of there money.
I purchased tickets from Alitalia in 2020 for a trip in June 2020. Due to the pandemic, the airline gave us vouchers for an additional year (9/24/2020 - 9/24-2021). Due to a heart condition, my cardiologist recommended earlier in 2021 that I should not travel out of the country until at least 2022. He wanted to see what the pandemic health risks would be for my condition in 2022. I've been trying to call and...
I purchased tickets from Alitalia in 2020 for a trip in June 2020. Due to the pandemic, the airline gave us vouchers for an additional year (9/24/2020 - 9/24-2021). Due to a heart condition, my cardiologist recommended earlier in 2021 that I should not travel out of the country until at least 2022. He wanted to see what the pandemic health risks would be for my condition in 2022. I've been trying to call and email Alitalia since May 2022 to get them to extend our vouchers. No less than dozens of calls, and many emails, and I still haven't gotten a response from Alitalia. Our voucher deadline has passed, and the airline is now defunct, so I'm not sure how to proceed further with getting reimbursed (or new vouchers into 2022). This is truly disappointing and infuriating, as their call center is a horrendous customer experience. No one picks up the phone, I've waiting very long times, and typically get disconnected after calling. Ironically, after every call I've attempted, I get an automated callback from Alitalia to complete a survey on their customer call center responses. Needless to say, I gave them bad marks because I haven't even had a chance to speak with anyone about my issue. Please help me get some resolution if possible. Otherwise I've lost a lot of money on these tickets. Thank you
Hi Randy,
Have you made any traction with Alitalia? I’m in a similar boat with the vouchers.
I as well. I can no longer get through to Alitalia using their 1800 number as it no longer is working. My vouchers were just issued in June of this year
I've gotten nowhere with them. They don't respond to emails or phone calls
It's disheartening and disappointing. So many people have lost thousands of dollars in travel expenses. I wonder if the FAA has any jurisdiction over Alitalia or the new airline to extend the old vouchers or provide new ones
How can I get a refund for tickets I purchased fromAlitalia? I have emailed AirItaly twice-The representatives are telling me they are not handling voucher tickets of which I paid $5000 for 4 passengers and to email Air Italy?
If not a refund I would like to make reservations with an airline that goes to Palermo, Sicily. Please help. Thank you
what will happens to our refund tickets money ?.
It's so sad after 75 year that we will no longer hear AZ 055 in the airports
And what about the 300,000+ Millemiglia points I've accumulated over the years. I just purchased $550 worth of miles last month. Shame on Alitalia allowing me to do so knowing they would cease to exist come October. I truly hope and pray that ITA will honor the MilleMiglia points that travelers have accumulated over the years.
@spots81 - I'm in somewhat the same boat as you, although my points were transferred in from American Express for an epic 5 weeks journey to EU from US on several Alitalia flights in business class. The flights were originally booked before the pandemic and were supposed to the been this month starting 20, Oct.
I did receive my refund for taxes & fees for the 2 tickets but I still have 320,000+ Millemiglia Points...
@spots81 - I'm in somewhat the same boat as you, although my points were transferred in from American Express for an epic 5 weeks journey to EU from US on several Alitalia flights in business class. The flights were originally booked before the pandemic and were supposed to the been this month starting 20, Oct.
I did receive my refund for taxes & fees for the 2 tickets but I still have 320,000+ Millemiglia Points sitting in my account doing nothing. My wife and I saved these points from careful Amex spending over almost 9 years for this very special 25th anniversary trip and she is heartbroken that we not only can't do the trip but that we can't even book another because we can't get these points returned to our Amex account.
If anyone has any ideas please email me. Good luck Spots81
In the same boat, my husband and I have vouchers that were issued to us for Alitalia due to the pamdemic ( we had our honeymoon booked but had to postpone due to covid) . I have tried calling and emailing Alitalia and nothing so far. Has anyone gotten this sorted?!?
How does the secondhand market look for all the A330's, 777's, and previous-gen 737's and A320's that were retired during the pandemic look right now? Are stored aircraft still in airworthy shape? Could be worth forgoing the fuel efficiency of purchasing new aircraft if they can pick up older ones for cheap.
I wish people (@KS) would READ these comments.
@Tim Dunn said: "by revenue to Italy"
in relation to Delta.
