What an awesome flight. I was unsure when I arrived at the airport in Newark whether I would be on a Delta plane or an Alitalia plane because they partnered on my flight. My father used to swear by Alitalia until the cost went up. In the week leading up to my flight I researched the planes a bit and was really hoping for a Delta plane because of the bad reviews that Alitalia received. Soon the Alitalia bird (tail end pictured) was towed to the gate. My expectations were low.
When I boarded the plane I immediately noticed that the plane was new or had a completely new renovated inside. I also noticed that the flight attendants, both female and male, looked like models. They
were dressed in fancy outfits, spent time on their make-up and/or hair, and were extremely polite and helpful. When one thinks back to the heyday of air travel, this is the kind of service they expect.
The seats were not roomy (for me none are roomy), but each had a 9-inch TV touch screen to watch movies or play games on. (I watched the end of The Dilemma (awful movie), The Adjustment Bureau (two thumbs up), Cedar Rapids (good by artsy low-budget standards), and Just Go With It (saw before and it was still enjoyable). The seats also had USB ports to connect electronic devices to for charging, like an iPod. You could also connect USB devices to the screen for viewing your content, although I do not think this feature would’ve worked with an iPod.
Another neat feature was that the plane was equipped with outside cameras. One was on the nose of the plane and the other was underneath. As the plane was taking off, the main cabin monitors switched over to the nose camera view so we could see the pilots’ view as we sped down the run
way. Once airborne, the view switched to the underneath camera so we could see the sights below the plane. They did this again as we approached our landing. The nose view of the landing was pretty cool.
I am now all checked in at the Rome Airport Hilton (see view of soccer fields from room).
