Review of AeroItalia flight Rome → Bergamo in Economy

INTRODUCTION

Hello dear FlightReporters and happy 2024 to everyone!
The new year brought me great changes.
In December 2023 I finally graduated in architecture. A few weeks later I was offered a big job opportunity as architect-on-site in San Pellegrino Terme, 60 km from Milan. I'd work for the expansion project of Sanpellegrino sparkling water's factory.
Since I starded living (only during the workweek) in San Pellegrino my 2nd home airport became Bergamo-Orio al Serio, located 25 km from the town.

By the end of Febraury I started to plan a trip to visit my family in Rome, having being away from them since Christmas. I decided to leave on Friday and come back to San Pellegrino on Monday evening.

BOOKING OPTIONS

At the beginning of March I started to plan this trip to Rome
First of all I decided to ask Friday afternoon free in order to leave without rush

Initially I took a look for the train from Milan (there's no direct train from Bergamo to Rome) and it costed 210 euros. Moreover getting the train from Milan would have meant driving 60 km, leaving the car at my house and getting to the train station by metro. Too many things to consider and higher risk regarding traffic and so on

Therefore I searched for a flight from Bergamo to Rome. Ryanair used to have flights from BGY to CIA, but now the only air link to the Capital is represented by Aeroitalia
They operated two flights a day

The 6th March I booked these flights:

I had to choose the lowest fare possible (called Basic), which comes with a small baggage to be put under the front seat.

In order to get to BGY by car I booked MilanAirports long-term parking for 35 euros. This brought the total price for the travle to 195 euros, lower than the train.

At the time I booked the flight BGY-FCO route was operated by a Saab 340. By the way, since the week before Easter an ATR 72-600 was used instead.

ROUTING

Some personal stats:
2nd flight of 2024

BEFORE THE FLIGHT

One week after I booked the flight the airline sent me an e-mail stating the return flight had been anticipated of 5 minutes
The new schedule was, therefore:
FCO-BGY 17:15-18:35
Not an issue definitely

Aeroitalia allows passenger with Basic fare to check-in 24 hours before the flight
On Monday morning I got on their website to obtain my boarding pass for FCO-BGY route

The system assigned me automatically 16F, a window seat

AT THE AIRPORT

In order to catch the flight at 17:15 my parents and I agreed to leave home two hours before, considering at that time the motorway is always empty.
We left at 15:25 and twenty-five minutes later we arrived at Rome "Leonardo da Vinci" International Airport

Aeroitalia's operations are handled at Terminal 1

T1 hosts all ITA Airways flights as long as many European carriers

After grabbing a coffee with my parents I made my way to inspection area

Despite the crowd I got screened in 10 minutes
Almost all the lanes were opened

The dutyfree following the security checkpoint was packed of travellers getting last minute souvenirs

The departure lounge was crowded too
A lot of people returning to work after Easter

This part of the shopping lounge had been expanded since the last time I passed through FCO

This stained glass trio made by Giotto comes from Santa Croce's Church in Florence

Since the recent improvements this part of the terminal become more spotting friendly…the problem is the apron lacking of birdies

ITA Airways A320

United Airlines Boeing 777 taxiing to the departure runway

According to the FIDS my flight would depart from gate A81, at the bottom of the newest pier (A61-83)
The bridge connecting to the pier is enriched with Roman statues

Pier A31-52 with ITA Airways A320s in both old and new livery

Find the intruder…

Etihad Airways Boeing 787

Pier A61-83 was such a glow up for FCO's Schenghen departure area

TAP A320

Volotea A320 with old-AZ technical hangars in the background

I arrived at the gate at 16:45, half a hour before scheduled boarding time
Nothing was happening at the gate

More spotting from the ground floor
Vueling A320

Air France A220

SkyAlps Bombardier DHC-8-400
The tail livery is >>>>

WizzAir A321

the nightmare begins

Before leaving home I signed up to Aeroporti di Roma tracking service
They asks for your flight number and an email to provide info to

Around 17 I got a notification stating the flight would have departed at 18:45 (instead of 17:15)
In order to survive the one hour and half delay I moved back to the main departure lounge to get a book and a coffee
I spent one hour sitting waiting for the new boarding time

As I was waiting something strange happened. Checking on FlightRadar I noticed both my flight and the inbound one were reported as "unknown" status. Meanwhile the same flight of mine appeared as operated by a SmartWings Boeing 737 (rather than the ATR 72) at 22:30. Feeling the sh*t smell…

At 18:07 I received an e-mail announcing the cancelation of my flight!

