FCO-BOS Economy Question

I originally posted in Italy but was redirected here. Hopefully some folks have flown Alitalia Rome to Boston and can help us out.

 

 

We were booked premium economy Rome to Boston. When checking my itinerary I saw the seats were changed. A call to Alitalia informed me that the plane assigned to the route only had 2 Class of service and no premium economy. I was offered "comfort class" economy seats 32A and C . I can't find it on any seat map!

 

I have learned they have 2 reconfigured A300-200 planes that were previously Air One. Concerned the exit row will have people standing in front of us waiting for the bathroom and won't have the extra legroom.

 

Also kind of curious if anyone else has been downgraded and if they got compensation. Thanks in advance!

Dates and flight numbers always help in trying to decipher what is otherwise a very generalized description of your situation.

Dates and flight numbers always help in trying to decipher what is otherwise a very generalized description of your situation.

Sorry. Wasn't sure I could name the airline! It's AZ614. June 2. 3:05 PM Departure FCO arriving BOS 18:25.

if you go to your itinerary on the airline's webpage, you should be able to pull up the seatmap. I did a dummy booking and it shows row 32A and C are in the exit row.

Edited May 19, 2018 by 6rugrats

We were booked premium economy Rome to Boston. When checking my itinerary I saw the seats were changed. A call to Alitalia informed me that the plane assigned to the route only had 2 Class of service and no premium economy. I was offered "comfort class" economy seats 32A and C . I can't find it on any seat map!

 

I have learned they have 2 reconfigured A300-200 planes that were previously Air One. Concerned the exit row will have people standing in front of us waiting for the bathroom and won't have the extra legroom.

Alitalia normally charges extra for seats in the exit row, which they describe as "comfort seats" - it sound like that may well have been what you told. If I've understood the website correctly, it looks like they would normally be €75 per person one-way on a flight of that length.

 

In those circumstances, from a position of similar complete ignorance about this configuration, I would personally use first principles to ignore the possibility that there might be people waiting to use the toilets in this area. These seats appear to be desirable seats, and I wouldn't lightly give them up.

 

Also kind of curious if anyone else has been downgraded and if they got compensation.

It seems likely that Regulation 261/2004 will apply to this. To cut a long story short, if the downgrade provisions apply, then I think you would be entitled to reimbursement of 75% of the fare paid for this sector, excluding any taxes, fees and charges which do not vary depending on whether you travel in the original cabin or the cabin to which you were downgraded.

 

The text of the Regulation can be found here in PDF and here in HTML. The relevant part is Article 10.

 

As a matter of interest, how did you book the ticket? How much did you pay for it? How much more was it than a ticket in normal economy?

Thanks rugrats. I was told it's the A300-200 and I think the 777 is exit row 32C. The customer service rep said she did not have a seat map for this specific plane configuration. Thus, my confusion.

 

Globaliser, I purchased direct with Alitalia via phone in August 2017. I don't remember exactly how much more Premium Economy was over Economy. Our friends purchased R/T for $750 so using that as a baseline roughly $1000 more per ticket but we have an additional flight from Naples to Rome in there so round down to $800.

 

There was an informative thread on a flyer talk forum about these 2 reconfigured Air One 300s flying this route so others have found themselves in the same situation as us. I'll apply for the reimbursement but dont anticipate getting much back. Live and learn I guess.

I originally posted in Italy but was redirected here. Hopefully some folks have flown Alitalia Rome to Boston and can help us out.

 

 

We were booked premium economy Rome to Boston. When checking my itinerary I saw the seats were changed. A call to Alitalia informed me that the plane assigned to the route only had 2 Class of service and no premium economy. I was offered "comfort class" economy seats 32A and C . I can't find it on any seat map!

 

I have learned they have 2 reconfigured A300-200 planes that were previously Air One. Concerned the exit row will have people standing in front of us waiting for the bathroom and won't have the extra legroom.

 

Also kind of curious if anyone else has been downgraded and if they got compensation. Thanks in advance!

 

I wonder how often they switch aircraft equipment like this.

