Review of Alitalia flight Bari Rome in Economy

Airline Alitalia
Flight AZ1616
Class Economy
Seat 12A
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 01:00
Take-off 29 Mar 15, 15:30
Arrival at 29 Mar 15, 16:30
AZ 301 reviews
NGO85
By SILVER 3098
Published on 13th April 2015
Background:

After two days exploring Bari and Matera, it was time to begin the long winding road home to Japan. The first segment of this trip home will be a short hop from Bari to Roma on my favorite carrier, AZ. As a reminder, the routing is as follows:

Part 1 – NGO-PEK [EY 889, Airbus A330-200, Business] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-9850.html
Part 2 – PEK-AUH [EY 889, Airbus A330-200, Business] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-9878.html
Part 3 – AUH-FCO [AZ 853, Airbus A330-200, Business] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-9914.html
Part 4 – FCO-BRI [AZ 1607, Airbus A320, Economy] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-9934.html
Part 5 – BRI-FCO [AZ 1616, Airbus A320, Economy] – You are here
Part 6 – FCO-BEG [AZ 592, Airbus A320, Business] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-10012.html
Part 7 – BEG-AUH [EY 72, Airbus A319, Business] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-10036.html
Part 8 – AUH-PEK-NGO [EY 888, Airbus A330-200, Business] – http://flight-report.com/en/report-10305.html


Pre-flight:

Bari Airport is accessible via train from Bari Centrale station, where I will begin my journey today. English signage is very good and the trains run every 30 minutes. I used the self-service kiosk in the lobby to buy my ticket, which costs €5. The train was clean and contrary to must rail experiences in Italy, actually ran on time.



About twenty minutes later, I find myself back at the Bari Airport train station. Signage is good enough for the blind to find their way back to the Airport. Another trip through the long tunnel dumps me at the entrance of the airport at the arrivals level.



A quick stop in the arrivals level bathroom is made only because I want to show these awesome industrial doors for the stalls. No one is going to be breaching your privacy, these look like they could be cockpit doors. I saw them on the inbound flight, but there were other people in the bathroom at the time.

photo 10

We then take the escalator up to the departures level of the airport. On the way up, there is a sign showing where ticketing offices are for the various carriers that frequent BRI. We can clearly see who runs this town…

photo 11

Arriving at the departures level, there is a monitor showing the flights this afternoon. My flight is showing on time, but that sad news is that there will be little spotting prior to departure. The departures lobby is large and open, but there isn’t much here. There are restaurants at either end, but no other shops. I do approve of the tacky cactus shaped neon lights up on that balcony on the second floor. Really spruced up the place!

photo 12photo 13

When I first arrived, the check-in area was closed. Whoever was checking in for the Milano-Linate flight had gone on break. So, I decided to go have lunch at one of the two restaurant options.

photo 14photo 84

After my snack that was hardly worth €13 (take home message: eat before going to BRI), the check-in counter for AZ was now staffed so I went to get in line. There were a couple of people in front of me, so it took about 10 minutes to drop off my bag and receive my boarding pass.

photo 15

With my boarding pass in hand, I went over to the security line. There was a special line for all the LCCs, which seemed strange, but AZ was given “priority” through the security line. No wait for me as an ‘elite’ AZ passenger, so I was airside within a minute.

photo 16

My gate, A1, was literally right next to the security checkpoint so I decided to take a walk down and see what was happening on the tarmac. First up is this beautiful Fokker 50 owned by Air Vallee (ex-PR) that operates charter flights to Tirana out of Bari.

photo 17

A little bit further down we see a FR B738 being boarded for a flight to MLA. A second later, another FR B738 is seeing taking off right behind it bound for BVA.

photo 18photo 19photo 20

The terminal is bright and new. There aren’t too many shops, but there is this large Peroni Bar in the middle where most of the passengers seemed to be congregating.

photo 21

A couple minutes later, we see the FR B738 bound for MLA taxing and then taking off.

photo 22photo 23

Not a normal sighting, but out of nowhere I hear a helicopter in the distance. Going over to the window we see this bird belonging to the Vigili del Fuoco come swooping in and landing near where my gate is.

photo 24photo 25photo 26

The W6 A320 bound for BUD is then seen taxing and then taking off.