Considering Aeroitalia has no costumer service at FCO I made my way to Aeroporti di Roma's counter to understand what to do
As I was queuing to the desk the FIDS reported my flight to have "gate closed"
Without thinking twice I rushed to the gate which was around 600 meters from my location

Once I reached the gate I found some people chatting and an Aeroitalia's agent watching a football match on his cellphone
I asked him about the flight and he answered me that the gate was assigned to Palermo's flight
He maybe saw my angry faced (made red by the run maybe) and he pointed me his collegues sitting relaxed on nearby waiting area

I approched them asking infos about my flight and they told me it was postponed to 22:30
At first they appeared careless about people complaining for the delay. Along as passegeners of 17:15 flight there're others waiting for the 11:00 one, cancelled in the morning.
After some insistence they explained the situation: the morning flight (operated by the same plane of mine) was cancelled due to techincal reasons. In order to bring all passengers to BGY the airline prepared a leased SmartWings Boeing 737 for 22:30

At this point many passengers got angry and the reason is simple: due to its position BGY serves as hub for many cities in northern italy, not only Milan. This, along as good-priced flights operated from the airport, implies travellers are open to drive or move 60-70 km to reach it. Due to large delay (more than 5 hrs) many asked if any economical compensation for transfer to their destinations was planned. The crew members said the refund is applied only to the flight, not to any other inconvenience caused by the delay.

The worst part of this argument was the behaviour of both Aeroitalia and Swissport ground crew. They spent all the time sitting and checking their phones (Instagram also) as they talked to passengers and also used phrases to justify the situation like "this is a low cost" (160 euros is not a low fare) or "also ITA can have this issues". Such an unprofessional behaviour in my opinion.

I informed the agents about the miscomunication on Aeroporti di Roma tracking service. They answered me they would inform the airport operators.  

At the end I spent almost two hours in front of the gate

Strolling desperately around the terminal I also tried to access boarding area E, dedicated to non-Schenghen flights. It's equipped with more shops and food opportunities. When I got at the passport control the agent told me I could have access the area, but returning to the Schenghen one was not possible. So I gave up…

As dinner time approached (I also joked with my family to come at the airport and have dinner at the landside pizzeria) I moved back to the main departure lounge
I've never seen FCO so full

The upper floor food court is dominated by Eataly, selling Italian food excellences
By the way also other good restaurants are available

One slice of margherita, chips and water: 14 euros
Both were very good honestly

At 21:20 the gate was confirmed again as A81

The ground departure lounge was silent as hell

Once all passengers had gathered at the gate the agents announced that the new departure time was 23:45 (+6h30m on the scheduled time)
The inbound flight was supposed to leave at 20:40, later at 23:20; as we're at the gate the flight hadn't left BGY yet

The ground crew invited passengers from the morning flight to collect their new BPs, while people from the afternoon flight could have kept their original ones. I asked mine to be printed
Still reading 17:15 as departure time sounded like a joke…

At 22:36 the inbound flight took off from BGY
Later on the new departure time appeared on the FIDS: 00:30, 7 hours and 15 minutes beyond scheduled

At 23:31 the inbound landed and stopped at a remote stand ten minutes later
Looking at the screen we realized we'd have "closed" the airport

The crew told me only 22 passengers were onboard the inbound flight, so their disembark would have been very quickly
At 23:49 the gate finally opened

The paxbus drove through a totally asleep apron to our plane:
SmartWings Boeing 737-700, OK-SWW
Delivered to Malèv in Febraury 2003 (21.2 years old) it was later transferred to SmartWings
Now it's leased by Aeroitalia
The plane is equipped with 148 seats, all-Y

Corporate door pic

…and corporate fuselage shot

Do you remember the ground staff didn't print new BPs for afternoon passengers? What a good save of time, except for the fact the old BPs had seat assigned on ANOTHER KIND OF PLANE
Once onboard many passengers found themselves assigned on the same seat
The cabin crew replied it was not an issue considering only 58 people were onboard and passengers "…can sit wherever they want"
I took my seat 16F

At 00:15 "boarding completed" was called but…
The ground agent checking weight and balance came onboard stating the plane was not balanced and at least 8 passengers were asked to move to the back of the cabin
7 hours of delay but still time to play the chairs game…

Twenty minutes before 1AM we left the stand

Taxiing was definitely short (at least this…)
First time in my life taking off from the second holding point of runway 25 rather than the first one

the flight(mare)

At 00:42, almost seven hour and half after scheduled, I finally heard the engine noise

Crossing runway 16R/34L

A few minutes into the flight a snack and a beverage was delivered
I don't think it was planned, maybe it was a way to say "excuse us"

Somewhere over central Italy

Bologna, Modena or one of the big cities in Emilia-Romagna

40 minutes into the flight the seat belt sign was switched on and the plane started to descent

At 1:34, seven hours after scheduled, we roughly touched down Bergamo-Orio al Serio Airport
I don't remember the last time I experienced such a hard landing

Seeing the airport name on the building made me feel safe
At a certain point I start to expect everything, even landing at the wrong airport

Blocking at the stand after an incredibly slow taxiing

We took ages to disembark for unknown reasons

Dropped off at the terminal minutes after 2AM

I went straight to the exit hoping to get the shuttle bus to the long-term parking
Fortunately at that hour it was still working. Definitely a good news considering that the queue for taxis was around 45 minutes
At 2:20 I got the shuttle bus and took my car twenty minutes later

I consider myself lucky since I had the car parked in BGY and my final destination was only 25 km away from it. But I cannot imagine how economically "painful" has been for people obliged to got taxis or transfers for enormous prices.

I arrived in San Pellegrino at 3:15AM, almost TWELVE hours after leaving my house in Rome. In the same time how many places in the world could I have reached?

Goodnight FlightReports and to Aeroitalia: adieux