 

We had this happen twice, two years ago.

It turned out that they *upgraded* us to Magnifica class. It was indeed magnificent!

 

The second time was handled far more poorly.

 

We barely arrived in Venice, and we were initially notified that our tickets (premium economy) were *cancelled*. No other information. The schedule appeared to show the flight still operating.

We couldn't reach anyone either in Italy or in the USA, and we wasted a LOT of our time.

 

We even finally went online, and purchased fully refundable Magnifica tickets, because the only other choice was regular economy, and our bodies are too old and achy for that, we found out just a few years ago.

(Do NOT ask about the price of getting one-way tickets this way. Ouch.)

 

Days went by... and everything indicated that the flight was still operating, but we had no tickets.

Finally... we got an email telling us we had again been upgraded to Magnifica class (and we already had those reservations, so we cancelled them).

 

They could have handled that an awful lot better.

And then it took them forever to refund our money. We eventually had to file a dispute with Amex Plat after we got home, and send copies of everything.

 

However, the service was truly wonderful, and we then realized how much better we felt not only *on* the plane (with lie flat), but also for several days afterwards.

We joked about how "the first one was free, and they've hooked us now" ;)

So although there was no extra cost to us on that trip, we've since started traveling any long-haul in F or J.

 

Fortunately, we had been accumulating awards/points/miles for some time, so we've just been cashing those in every since.

 

GC

Thank you Geezer Couple. I would have paid more toget into Magnifica but it's sold out. The next day same issue. Only offer to stay in Premium Economy was a 6:20 AM flight from Naples and a noon flight from Rome to JFK then Delta to Boston. Too many variables and not worth losing our last nights sleep in Positano. So we are sucking it up in Extra Comfort economy seats.

Thank you Geezer Couple. I would have paid more toget into Magnifica but it's sold out. The next day same issue. Only offer to stay in Premium Economy was a 6:20 AM flight from Naples and a noon flight from Rome to JFK then Delta to Boston. Too many variables and not worth losing our last nights sleep in Positano. So we are sucking it up in Extra Comfort economy seats.

 

I understand that decision!

 

Two months ago, we also had a schedule change for the return from Norway, after a Hurtigruten cruise.

 

BA had cancelled service from BGO to LHR (perhaps seasonal?), so months after having confirmed tickets, we got a notice that we were given a different way to get to LHR: two connections AND... we were to arrive at LHR a few hours *after* our flight out of LHR would have left. DUH!

 

So they had to put us on a non-partner airline to get us out earlier in the morning.

BIG MISTAKE for us!

That first flight left *early*, so we "did" what you are avoiding. Good decision on your part ;)

We had to get up SO early, it was really unpleasant, especially as a way to end a relaxing vacation.

 

Next time, we'll take connections requiring an overnight along the way, instead.

We are making future plans accordingly.

 

GC

I was told it's the A300-200 and I think the 777 is exit row 32C. The customer service rep said she did not have a seat map for this specific plane configuration.

It's actually an A330-200. The current economy seat map looks like this:-

Seat Map Search:
Departing FCO on 02/06/18 for BOS
Flying AZ flight 614 in Business, Economy

       A   C       D   E   G   H       J   L   
12      +   +       -   -   +   -       #   +       
14      -   -       +   +   -   -       -   -       
15      -   -       -   -   -   -       -   -       
16      -   -       -   -   -   -       -   -       
18      -   -       -   -   -   -       -   -       
19      -   -       -   -   +   -       -   -       
20      -   -       -   -   -   -       -   -       
21      -   -       -   +   -   -       -   -       
22      -   -       -   -   -   -       -   -       
23      -   -       -   -   -   -       -   -       
24      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
25      -   -       +   +   +   -       -   -       
26      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
27      +   +       +   +   +   +       -   -       
28      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
29      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
30      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
31                  +   +   +   +                   
32  E   -   -       -   +   +   #       -   -   E   
33      -   +       +   +   +   +       -   -       
34      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
35      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
36      -   -       +   +   +   +       +   +       
37      -   -       -   +   +   +       -   -       
38      -   -       -   -   -   -       -   -       
39      -   +       -   -   -   +       -   -       
40      -   -       +   +   +   +       -   -       
41      -   -       +   -   +           +   -       
42      -   -       -   +   +           -   -       
43      -   -       -   -   -           +   +       
44      -   -       -   +   +           +   +       
       A   C       D   E   G   H       J   L   




