Flying Alitalia from Morocco to Rhodes.

Travel Date 6th July 2013

I will continue with the trip reports on Rhodes and Crete after this. Skip this report if you aren't really interested in reading about some of the little things that cause frustration and stress while travelling.

The journey from Casablanca to Rhodes deserves mention. Anyone who has ever flown on a two-leg flight with a short connection time will understand why.

When I planned the trip I wanted to see Iberia, Morocco and the Greek Islands. I prefer rail travel and it made sense to travel by rail and ferry through France, Spain and Morocco but eventually I had no choice. The only sensible way to get from Casablanca to Rhodes in a reasonable time is by air.

After searching the various airlines and routes I eventually discovered that I could make the flight on Alitalia via Rome. Alitalia looked much more attractive as a full service airline than the various budget carriers which also had long connection times via secondary airports. The price was only slightly more than using a no frills airline via Milan

Originally I was going to use Qantas frequent flyer miles. Unfortunately, in the six hours between checking that a seat was available and confirming with Qantas that I could use the FF miles, that seat disappeared. The transfer time of one hour and ten minutes between flights at Rome looked tight, so I attempted to contact Alitalia to discuss that. I did not want to add an overnight stay in Rome, but I was prepared to do that if necessary. Eventually I spoke to a girl in the UK who reassured me that it would be no problem, so I booked the ticket.

It was only when I printed out the booking that I realised I arrived at Terminal 3 at 16:30 and departed from distant Terminal 1 at 17:40, with a 45 minute check-in time limit noted on the ticket. That seemed to be cutting it very fine. Worse, I discovered that I would have to pass through immigration in Rome, not Rhodes, as I was re-entering the EU there from Morocco.

A few weeks later an email arrived informing me that the Rhodes flight would leave Rome ten minutes earlier. This email exchange with the Australian agent (the phone was not answered) shows what happened next. My message:
 

I am having great difficulty contacting Alitalia to discuss the booking at the foot of this message.

Before I purchased the ticket I tried to contact Alitalia. The Italian customer service numbers answered with a recorded message in Italian then disconnected. I eventually discussed the transfer time at Rome of 1 hour and ten minutes using the UK customer service number. The person there reassured me that one hour and ten minutes was adequate.

Based on that reassuring advice I purchased the ticket, which was the standard offer appearing for CMN to RHO on that day. I also pre-paid for non-cancellable hotel rooms in Casablanca before departure and Rhodes on arrival.

Now this advice has arrived by email:
**
Dear Madam, dear Sir,

We would like to inform you that flight AZ 00730 of 06/07 has been rescheduled.
The flight is now expected to leave ROMA FCO at 17:30 and arrive in RHODES RHO at 20:50.
**
That means there is now only one hour to transfer. Today I still could not speak to anyone in Italy. I contacted the USA customer service number and found I was speaking to Jason in Albania who again reassured me that one hour is OK.

I need to know whether I can have an Alitalia staff member meet me on arrival at FCO to assist me to make the departing Rhodes flight on time please? I have not been in that airport before. I will check my bag at Casablanca through to Rhodes, so I presume I will not need to collect it and re-check it. Will I need to clear immigration, or as a transit passenger do I do that on arrival at Rhodes?

There is only one daily flight to Rhodes. If, through no fault of my own, Alitalia timing causes me to miss that flight will they put me in a hotel and send me on the next day's flight for no extra charge?

Please advise. I can be reached by return email or on Australia 02-********.
***

The reply from Alitalia:

***
Dear Customer,
We will be able to provide you needed information through our Customer Center services.
We kindly ask you to contact the number +39 06 65649 to be properly assisted.
Thank you for your understanding
Best Regards
Alitalia Customer Relations

***
The number they told me to ring is the one I had tried unsuccessfully. Gee, thanks a lot, Alitalia. I decided to use Doris Day's method to handle the stress: que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.

When the day arrived I tried again at Casablanca airport to get assistance. The Alitalia agent decided to change my booking to 'wheelchair' as a way to guarantee assistance at Rome. I declined. I could just imagine how the other passengers would feel if I strode briskly away from the wheelchair once I arrived at the gate lounge.
We departed on time. This was the sequence of slowly increasing panic on arrival in Rome.