This is when I notice something very peculiar. I see this red tail at the far end of the terminal. I start walking down there and see that it is an OK A319. That may not seem out of place, except that OK doesn’t fly to BRI. I go walk to the gate and it is actually operating as a 4U flight to STR. I don’t frequent Europe, but this seems very strange to me…

photo 32photo 33photo 34

Walking down the terminal, I also notice something else interesting. They must not have repainted these recently; I wouldn’t be expecting a B757 or A300 to show up at BRI anytime soon…

photo 35

In the distance, I see my plane arrive from LIN. That’s my cue to start to making my way back to my gate.

photo 36

Making my way back to the gate, I stop into the bathrooms airside to see their state. Marathon will be sad, in BRI, diaper changing is still a woman’s job.

photo 38photo 39photo 40

Nothing seems to be happening at my gate yet, so I take a seat near the Peroni Bar to do the requisite documents shots. Unfortunately, despite the advertisement that there is free WiFi at BRI, I was never able to connect to the network. Therefore, no corporate shot for this flight.

photo 31photo 41

As I’m sitting down taking my photos, I hear a bunch of noise in front of me and when I look up, it is the A.S. Roma youth team standing in front of me. For those of you that saw the bonus in Part 3 of this series would know why this situation is uncomfortable for me. They all start sitting down around me, so I will take a discreet picture with my phone. They had a match against A.S. Bari the day before and all 30 of them would be on my flight back to FCO.

photo 37



——————————-

Alitalia, AZ1616
Equipment: Airbus A320-200 [EI-DSE, “Antonio Fogazzaro”, delivered March 2007 (ex-Air One)]
Departure: 15:30 (ATD: 15:40)
Arrival: 16:30 (ATA: 16:23)
Flight time: 0:43

Boarding is called on time, and it was conducted a little bit more orderly than the mob boarding I witnessed in FCO. SkyPriority was respected, which I am not, so I will wait my time. My plane is hiding behind the jetbridge, but we can see her tail!

photo 42photo 43

Again, I wait until the last minute to board the plane. The jetbridge has windows giving me this opportunity to get a better picture of my planes nose.

photo 44

As we continue down the same rainbow jetbridge we had before, we can see two AZ crewmembers up ahead boarding the plane (deadheading I presume since the pilot was in uniform), who were very polite. They were talking to the gate agents when I showed up to board, saw me and politely stopped their conversation to let me go through. So, there are respectable AZ crew out there. A look to the right before reaching the plane’s threshold gave a nice shot of the OK A319 getting backed up with the Adriatic Sea in the distance.

photo 45photo 46

A warm welcome on board by a FA, who then directed me to my seat. As before, it will be the exit row for me. No cabin shot since the plane again is 100% full and will only be operated in a Y-configuration. I like how AZ does not block out premium seats when doing seat selections. When you are used to getting nickeled and dimed back in the US, these small things give an airline a positive impression.

Taking my seat, I see that a W6 A320 just arrived and was taking to the non-Schengen side of the airport. This was followed by the OK A319 lifting off in the distance to begin its journey to STR.

photo 47photo 48

Despite receiving a scolding on my last flight for using my camera during taxi/take-off, I threw caution to the wind and took whatever pictures I wanted. After all, I can always play the “ignorant American” card.

We push back on-time and begin the taxi to the runway. If you’ve noticed, all arriving and departing aircraft had been using the runway from west-east. We taxied for a takeoff east-west. I don’t know if this is the reason for the following problem or not, but what happened next was amusing (at least I thought so!). We pull up to the threshold of the runway and stop. I can see a FR B738 coming in for a west-east landing. They touch down and then all of a sudden there is a massive puff of brake-dust as the FR missed the turn-off. Not sure if that was an ATC problem or FR pilot problem, but they were stuck in no man’s land. My plane was blocking the far end of the runway and there was an AZ A320 in final descent right behind them. So we see the FR B738 do a quick U-Turn on the runway and speed off the runway just in time for the AZ A320 from FCO land, who does not miss the turn-off.

photo 49photo 50photo 51

After that excitement, we lined up on the runway and began our trip back to FCO. We get a nice view of the Puglia countryside as we rise to cruising altitude. As we reach cruising altitude, the Apennine Mountains are present in the horizon.

