[enofile]

We missed our flight to Rome from Atlanta due to a Delta flight being delayed from Chicago because of mechanical problems. After at least an hour of argument and stressful persuasion, we are elite members of Delta's program, Delta's representatives agreed to re-route us through Barcelona to Rome. Of course, our luggage was lost enroute. After a couple of hours of filling out forms at Fiumicino, we finally settled into our hotel 12 hours after our scheduled arrival. The next day, we waited for luggage to arrive, but received no phone call. We tried to contact Delta, but it seems the airline has no office in Italy. It was exasperating since we were using calling cards in an attempt to contact Delta. We finally gave up at around 6:00 PM and ran out to purchase essentials like underwear and toiletries. Our luggage finally arrived on the afternoon of our last day in Rome. To add misery to our general discontent, we missed our connecting flight back to the States due to fog in Paris which delayed our flight from Rome. During this entire ordeal and now that we are trying to get some recompense, Delta's representatives have treated us with contempt and arrogance. We have always loved to travel, but sadly now it may be easier to just stay home.

[jimworcs]

You were somewhat between a rock and a hard place, with Delta and Alitalia, both of whom are appallimg, and in the worst alliance, Skyteam. It does not pay to travel on US based airlines to Europe. Yiu have more rights and protections when travelling on an EU based carrier, under EU rule 261. I would recommend in future you travel with Lufthansa, BA or Swiss for example. This doesn't guarantee a great experience, but standards of customer service have not fallen as low in European airlines quite as fast as U S based ones and you have more rights under EU rules, even if you are a US Citizen departing from a US airport, as long as you are booked on an EU carrier.