Alitalia
Paid to fly with Alitalia once .................cost £500 in total for 2 of us.
They messed up and overbooked return so we got bumped so got €600 in vouchers, business class return to LHR with another airline, use that up for return flights to Rome and then another flight within Europe that they messed up and ended up spending night in hotel at their expense in Milan because connection missed.
Reckon they lost £1500 on the booking at least.
They messed up and overbooked return so we got bumped so got €600 in vouchers, business class return to LHR with another airline, use that up for return flights to Rome and then another flight within Europe that they messed up and ended up spending night in hotel at their expense in Milan because connection missed.
Reckon they lost £1500 on the booking at least.
Twiddler - I am sure the Italian Govt will get the money to Alitalia and it will survive another year. The point about making a formal complaint is that the EU Commission has to give me a formal response. It's all about making it that little bit more difficult for this form of corruption to take place and making Govt officials squirm a bit more when justifying it.
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If Brussels is all powerful (which if you believe the UK press they most certainly are) you have to ask why they haven't stamped hard on the Italian government's never ending efforts to circumvent the state aid regulations where Alitalia are concerned.
It makes a total mockery of a free and fair market and competition.
It makes a total mockery of a free and fair market and competition.
Think this comment is wrong? then look at the disaster that is the single currency!
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 13th Oct 2013 at 18:04.
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I am sure the Italian Govt will get the money to Alitalia and it will survive another year.
As the whole EU and everything connected with it is a farcical web of fraud and deceit, what difference will this make.
On perhaps a more serious note ........ supposing every Ppruner who is concerned about this perpetuation of fraud were to do what David Johnson has done and write to the EU, it might be a lot of emails and they might take some notice.
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A bit like selling Royal Mail to pay for the idiotic immigration policy of the previous Government.
The sooner HMS UK sails out of the EU, the better!
Leave supporting Europe to our German friends, maybe Lufthansa can buy Alitalia....hahahaha
The sooner HMS UK sails out of the EU, the better!
Leave supporting Europe to our German friends, maybe Lufthansa can buy Alitalia....hahahaha
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How to ruin an airline, Italian style - The Commentator
Full article worth reading, a couple of extracts here :
Full article worth reading, a couple of extracts here :
Alitalia has had a fairly inglorious history. Originally it was a Rome airline. Everyone who worked for Alitalia had to live in Rome. So the ground and air crews in Milan or Venice had to be flown up there and put up in hotels while they worked their shifts, then flown back. Never most people’s airline of choice, except for members of the governing class who travelled free, its name was said to be an acronym of Always Late In Takeoff, Always Late In Arrival, and indeed its punctuality record was and is appalling. Often – it seemed often – you would wait in your seat while nothing happened then a beautifully dressed Italian would stroll on board and the plane could leave. He hadn’t worked up a sweat: he knew they’d wait for him.
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The sooner HMS UK sails out of the EU, the better!
Quite right Buster! Even better if the UK and the others sail out! Replace the EU structure and bureaucracy with a co-operation council for matters of mutual interest and a free trade zone.
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The sooner HMS UK sails out of the EU, the better!
The infamous "island mentality" to the fore, never mind all their fellow countrymen that may have taken the education to learn a foreign language and be making the most of their privilege to live and work in more prosperous jobs and countries of the European Union than those "boring baskets" who decline to leave their island shores except for the occasional holiday and/or booze cruise!
And, no, I don't live and work outside of UK in the EU, I did and I made a bucket load of money doing so sufficient enough to get away from the 20% VAT and the 75 y/o pension age of Blighty to develop my own business in the tropical paradise of a Pacific island.
Good luck y'all sailing out of the EU
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Ah yes,
The infamous "island mentality" to the fore, never mind all their fellow countrymen that may have taken the education to learn a foreign language and be making the most of their privilege to live and work in more prosperous jobs and countries of the European Union than those "boring baskets" who decline to leave their island shores except for the occasional holiday and/or booze cruise!
The infamous "island mentality" to the fore, never mind all their fellow countrymen that may have taken the education to learn a foreign language and be making the most of their privilege to live and work in more prosperous jobs and countries of the European Union than those "boring baskets" who decline to leave their island shores except for the occasional holiday and/or booze cruise!
If it's not insults, it's fear, such as: if we leave the EU there'll be a loss of 3,000,000 jobs, the country will become a backwater, we'll be like Norway and/or Switzerland (again not meant in a complementary way), we'll be punching below our weight, etc., etc., etc., (yawn).
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 21st Oct 2013 at 21:12.
Could I gently nudge discussion away from the topic of EU membership in general and back towards Alitalia ?
Air France seems to be letting it be known that it would be happy for it's 25% equity stake in Alitalia to be diluted down to 11% as AF-KL is reluctant to inject more equity into Alitalia for the time being
Air France considers Alitalia stake dilution - report | Reuters
I received a letter from the EU commission about my complaint that the Italian Govt was providing state aid to Alitalia via the state-owned Italian post office, with the following wording:
"... the Commission has decided to open an ex officio preliminary investigation on the matter, registered with number SA.37491"
I'm sure that IAG making a fuss will have forced Brussels into doing something instead of probably ignoring me, but it is gratifying to note that the wheels of bureaucracy do grind into motion from time to time.
Air France seems to be letting it be known that it would be happy for it's 25% equity stake in Alitalia to be diluted down to 11% as AF-KL is reluctant to inject more equity into Alitalia for the time being
Air France considers Alitalia stake dilution - report | Reuters
I received a letter from the EU commission about my complaint that the Italian Govt was providing state aid to Alitalia via the state-owned Italian post office, with the following wording:
"... the Commission has decided to open an ex officio preliminary investigation on the matter, registered with number SA.37491"
I'm sure that IAG making a fuss will have forced Brussels into doing something instead of probably ignoring me, but it is gratifying to note that the wheels of bureaucracy do grind into motion from time to time.
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 21st Oct 2013 at 21:24.
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Arrogantly Lax In Training, And Lackadaisical In Airmanship
I would have thought that would apply to a greater degree to Air France.
Always Late In Takeoff, And Later In Arriving, might be more appropriate.
I would have thought that would apply to a greater degree to Air France.
Always Late In Takeoff, And Later In Arriving, might be more appropriate.
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The financing secured now? Great! Next move: let's strike again! The first action, called by Uiltrasporti, Anpac, Avia, Anpav and UGL Transport, will start on October 29 at 10 am, just confirmed. This one will last only four hours, but all of the planned strikes will amount to 48 hours, according to the news.
AF-KL have just written down the value of their Alitalia shareholding, making it rather less likely that they will put up any cash in the current round of fundraising. If AF-KL pull out, other current shareholders are likely to be rather more nervous. Either AF-KL is playing hardball with the other stakeholders at this stage or somebody will have to pull a rabbit out of a hat quickly. Squeaky bum time.
Either AF-KL is playing hardball with the other stakeholders at this stage or somebody will have to pull a rabbit out of a hat quickly. Squeaky bum time.
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Needs to be magic rabbit with big wallet.
Fiercely trying to find one. Next week are supposed (rumoured) to meet with Aeroflot. AF/KLM are already feared as executioner ("carnifice", if properly translated).
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Alitalia is planning the first mass firing since its 2008 privatization to cut costs, but a source said it was unlikely to go far enough to persuade top shareholder Air France-KLM to rescue it in a cash call.