photo 52photo 53photo 54

As before, as soon as they are released, the FAs waste no time in getting to work. They have about 10-15 minutes to do cabin service. While service is underway, let’s take a look at the seat offerings. This seat is gum-free and the pitch (as before) is very good in the exit row.

photo 55photo 56photo 57


We have already reached the Tyrrhenian coast just north of Napoli before the cart ever reaches my row. You can see Ischia in the distance (the volcanic island in the middle of the picture). We then follow the coastline north to Roma.

photo 58photo 59photo 60

The cart arrives at my row and a smiling FA asks me if I would like anything to drink and if I wanted a snack. I ask for a coffee and a sweet snack. This time, we get a different cup (all white, before it was green), but more importantly the cup was half full! A big improvement since this was an acceptable quantity.

photo 61

By the time I finished my coffee and trash was collected, we can already see Fiumicino out the window. You can see the mouth of Tevere sticking out prominently.

photo 62

We continue our descent into FCO over the quaint Italian countryside.

photo 63photo 64photo 65

Our taxi takes us past the PosteItaliane headquarters and this beautiful IG B763. As we keep going through the remote stands, we can see a U2 A319 in the foreground and an AZ A321 in the background that has an unpainted vertical stabilizer. Updating the livery?

photo 66photo 67photo 68

We then arrive at Concourse B that is filled with AZ narrow bodies heading out on domestic/Schengen short-hauls

photo 69photo 70

We pull into Gate B5. As deplaning commences, I look outside and see an A3 A320 taxing and an AZ A321 lifting off in the distance.

photo 71photo 72

A picture of my seat upon deplaning as well as picture of one of the aisles near the front of the plane (I obviously need to work on my strafing skills because that photo is neither straight nor focused…).

photo 73photo 74

A cordial goodbye from the crew in the galley deplaning (bonus for remembering I was English-speaking). The windowless jetbridge is sponsored by Vodafone. After getting back into Concourse B, it’s time to head to the baggage claim following the signage downstairs to the arrival level.

photo 75photo 76

After heading down the escalators, we keep going until we reach the baggage claim. A peak at the monitors shows that I need to head to Baggage Claim 13.

photo 77photo 78

While waiting for the bags to come (~10 minute wait, but it was only a 2 minute walk from the plane so no complaints there), I decided to use the bathroom to get photos of these newly renovated FCO bathrooms since there has been some FCO hate recently. They are nice looking with these hard wood floors, modern sinks, and always had cleaning crews going in and out of them.

photo 79photo 80

With bags in hand, I head outside and take the shuttle to my hotel. I decided to spend the night in Fiumicino in order to get some good seafood and relax my final night before beginning a long day of travelling (4 flights).

This FRist wasn’t prepared, but when I walked to dinner in Fiumicino, I was rewarded with an amazing sunset over the Tyrrhenian Sea. These were taken with my phone, so I apologize for the quality, but are a great way to wrap up this report.

photo 81photo 83

And to appease the Great Cobra, I propose a food bonus from my final meal in Italia. Fiumicino is a quaint fishing town so there is no better way to fill yourself than with the local products. Since I do not drink wine, we will indulge in a Fiumicino brewed beer, 'na biretta Chiara, and locally baked breads. Primi was monkfish and secondi was squid ink tortellini and mussels.



This concludes this domestic trip with AZ from BRI to FCO. You can skip to the bottom if you don’t care about tourism bonuses.




————————

This time, I would like to propose a tourist bonus of Bari. I briefly showed a glimpse of Bari at night in the last report, but this time I’ll take you on a stroll through Bari Vecchia. There isn’t much too see in Bari, but it does have a Mediterranean charm. The old harbor is lined with palm trees and small fishing boats floating in pristine blue water.



Every morning, the fishermen come into the harbor and sell of their morning’s catch along the promenade. They can also be seen throwing their octopi on the ground and cleaning their boats.



Bari is also a major port that has cruise lines that offer transportation to various cities in Croatia and Montenegro.

photo 99

It wasn't planned, but I somehow found myself in Bari for the final days of the Bari International Film Festival.

photo 100photo 101

A walk through the downtown section is nice since there are large pedestrian streets with shops and restaurants lining the road. It makes for a nice stroll at night, but during the day it is deserted and we can just admire the buildings and statues.

photo 102photo 103photo 104

The former castle, Castello Svevo, is located on the edge of Bari Vecchia providing nice views of the steeples in the old town.

photo 105photo 106

The pride of Bari is their cathedral, Basilica di San Nicola, build nearly 1000 years ago. It was a beautiful structure on both the outside and inside. I happened to be there on Palm Sunday, so I also got to enjoy the procession.