Seats
Premium Only             P                        
Available                +                        
Handicap-Accessible      H                        
Paid & Premium           #                        
Occupied                 -                        
Blocked                  X                        
Lavatory                 L                        
Paid                     $                        

Location
Exit Row                 E                        
Wing                     W                        
Upper Deck               U                        

I wonder how often they switch aircraft equipment like this.

There's no single answer to how often "they" switch equipment. There will be different reasons on different occasions.

 

In this case, it sounds like Alitalia has a couple of orphan aircraft in the fleet which are in a different configuration to the standard aircraft. I'm not sure that they're necessarily the ones that came from Air One; one source I went to suggests that the orphan aircraft are the two that came from Etihad. A quick look at availability displays suggests that Alitalia removes the premium economy booking classes from sale when one of the orphan aircraft is planned to operate a specific flight, so that passengers like the OP get some advance warning of this.

 

Other airlines with orphan aircraft may take the different approach of always selling the flight as for the standard aircraft, not allocating an aircraft or configuration to the flight until short-term planning kicks in, and simply downgrade or if necessary bump passengers on the day of the flight.

 

Two months ago, we also had a schedule change for the return from Norway, after a Hurtigruten cruise.

 

BA had cancelled service from BGO to LHR (perhaps seasonal?)

This was a route cancellation; although BA phrased it as a suspension, nobody expects to see it back any time soon. It's a pity, because it had become a useful route for us.

Doing a bit more digging for the OP from the information that the orphan aircraft may be ex-Etihad, the seat map for the OP's flight matches the seat map for this Etihad configuration, except that the rows have been renumbered: https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Etihad_Airways/Etihad_Airways_Airbus_A330-200_V3.php. (It is specifically this one rather than the other Etihad configuration for this aircraft which is very similar, because the business class configuration matches the one in the link.)

 

If that is right, there are no toilets near the exit row at 32.

 

The renumbering has also reminded me of one Italian quirk: 17 is considered an unlucky number, which is why the Alitalia numbering sequence contains neither 13 nor 17.

Thank you Globaliser. I realized after the fact that they are 2 Former Ethiad planes, I-EJGA and I-EJGB. I believe the Air One planes did get reconfigured and include premium economy.

 

Further research from seat guru has gleaned that while there is no bathroom traffic to cause annoyance the A seat may have to deal with the protrusion of the emergency slide in the exit door. Also there have been some complaints of it being very cold.

 

I'm with the Geezer Couple as far as trying to make vacation travel as pleasant as possible especially as airlines have made economy barely tolerable. When I fly domestic I have status and get extra room seats. On the few occasions I've been in the back I could not believe how close the seats are. No wonder people buy those recline blocking pillows! Last international flight was on BA in their old 747 and I decided there and then not to do economy overseas. Going over wasn't too bad but coming home was a misery. And here I am. Hope the wine is plentiful! ;)

Also there have been some complaints of it being very cold.

 

Yes, that is a common complaint in exit rows, particularly at the higher altitudes flown for long haul flights.

Yes, that is a common complaint in exit rows, particularly at the higher altitudes flown for long haul flights.

 

Because the exit row is at a hole in the fuselage into which a plug has been inserted. No way can it be as thermally insulated as the rest of the aircraft.

Thanks Waterbug123 and FlyerTalker. Maybe I ought to put a fleece jacket in my backpack after all.

Thanks Waterbug123 and FlyerTalker. Maybe I ought to put a fleece jacket in my backpack after all.

 

Actually, I have been known to travel with a fleece blanket when sitting in exit rows on a transatlantic flight, and fleece socks. It's not just your upper body that may get cold; for me it's my legs and feet that feel the coldest in those seats.