Alitalia (Merged)

[philipat]

AZ Bunny goes on and on and................

Billy164:

Sorry about the experience but you were cautioned before you booked. At least you paid with a CC as recommended, so if AZ goes belly-up before your trip, you will get your money back from the CC Company, but will of course not get to spend the hols in Jardin Botanico.

A few random thoughts:

1. If AZ are insisting your ticket is only good for a through check at LHR to GRU, then isn't your checked-through baggage an AZ problem? They should be responsible for the transfer to MXP because, and I assume you don't have to clear immigration in Italy(?), you are only "In transit" in Milan with a Boarding Pass and checked baggage receipt for a connecting flight on the same carrier? In fact, if your bag is checked throught to GRU, it should not, in part for security reasons, even exit the belt in Milan because, having checked the bag to GRU, they and not you accept responsibility for it all the way to GRU. They can't have it both ways. Either they insist on checking you and your bag through to GRU at LHR or they don't. If the latter, you should be able to take an earlier BA to MXP and check in to GRU at MXP. You would NOT be using the sectors out of sequence, just not using the first sector. The issue is probably that they are heavily discounting outside Italy for longhaul AZ connections in Italy, so they don't want Italians buying cheaper tickets in UK then just discarding the European connex sectors.
2. There are taxis in Milano!! The taxi ride, especially at that time of night would be much quicker. In my experience at LIN (Albeit not with AZ) baggage does come through quite quickly, even at peak evening times. SO you should be able to make it, even if Item 1 (Above) does not apply. Alternatively, depending on the time/cost equation, you could take a short cab ride from LIN to the Central station in Milano then take the MXP Express. It's actually quite quick and direct because LIN is to the SE and MXP to the NW of Milano.
3. Travelling without a check-in would save time. A full-size carry-on wheelie should be adeqaute for a trip of up to one week in my experience if you pack carefully.

Hope some of the above may help.