I have no idea (nor, frankly do I care) whether or not this is true, but it's certainly several miles away from "the largest"
I READ these comments. My point was that for a large period of time, AA flew more capacity into Italy than DL (even with the AZ partnership). I was merely pointing the previous poster's (Tim Dunn) pattern of making such statements. He has known for saying similar things over and over again like DL is the largest carrier by revenue premium on routes between two AA hubs or UA hubs. Even if DL flew a...
I READ these comments. My point was that for a large period of time, AA flew more capacity into Italy than DL (even with the AZ partnership). I was merely pointing the previous poster's (Tim Dunn) pattern of making such statements. He has known for saying similar things over and over again like DL is the largest carrier by revenue premium on routes between two AA hubs or UA hubs. Even if DL flew a route twice daily vs 20 times daily by AA, the poster would say, DL is the carrier with the highest revenue premium even though 95% of passengers on that the route flew AA. The above statement is just one of such statements meant to propogate an impression that DL is not a loser in this. His blind defense of DL for every single thing is not completely unknown to this industry.
It's amazing how much AA's internet supporters sound just like Alitalia's employees the more they type.
American, Delta, Alitalia and every other EU and US airline are for-profit companies. US airlines do not publish profitability by route or hub but they file data with the US DOT which is used to calculate profitability by global region (domestic, Latin America, transatlantic and transpacific).
For years, American has lost about a billion dollars per year...
It's amazing how much AA's internet supporters sound just like Alitalia's employees the more they type.
American, Delta, Alitalia and every other EU and US airline are for-profit companies. US airlines do not publish profitability by route or hub but they file data with the US DOT which is used to calculate profitability by global region (domestic, Latin America, transatlantic and transpacific).
For years, American has lost about a billion dollars per year flying the Pacific. For years, American has never more than broken even flying to Europe.
US airlines do provide average fare data to the US DOT as to foreign airlines that are in joint ventures with US carriers.
American's average fares to continental Europe are lower than Delta and United's and have been for years. The same is true for Asia.
The only parts of American's transatlantic route system where they get average fares above DL and UA is London and in the Pacific it is Tokyo. American's international profits come from Latin America. It is #3 out of 3 US airlines in size across the Atlantic and Pacific.
Their own executives said that 1/3 of their international fleet did not operate profitably even before covid and they therefore are not moving to speed up replacement of their B767 or A330 fleets or the capacity they generated. All of the AA apologists would do well to explain to use where they think AA can't make money internationally because data supports what AA execs say quite fully.
American was larger than Delta in terms of capacity to Italy for 2019 but DOT data shows that they significantly underperformed DL and UA in average fares even though American had and still has the highest unit costs among US airlines.
Alitalia and American will pull capacity out of the US-Italy market because it wasn't profitable, they know it, and so do their competitors.
Despite the arguments about AA, Skyteam will remain the largest airline between the US and Italy because of Delta's positive track record.
Philadelphia will be a much smaller transatlantic hub but for AA even in 2022 while they try for the umpteenth time to be relevant in the NYC to continental Europe, only to pull it down as it once again realizes that Delta and United, not American, can run profitable operations to continental Europe. Delta just happens to do better to Southern Europe while United does better to Central Europe.
Thanks for pointing it out yourself that we don't have data by country and only by region (Europe), thereby verifying that your whole story about DL and Italy was your own hypothesis. And the gist of your diatribe was that AZ played no role whatsoever in DL's network performance in Italy, right? OK, let us reserve our comments on that till we see what happens if DL loses AZ to another carrier...
you clearly didn't read.
I said there is not profitability data below the global region level.
There is average fare data by route and by origin and destination.
American's average fares for the year ended just before covid was 20% lower than Delta and United's average fares to Italy. The same trend is true across continental Europe.
It is highly unlikely that American can be profitable with 20% lower average fares compared to...
you clearly didn't read.
I said there is not profitability data below the global region level.
There is average fare data by route and by origin and destination.
American's average fares for the year ended just before covid was 20% lower than Delta and United's average fares to Italy. The same trend is true across continental Europe.
It is highly unlikely that American can be profitable with 20% lower average fares compared to Delta and United.
But, again, American execs have specifically said that 1/3 of American's international longhaul capacity was not and cannot be profitable on a consistent basis and that is why they, not me, decided they would shrink their international long haul fleet with no near-term plans to replace the 767s and 330s.