• Rome, 16:30, zero minus 60. The flight landed on time but taxied an incredibly long way before stopping a long way from the terminal buildings. I discovered that there were no air-stairs. We all boarded a bus which waited patiently for the last passenger before moving slowly off to Terminal 3.
• Zero minus 45. Arrived at Terminal 3 to find a long queue at the security checkpoint for transferring passengers. Apparently the Italians do not trust the pre-flight security checks at foreign airports and do it again themselves.
• Zero minus 40. Still in the queue which has hardly moved. The man in front of me is also stressed at the delay and waving his onwards boarding pass at the supervisor. I try the same thing. We are both sternly told to wait our turn.
• Zero minus 30. Finally through security. Followed the signs (clear and obvious, thank goodness) towards Terminal 1.
• Zero minus 25. Encounter long queue at immigration. Only two officers on duty, but they are working frantically fast.
• Zero minus 20. Through immigration and onwards to Terminal 1 as fast as my 66yo legs can take me; I feel like I am taking part in an Olympics walking race.
• Zero minus 15. Reach Terminal 1 and discover my gate lounge is the farthest possible from Terminal 3.
• Zero minus 10. Arrive, collapse into a chair – and then wait 20 minutes for a late departure!

On arrival at Rhodes I had that sinking feeling as I waited at the carousel until the arrivals lounge was deserted and my bag had not appeared. A lady then arrived to tell me it was not on the plane. Apparently it went to Athens. After half an hour filling out details on her computer she assured me a taxi would deliver it to my hotel next morning. About midday next day she rang to tell me to come to the airport to pick it up. I asked what happened to the cab? She said if I wanted it delivered it would not arrive until midnight via their delivery van. She was quite annoyed when I told her I still wanted it delivered because the airport was a €22 fare each way or a rather long bus ride from town. I advised the hotel night manager who accepted it while I slept.

The lack of interest in my timing and baggage concerns and the difficulty of phone contact means it may be a long time before I try Alitalia again. However, to be fair, the flights arrived safely and the meal from Casablanca to Rome was the best in-flight meal I have had in economy for quite a while.

Cheers, Alan

From Home to Hondarribia via Kuala Lumpur and Paris

On my way again. This is the most I pack on a trip. The carry-on is the backpack, with all my vital 'cannot lose' items in it including my net-book, travel bookings, chargers, medications and similar items. The other bag, which I check when I must, is mainly clothes and not a disaster if it gets lost.

Travel Date 16th-19th June 2013.
Click on any picture to see a larger version.

This post is all about 'getting there'. It includes some tips on what to do in preparation, and some hints on what not to do from my mistakes. If that part of travel bores you, skip to the next post :)

I initially wrote my trip reports of my visit to Europe and Morocco in 2013 on Facebook. Now that I have finally posted all my China trip reports I have decided to post the Europe trip here; that also lets me add more pictures. I wrote some first thoughts, exhausted because sleep escaped me, on the TGV train en-route from Paris to Hendaye. Which, I found when no-one at the Montparnasse information centre understood my fractured French, is pronounced On-day. 

The transport plan was:

• Home to Tweed Heads bus (1hr)
• Tweed heads to Varsity Lakes bus (1hr)
• Varsity Lakes to Brisbane Airport train (1:45)
• Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur air overnight (8 hours)
• Transit KL 17 hours 6am-11pm  
• KL to Paris CDG air overnight 12 hours
• Transit Paris and bus to Montparnasse 6 hours
• Montparnasse to Hendaye six hours.
• Cab to Hondarribia.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, an experiment to save time and money. But I won't do this again. Next time I will do as I have in the past and plan overnight stays in transit cities. There are so many advantages to that practice, not the least being adequate sleep and reducing jet-lag.

I started the journey as I walked out the door to catch the 14:02 bus from the stop just five minutes' walk down the road in Pottsville. The intention was to connect with the 14:55 from Tweed Heads to Varsity Lakes rail station, connecting there to the Brisbane Airport train. The bus arrived ten minutes late. As a seasoned traveller I allow for things like that. Just as well, because the knock-on effect led to every connection being missed, but I still made the flight comfortably after two hour-long bus rides and just under two hours in the train. The flight departed on time at 11:20 pm.

Oh, to be wealthy and fly in business or first class. Only a dream. Instead I was back again in cattle class hoping for at least an empty seat beside me. Forlorn hope. Apparently I was not the only one taking advantage of Malaysia Airlines discounts to KL and Europe. There was not an empty seat on the long flight in the A330. Economy seat pitch is similar to most airlines – squashed for a six-footer – but at least the recline was better than Air Asia and full service was included, including beer, wines and spirits. The meal was nothing to write home about, effectively a pastry similar to a sausage roll filled with chicken and vegetables. Breakfast was more carbohydrates than anyone should eat at any time of day, but among the excess was a small sausage, some mushrooms and something that looked like scrambled eggs but lost any resemblance at that point. Still, better than no non-starchy choices at all.

