The crap aboard Alitalia, chronicling my (likely) last trip on the Italian airline

Those who know me know very well that I have always chosen to fly AZ when it operated the route I needed, even at a higher price than the competition, or perhaps taking a stopover flight rather than a direct one. I have been a member of Winged Arrow and/or Ulysses for over ten years depending on the period. Over those years I took hundreds of Alitalia flights, even though I could fly to Brussels with Brussels, to London with BA, or to the United States with other airlines.

I always tried to accumulate as many points as I could on the Millemiglia program and used those points to fly all over the world: from the U.S. to Japan, from Israel to Russia.

Now, however ,that the slow agony has come to an end, it is only fair that ITA restarts trying not to make the mistakes that so many, too many, have committed over the years.

I think the summary of Alitalia's epic was perfectly represented by my last flight last Sunday, a Linate/Fiumicino, a route that for years has been the golden goose for AZ and which, rightly, the European Union has put as stake of discontinuity to the new Italy Air Transport.

My Flight AZ2071

What can I say, in a Linate pulled together. bringing me back down to earth was immediately taken care of by Casa Alitalia, dark and closed for more than 18 months. While in the rest of the world, companies have reopened lounges. For over a year, Alitalia has not. The reason is obvious, if I don't open I don't spend, so I save money.

Of course, if we were talking about secondary airports it is a right choice, made by other companies as well, but in your two main airports like LIN and FCO you can't keep it closed.

Alitalia over the years has always been great at virtual marketing but bad in the real world, a perfect example being the sticker on the plane that took me from Milan to Rome. A sticker that reminded me of how AZ to be the official carrier of the Italian expedition to the Tokyo Olympics, singular then that they spent a few thousand euros to stick a sticker on it, when you then set foot on the plane and it feels like a pigsty.

Yes, because on the website it talks about sanitation, passenger and crew protection, but in the real world the situation is not exactly as it is painted. Here when I sit in my seat, in row 4 of the A319, I find a bottle of water on the floor, a newspaper in the pocket in front of the seat, and a baggie with a used face mask inside.

Of course, you can think all you want, the Airbus A319 initials EI-IMO is almost 20 years old, and you cannot expect wi-fi or that everything is neat and perfect.

As records show on Sunday, it had already operated 3 flights and I highly doubt, judging by the condition of the aircraft, that it is never been sanitized as well as Alitalia explains on its website.

I did not go around the whole plane, but I only had to look around to see that "filth" was everywhere. Personally, I have never been on such a dirty plane, not even on the worst flights in South America have I found such a situation. Even in the "business" rows, the ones that on domestic routes exist only on Linate/Fiumicino, the pockets were full of garbage.

And it's not like the situation on the ground was any better. Considering that the plane was stationary at Linate over 50 minutes I think time for a clean up could have been found, especially by those who boast on their website that they are a health-conscious carrier for their passengers.

In conclusion

I'm not part of that segment of Italy that cheered for failure, today I'm cheering for ITA and can't wait to sign up for the new loyalty program and to fly on October 25 with the new company. It is, however, the head that needs to change, the head of everyone from the first executive to the last flight attendant otherwise spare us yet another agony and pull the plug.