So, tell me, where did AA actually not make money given that it very likely was not Italy or much else in continental Europe?
and why do AA fans get so upset when someone points things out that, not only are backed up with data, but also in full agreement with what AA execs themselves have said?
because multiple people asked about Skyteam in Italy, I said based on data that Delta will very likely be able to profitably replace whatever capacity that Alitalia and American pull out of the market in 2022 and beyond.
So basically, again saying that it is all your hypothesis. Thanks,
no, the facts are straight from the DOT.
You and a handful of AA online fans can't accept the facts that even AA execs realize even after billions of dollars of losses.
AA's international network will be smaller. They have made no moves to replace the aircraft they retired.
Delta has more widebody capacity coming online in the next few years - and all of it is lower unit costs than AA or...
no, the facts are straight from the DOT.
You and a handful of AA online fans can't accept the facts that even AA execs realize even after billions of dollars of losses.
AA's international network will be smaller. They have made no moves to replace the aircraft they retired.
Delta has more widebody capacity coming online in the next few years - and all of it is lower unit costs than AA or UA's very large 777 fleets.
Delta will grow in Italy; AA won't be a part of that growth unless they cut their long-haul growth elsewhere.
Oh, yes, of course - we should ignore AA's 50 A321XLRs and the B787 orders - because that doesn't help your hypothesis. But we should of course assume that DL will never retire their B757s and B767s, and keep them forever because they haven't announced a replacement for them. Gotcha!
Good riddance. One of the worst airlines in the world. My last flight with them to YYZ was a Greyhound experience from start to finish. Won't be missed.
There goes Tim Dunn with his ‘DL is the largest airline by revenue in the market’ thingie, just because he knows AA is the largest and cannot accept it :-) Lol...
except that AA is NOT the largest airline by revenue by revenue. Just prior to 9/11, AA tried to add a bunch of routes to Italy even though they had even lower average fares than DL and UA than they had before their expansion (thanks again to the DOT for collecting such great information), and now their execs are saying that 1/3 of the widebodies they flew pre-covid weren't making money on a consistent basis....
except that AA is NOT the largest airline by revenue by revenue. Just prior to 9/11, AA tried to add a bunch of routes to Italy even though they had even lower average fares than DL and UA than they had before their expansion (thanks again to the DOT for collecting such great information), and now their execs are saying that 1/3 of the widebodies they flew pre-covid weren't making money on a consistent basis. American has never done well to continental Europe.
All western airlines exist to make money; being the largest is precisely why Alitalia is in the shape it is today - because they never learned how to make money. They were also strung along by one round after another of subsidies which eventually the EU said was enough.
Since AA's defenders had to jump in and challenge the statement about DL's position in Italy,, it is worth noting that there are more than a few similarities between AA and Alitalia.... always at the bottom of their peer set in profitability, too many employees, having market strength in their most historic hubs - Los Angeles, New York, Chicago - to competitors. and continental Europe. How's that Philly hub working out?
Let me repeat. Delta was the largest airline by revenue to Italy pre-covid and will likely retain that.
Yes, of course it is so convenient to keep on changing your metric like 'revenue', 'revenue premium', or whatever as long as it shows DL as the 'largest' even if they may not be the largest by capacity. Either way, DL was until recently a JV partner and now still the only US partner of AZ. There is no surprise that DL has been getting larger revenues than AA or DL on their FCO routes....
Yes, of course it is so convenient to keep on changing your metric like 'revenue', 'revenue premium', or whatever as long as it shows DL as the 'largest' even if they may not be the largest by capacity. Either way, DL was until recently a JV partner and now still the only US partner of AZ. There is no surprise that DL has been getting larger revenues than AA or DL on their FCO routes. But to pretend that losing AZ to UA/LH will leave everything unchanged is just in line with your blind defense of DL. Good luck defending!
@Mike
Yes I hope they do, One World doesn't want any more Euro trash
Eurotrash like BA and AF
Ridiculous and pathetic. The unions ruined Alitalia (my spell checker just changed that to Genitalia - which could be Freudian) by unrealistic demands in hard times.
Watch out for just another dreary low cost alternative.
Long live the likes of Emirates to at least keep some integrity in the skies.
Rebranding is a powerful tool to indicate a fresh start - at least psychologically.
Delta has been the largest US airline by revenue to Italy for years and are operating the most seats right now and it is very likely that Delta will move to remain in that position as travel recovery returns in 2022.
