I am a 30-year old woman from Framingham, MA who has been living in Madrid for the last three years. I spend all year looking forward to my one-week trip home at Christmas to visit my family. This year I flew Alitalia Airlines into Newark on December 20 and took a train to Boston the next day. I landed on December 20 and the airline lost my bag. It is now five days later and the bag has not appeared.
While I understand that bags sometimes do not reach their destination and that this is a very busy time of year, what is not acceptable is that for the past five days I have spent upward of three hours each day on the telephone trying to reach Alitalia, to no avail. I repeat: in five days I have not been able to reach a SINGLE EMPLOYEE of Alitalia on the phone or in person (I even went to Logan in an attempt to speak to somebody). This has effectively ruined my holiday and my time with my family. I find it deplorable that customer service is absolutely nonexistent at this time of year.
I have made hundreds of phone calls to Newark Airport, Logan Airport, Milan Airport, Madrid Airport and the Customer Relations department in New York City. There is literally nobody at the end of these phone lines. Phones ring and ring and are NEVER ANSWERED. I leave dozens of messages that are never returned. The "bag tracking" service on Alitalia's website tells me that my baggage reference number is invalid.
I have filed a complaint with the FAA and the Aviation Consumer Protection division of the Department of Transportation. I have contacted the Travel Assistance Service of my MasterCard. I will continue to call and do everything in my power to reach Alitalia, but I am at my wit's end. I hope that with some media attention, consumers will learn of the horrible service of this airline and that Alitalia might be held accountable for failing to provide the "superior customer service" that they promise.
Read Next Complaint >>