The streets in Bari Vecchia embrace the culture of the region with brightly colored buildings lining narrow roads.

photo 112photo 113photo 114

Since I was there during the Bari International Film Festival, most of the hotels were sold out, so I opted for the more traditional accommodation for my stay in Bari: a little B&B in the Old Town. For €45/night, it was more than adequate for my short stay and it reminded me more of spending the weekend with my grandmother since the little Italian grandmother treated me like family while I was there (including a packed lunch for my day in Bari). Their house formerly belonged to a noble family so the house itself was over 800 years old and still retained the original painted ceilings. People rave about the Japanese toilets, but the urinals in Italy are brilliant!




Thanks for stopping by this report and check back in as we begin the trip back to Japan with NGO85’s first intra-European business experience. How will my next AZ business experience go, we’ll see soon!
See more

Verdict

Alitalia

8.0/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Meal/catering9.0

Bari - BRI

8.2/10
Efficiency10.0
Access9.0
Services4.0
Cleanliness10.0

Rome - FCO

8.6/10
Efficiency7.5
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

AZ has been gradually improving in this series. We already went from bad to okay, but I’ll be the first to admit that this third flight was good.

Cabin comfort: These leather seats are aged, but comfortable enough for a short haul. Seat pitch is great in the exit row and it helped sitting next to a petite Italian grandma who didn’t hog the armrest.

Crew: No negative crew interactions this time. From the courteousness of the off-duty crew in BRI to warm welcomes and goodbyes on the plane, this crew was overall good and was efficient in service. I don’t expect anything more on a short flight.

Meal and catering: It’s a 45-minute flight that barely had enough time for a drink service. The crew moved efficiently to make sure they completed service. This time, coffee quantity was okay, I won’t complain. The salty/sweet option was also present.

Entertainment: None. No personal IFE, no press offered, only the inflight magazine. Natural IFE was beautiful this time, so I was a happy flyer.

On-time performance: We left on time and arrived early. Well done, AZ.

Information on the route Bari (BRI) Rome (FCO)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Bari (BRI) → Rome (FCO).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Alitalia avec 6.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 0 heures et 58 minutes.

  More information

11 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 134143 by
    cobra 3582 Comments
    Thanks,

    A good flight with AZ...at last ^^ Very close to my last flights with Alitalia ! :)

    Bari airport seem not bad.
    Good spotting. It's not so unusual in Europe that legacies carrier make some charter job.
    You try airport food instead of enjoying good orechiette paste in center Bari...Shocking !! :))))

    Good experience on board, with a short flight and courteous FA's. Biscuit you ate were made in Basilicata if i remember well ^^

    Of course, i prefer your bonus, with some exceptionnal pics from Bari Vecchia. Basilica san Nicola is a good exemple of Norman architecture in south Italy.

    Like me you love new FCO toilets, clean and modern.

    Very good idea to stop and sleep at Fiumicino, and enjoy peacefully, the end of the trip, without rush for a plane :)

    See you soon ^^

    • Comment 314122 by
      NGO85 SILVER AUTHOR 1955 Comments
      Merci pour tous vos commentaires, Cobra!

      You are getting braver with your English^^

      Yes, I briefly saw the light side of AZ, but will it last for the next flight?

      Bari Airport is very new, but there is nothing in the airport and the free WiFi did not work, unacceptable in the 21st century^^

      In order to make amends for my sins of eating airport food instead of delicious Bari cuisine, I just added a Fiumicino food bonus. Hopefully this will lessen your ire for my heinous crimes^^

      Bari is beautiful and well worth a weekend trip for itself. The Basilica was even more beautiful inside, but alas I did not take pictures :(

      FCO has some of the best airport bathrooms I have seen recently, I would consider returning to Roma just to use them!