Source?
US Dept. of Transportation
Been following this for a while now. Etihad had a restructuring offer which poured more money into Alitalia in exchange for a 40% cut in the number of employees, but this was rejected by the work force which led to bankruptcy and this entire dumpster fire. Now it's not a 40% cut in the number of employees, it's closer to 75%, halving the fleet and giving up all the slots.
Alitalia was slowly improving its...
Been following this for a while now. Etihad had a restructuring offer which poured more money into Alitalia in exchange for a 40% cut in the number of employees, but this was rejected by the work force which led to bankruptcy and this entire dumpster fire. Now it's not a 40% cut in the number of employees, it's closer to 75%, halving the fleet and giving up all the slots.
Alitalia was slowly improving its product (the overhauled lounges in Italy look amazing), but there were still too many unsustainable arrangements: contractual, financial, fleet, work force, geography, and route structure. Sure, to Italians it may have been a feasible choice. But when it comes to Europeans in general, and travelers connecting through Europe onwards, why chose Alitalia over its competitors and who does it cater to? It never presented a strong case for itself outside of maybe "the food is delicious." But people don't choose an airline just because the food is slightly better than its competitors...
I'm hoping to have Alitalia stay with Skyteam. They're losing Air Europa, they'll probably lose CSA Czech due to bankruptcy/restructuring. Having them move to Star would just be oversaturation; a power move by LH to just make themselves bigger.
Long live the Alitalia brand, history and culture! Hope we'll see Alitalia's livery painted on some new shiny Airbuses in a year from now
Alitalia had new buses.
Interesting to see how they handle award tickets booked before Aug 25 for travel after Oct 15. We have round trip tickets booked in Business for May 2022 from IAD to FCO, then return flights from GOA to IAD. Let’s see what happens!
MXP is Milan Malpensa - the intercontinental airport
From there’d Alitalia flies only to New York, Tokyo and some peanut flights (Abu Dhabi and 1 Rome a day)
The heart of it is Linate (LIN) Milan’s Cory airport
A true business airport with insane connections and rules - and that’s the golden goose which ITA is keeping
Alitalia, non funziona per te!
Alitalia is not a significant carrier in SkyTeam so no big loss. As a new company they will not be a member of any alliance and have no loyalty programme.
They just posted a notice on Alitalia.com, so it’s unclear what will happen thereafter . Will people be redirected to ITA.com?
Will ITA maintain the 055 code? If not, that means no other airline will accept their...
Alitalia, non funziona per te!
Alitalia is not a significant carrier in SkyTeam so no big loss. As a new company they will not be a member of any alliance and have no loyalty programme.
They just posted a notice on Alitalia.com, so it’s unclear what will happen thereafter . Will people be redirected to ITA.com?
Will ITA maintain the 055 code? If not, that means no other airline will accept their tickets so they can’t transfer to other airlines as interline agreements are suspended.
If it’s another airline ticket with an AZ code they will just rebook or refund.
Mike, they will be worthless... Some suggest if you have an IT address to redeem for Rental vouchers, but doesn't look good...
Last week I received an email from Alitalia informing me that my flight to New York on October 18th had been canceled. They offered no further information in the email. So I called Alitalia right away at their US phone number. I was on hold for a long long time. Luckily I got thru. They asked me if I wanted a full refund. I said no then I asked them to put me on a Delta Airlines flight. So they did. Thank God it worked out for me.
If you have milles, spend em on something that isn't plane tickets if you think they will get written off.
Might as well get some bottles of wine and an xbox.
What is happening to Millimeglia?? I have 743000 miles. What? Can someone advise on what can be done? This is horrible. Please investigate.
Does anyone know yet what this means for miles stuck in the MilleMiglia program? Is there anything meaningful that can be done with them now? If they're used for a ticket on a partner airline for flights after October 15, would they even be honored?
Thanks for any help/advice!
Arriverderci ! Check their website as the wording is terrible. It depends whether other airlines will accept 055 tickets. If Alitalia is closing down I assume the new company will have a new code.
This was known years ago but understandably most of people can’t redeem miles due to travel restrictions.
