I booked a roundtrip flight from Indianapolis to Rome through Vayama.com

in November of 2008. On March 5th 2009, I left Indianapolis on a flight

to Boston in order to be on a direct flight through Alitalia from Boston

to Rome. My flight was slightly delayed however, I had a pleasant

experience on the flight to Rome. The trouble began on my flight back

home. When I booked the flight I was supposed to fly home on Sunday,

March 22, 2009 on a direct flight from Rome(FCO) to Chicago at 10:15 a.m.

Rome time. I arrived at the airport on the morning of Sunday, March 22,

2009 prepared to board my flight. I stood in the check in line for

Alitalia only to be rudely told that I was in the wrong line and needed to

wait in a different one. Once I waited another 45 minutes through that

line I was informed that the flight I had booked was no longer scheduled

for that day and I needed to go to the ticketing counter. After waiting

30 for the lady at the ticketing counter to get off the telephone, she

told me that the flight I was scheduled to be on had been cancelled 5 days

ago. I found this very frustrating considering I never received an email

or phone call stating that my flight had been cancelled. When I told her

I had not been informed of the cancellation she apologised and said there

was nothing she could do except put me on a flight to Chicago the next

day, Monday, March 23, 2009. She did not offer me any kind of

compensation for the trouble your error caused me nor to put me in a hotel

room for the night. Not only did I spend money on a taxi to and from the

airport, but I also had to find a place to stay that night thus costing me

more money. Not to make matters worse, I had a mid-term exam on Monday

morning that I missed and received a zero for. It automatically gives me

a final grade of an F in the class which means I will have to retake the

class next semester and spend yet more money (1,100 dollars to be exact).

I arrived at the airport the next morning(Monday, March 23rd, 2009) yet

again for my new flight. The flight was from Rome to Chicago at 10:30

a.m. I arrived at the airport at 8:00 a.m. after I paid more money for a

taxi driver to take me to the airport for the second day in a row. It

cost me about 45 euro each way. When I went to find the check in counter

for my flight, the line was longer than the line for security. Due to

poor planning, there were 4 flights to the U.S. all going out within 45

minutes of each other. It took an hour and a half JUST to check in. Then

I had to go through security worrying along with hundreds of other

passengers flying on the Alitalia flights that we would miss our flight

due to your poor planning. However, we made it through only to find out

that the workers for the catering service were on strike. I completely

understand that this is out of the airline’s control and workers have a

right to strike and are protected by the government. I went to the desk

at my gate to discuss with an Alitalia representative what to do about my

connecting flight from Chicago to Indianapolis since I would miss it due

to the strike. Finally I had found what seemed to be the only polite and

helpful worker I had encountered in the company. She found me a

connecting flight and when I told her about my flight being cancelled the

day before she said to go to another Alitalia counter and they would bump

me up a class due to the mistake made by the airline. I went to that

counter and the lady I talked to was the most rude and uncaring customer

service person I had ever met. I honestly could not believe the way she

was speaking to me. Other people in line behind me were shocked as well.

She told me that she could do nothing and that what had happened to me was

not as important as other things going on with the airline at that moment.

She had a harsh tone and rolled her eyes at me when I told her that the

woman at my gate told me to come to her to receive an upgrade. She

dismissed me from the counter and I went back to the gate to wait for my

flight. Thankfully the madness ended there and I waited for my flight.

After being treated as though I was not an important customer and that my

time or money was not important to the company, I will never fly with

Alitalia again. I do not care if I have to pay hundreds of dollars just

to avoid any mess like this again with this awful company. It seems as

though it is poorly run and the people that are working at the Rome

airport for Alitalia have not taken a course in customer relations