I arrived in KLIA a little after 6 am. I passed swiftly through immigration, which was impressively well-staffed with no more than one or two people waiting at any one time. That was a dramatic improvement on my previous experiences in KL at both sides of the runway (KLIA and LCCT) and nice to see.

 
On the flight from Brisbane to KL I tried, but failed, to sleep. I felt grotty and jet-lagged; my main desire on arrival was a shower. The only option at KLIA was to spend $20 at the airport hotel for the privilege of using the bathroom. Pre-trip research on the web indicated better possibilities at KL Sentral, the main rail and bus terminus in town. There are cheaper options from the airport to the centre, 9MYR ($3) each way by bus, but the train is well worth the price of 35 MYR ($12) each way. Inside the KL Sentral complex I eventually found the showers. Look for the little blue 'Bilik Mandi' sign on the wall:

For 7MYR I was given a towel and the keys to a changing room. As the place is unisex I wore the towel from the room to the toilets (squat) and the showers.

 

 

If I appear to have a fixation with showers, believe me that can be priority one after a long, sleepless night and jet-lag. The facilities were basic, but well worth the visit. There is nothing like the feeling of refreshment from a shower after a long flight. Despite the lack of sleep I eventually felt capable of wandering Kuala Lumpur.

I spent a leisurely day re-visiting some places I had been before, especially the area around Bukit Bintang for its shops, cafes and restaurants. To fill in some time I bought a ticket on the KTM to Petaling to wander a locality away from tourists, have a snack in a street cafe, and get a feel for the area.

Finally I was back at the airport for dinner before departure on time at 11:40 pm. I had hoped for an empty seat beside me on the massive A380, but once again I was disappointed. Malaysian Air's marketing campaign was certainly filling the seats. I saw very few vacant seats and none near me. The midnight dinner was more generous than the previous flight. I chose braised beef which could have spent a little longer being cooked.

Sleep escaped me again. It didn't help that the Chinese lady immediately behind me appeared to have a sinus condition which required the loudest catarrhal clearing of the passages I've ever heard, without warning at hourly intervals. As I had the seat laid back and she leaned forward it was a startling experience each time.

The flight had a few small rough spots but was generally smooth, as was the touch-down. I would fly Malaysian again, but I may blow the budget on business class next time. Note that as I add this to my blog MH370 is still missing but I would happily fly Malaysian despite that.

We arrived in Paris CDG Terminal 1 about 6:30 am local time. By the time I had cleared immigration (quick) and waited for my bag at the carousel (slow) it was 7:30. Why is my bag always in the last bunch to arrive on the carousel? Another of life's great mysteries. 

My earlier web research helped me to quickly catch the internal train to terminal 2, grab some Euros from an ATM and connect with the LesCars bus to Montparnasse at 8:11. It was advertised as a 50 minute trip. That did not allow for Paris peak hour traffic. Two hours and twenty minutes later we arrived. I bought the TGV ticket on the web some months earlier when a discount of €40 appeared for a short time, probably an error but it was honoured. When I bought the ticket I deliberately chose the 12:27 departure to allow for late flights or similar contingencies. A wise move. I spent the waiting time consuming an all-liquid early lunch in a café opposite the terminal: coffee followed by a glass of pleasant house red, a French onion soup and a beer. Despite my weariness it was a very pleasant interlude, including a chat over lunch with a couple travelling home from Venice to Rennes.

First class was pleasant. The train was comfortable but not as fast as my previous experiences of European high speed trains and also suffered from a delay for unspecified reasons.

 

 

I arrived in Hendaye at 7pm in pouring rain. The cab driver charged a set off-meter fare of €20 for the short 'international' trip to Hondarribia in Spain and then deposited me in the rain at the Paradores Hotel back door instead of the Palacete. Eventually, damp and weary (thank goodness I included a folding umbrella in the side pocket of my backpack) I found the Hotel Palacete. After re-discovering the bliss of true Spanish Tapas at the local restaurant I fell into bed weary but happy at 10 pm, a little over 2 1/2 days in real time after I left home. Miraculously the next morning I had no jet-lag, so I spent the day on a relaxed tour of Hondarribia.

Cheers, Alan