      There was a morning BRI-FCO flight, but the connection was short and I did not trust AZ since the tickets were booked separately^^
    • Comment 314143 by
      cobra 3582 Comments
      To appease the Great Cobra...hey cool, i 'm feeling like Thulsa Doom in Conan the barbarian !! :)))
  • Comment 134201 by
    NGO85 SILVER AUTHOR 1955 Comments
    Thank you for your comments, 007!

    Hum eating an expensive burger at airport instead of having some good food in Bari downtown lol
    We all make poor life choices sometimes, it was a mistake that will not be repeated.

    I don't know what the lounge situation was at BRI, there must have been a shared lounge somewhere (LH operates at BRI, so must accommodate *A?). I didn't recall seeing any signs. I figured based on how bad the lounges are at FCO, any trip to the BRI lounge would have been poor life choice as well.

    Restrooms are an important part of the airport experience, especially when lounges don't have them^^ At least I'm not including pictures of bathrooms in poor condition...

    I thought OK had a small fleet without planes to spare, aren't they leasing their A330 from KE that they use on the route to ICN?

    The B&B worked out well given the limited hotel options and the extensive local knowledge of the owner.

    We will be slowly getting into more interesting reports soon!
  • Comment 134202 by
    jetsetpanda 2283 Comments
    I want to show these awesome industrial doors for the stalls. No one is going to be breaching your privacy...
    - Unlike some in Scandinavia where it is a show for all to see.

    ..there are respectable AZ crew out there..
    - That's reassuring to hear.

    After all, I can always play the “ignorant American” card...
    - Ha ha. Yours truly can also play the no English card. ;)

    After my snack that was hardly worth €13 (take home message: eat before going to BRI)
    - Thanks for the cautionary tale. Don't feel so bad, after all making mistakes is how one can learn and is part of life. Personally I always try to use them as learning lessons.


    Beautiful spotting and bonus, especially the sunset ones which are spectacular. Bravo! Looks like you stayed in a charming place.
    • Comment 314150 by
      NGO85 SILVER AUTHOR 1955 Comments
      Jetsetpanda, your comments are always appreciated.

      Unlike some in Scandinavia where it is a show for all to see.
      Again, it comes down to personal preference ;)

      Yours truly can also play the no English card
      Even though I hate using the ignorant American card, sometimes you just have to take advantage of the system in certain situations. I've considered using the I'm Canadian card instead, but our northern neighbors might not like that...

      Yeah, there is also really good spotting from that pier in Fiumicino. There were a ton of people camped out with cameras at sunset getting pictures of the planes taking off when I walked by. Fiumicino was a nice little town, I'd definitely spend another afternoon/evening there before a morning flight, much better than just staying at the Hilton at the airport.
  • Comment 134204 by
    jetsetpanda 2283 Comments
    Again, it comes down to personal preference ;)
    - One man's garbage is another one's treasure, isn't that the truth? ;)

    I've considered using the I'm Canadian card instead, but our northern neighbors might not like that...
    - Just use eh in your speech and you will fit right in.

    There were a ton of people camped out with cameras at sunset getting pictures of the planes taking off when I walked by.
    - Sounds like FCO is a magnet for true aviation aficionados.

    See you on your next report. Ciao.


  • Comment 134651 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6658 Comments
    It's kind of sad when small towns in Italy have direct train connections to their airports and I live in the Capital of the free world and we don't have that, LOL. SIGH
    You sure had some beautiful weather on your trip--great bonus pics! And love the planespotting as usual. So this time you won the AZ crew lottery and got a good crew which is nice--though that would have been preferable on the long-haul.
    Every time I see a report on an AZ narrowbody I think to myself, why are those PTVs even there--they seem to almost never use them. What's the point.
    • Comment 314625 by
      KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6658 Comments
      Hey yeah I drank the kool aid. #America :-P
      I'm pretty sure I've seen reports where the screens had the moving map on them, but it's been a while.
    • Comment 314524 by
      NGO85 SILVER AUTHOR 1955 Comments
      I live in the Capital of the free world
      - Did you drink the kool-aid when you took the citizenship test? LOL

      they seem to almost never use them
      - Have they EVER been used before? I just see it as a friendly reminder of the age of the cabin :)

      The train was actually really surprising at Bari, it wasn't too expensive and a very easy connection to the city center. The private rail station was next to the main train station so it was practical too.

      BRI was spotter friendly, just nothing to spot :(

Login to post a comment.