Supposedly ITA will acquire 055- ticket code prefix from SAI
The interline agreements are suspended , at least with klm and Air France , as it’s a new airline and they won’t be in SkyTeam
This is what to expect. AZ might continue to offer flights for their miles, at astronomical point levels. During their last use them or lose them challenge they were charging one million miles plus for a RT TATL. The general idea was to simply give up and allow your miles to die. This was not long after an AMEX transfer promo and many travel bloggers pointing out the bargain of AZ miles and the program.
ITA hopes to buy the Alitalia brand in an open tender so don’t expect an ITA branded website or plane. Long live Alitalia!
I really hope they rebrand as is shown on this website: https://simpleflying.com/ita-air-operators-certificate/
Let’s hope they use the Alitalia brand for their new frequent flier brand or something. The brand on their planes doesn’t add value in my opinion now.
The brand does add value, it's the most beautiful in the world.
Wording of this post is misleading - it sounds as though Alitalia as founded in 1946 is ceasing to exist when in reality there have been quite a number of versions, the current iteration has only existed since 2015 when Etihad entered the picture. It's so much more complicated than that:
1946-2008 - "Original" Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. (Alitalia LAI)
2008-2014 - Alitalia - Compagnia Aerea Italiana (Alitalia CAI) - formed from...
Wording of this post is misleading - it sounds as though Alitalia as founded in 1946 is ceasing to exist when in reality there have been quite a number of versions, the current iteration has only existed since 2015 when Etihad entered the picture. It's so much more complicated than that:
1946-2008 - "Original" Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. (Alitalia LAI)
2008-2014 - Alitalia - Compagnia Aerea Italiana (Alitalia CAI) - formed from assets of original bankrupt Alitalia LAI and Air One
2014-Present - Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana (Alitalia SAI) - formed by 49% Etihad and Alitalia-CAI 51%
ITA is just a new company that will acquire the assets of Alitalia SAI, including the Alitalia and CityLiner brands and associated codes.
I really hope Star Alliance takes advantage of this situation and scoops them up.
Ben, the airport code for Milan Linate is LIN and not MXP (Malpensa)
I won't miss the arrogance of the employees.
Always makin us think they were doing us a favor.
Typical of my people.
What alliance will the new airline be in?
@ Jim Walters -- That hasn't been announced or decided yet.
Same question here - I hope it is not another blow to Skyteam
What about existing vouchers? Will they refund them (I read somewhere that they will, but is there someone who has credible information)? If so, what happens in case a refund to the original payment method is no longer wanted? I am asking this because I know that most of the refunds are being made to the credit cards, but is there a way to change it to an alternative way of refund?
It does seem odd for the Italian gov to give up on Alitalia but still sponsor another gov airline. The issue isn't Alitalia, it's the people running the show. Clear house and bring in some seasoned industry experts, and announce a brand overhaul. Then you keep the gates at MXP and FCO. I personally avoided Alitalia because of their performance issues and how bland the branding was (business class cabin was just a blob of...
It does seem odd for the Italian gov to give up on Alitalia but still sponsor another gov airline. The issue isn't Alitalia, it's the people running the show. Clear house and bring in some seasoned industry experts, and announce a brand overhaul. Then you keep the gates at MXP and FCO. I personally avoided Alitalia because of their performance issues and how bland the branding was (business class cabin was just a blob of grey nothingness - where's the Italian soul?).
ITA just sounds like a regulations agency, hard to get excited about flying an airline with such a boring name. Maybe Italiaero instead? Aero Italia? Whatever the result, I hope they put some more passion into their branding and product.
Lastly - Ben you and I have different ideas of slow growth! You said "ITA will grow slowly, and will initially operate a fleet of 52 planes (including just seven long haul planes), then in 2022 the airline will have 78 planes, and by 2025 the airline will have 105 planes" That's more than doubling their fleet in 4 years!
Only few Alitalia long-haul business a few times in the past few years but the food and wine were stellar
I haven't been able to get a refund from Alitalia for flights they cancelled last spring of 2020 (15 months ago). They directed me to a web link which is broken. Any suggestions anyone?
Pray a lot!
I think you should book a ticket and see what airline you can get rebooked on for us
What will happen to my Alitalia miles?
Too bad - they had a great long haul business class meal service from their Etihad days. Sounds like during covid it's gone to a barebones extreme.
Hope that isn't an indicator and they keep a top notch soft product in biz fitting of italy as a food and wine culture.
What about alliances? Been a while since Alitalia was useful for long haul awards, but for intraeurope it helped here and there.