ita-airways.com Reviews 

Worst Airline Experience I’ve Ever Had

ITA Airways was an absolute nightmare. This was by far one of the worst airline and customer-service experiences my husband and I have ever had.

Our Miami-to-Rome flight AZ631 was first delayed for hours and then canceled. ITA’s own flight information initially showed the delay was caused by the late arrival of the aircraft.

After the cancellation, everything became completely disorganized. We were told to wait because we would receive an email with a new flight within about two hours. That never happened. Later, ITA sent us a message admitting they had not been able to rebook us and told us to contact customer service ourselves.

The alternative itinerary we were eventually offered was completely unreasonable for our trip—multiple stops, short connections, and complications involving collecting and rechecking luggage. We had prepaid hotel reservations and Vatican tickets in Rome, yet there seemed to be absolutely no urgency or meaningful help from ITA.

We ended up having to arrange alternative travel ourselves and lost money on our hotel, Vatican tickets, transportation, and other expenses.

The worst part was the customer service. We received conflicting information, promises that were not kept, and very little help when we needed it most. We felt abandoned after ITA canceled the flight.

A canceled flight is bad enough, but how an airline treats its passengers afterward tells you everything about the company.

Based on our experience, I would never choose ITA Airways again and cannot recommend them. If you value reliable communication, organization, and customer service when something goes wrong, think very carefully before booking with ITA Airways.

1 star only because zero stars isn’t an option.

6 hour delay for operations maintenance, but we were told about the delay 4 hours before scheduled flight. It gave us $10 as compensation to use in the airport. Horrible communication and service. I do not recommend flying with them.

I’ve got hundreds of flights worldwide in my life, and this is hands down the worst company ever. A trip that was supposed to be 12 hours became a 27 hours nightmare. Stay away from this terrible company.

This became the new “Ryanair”: ★☆☆☆☆ Different baggage rules at the gate

Very disappointing experience with ITA Airways on AZ063 from Madrid to Rome. At boarding, staff weighed my carry-on and personal item together and insisted their combined weight could not exceed 8 kg.

This does not appear consistent with ITA’s published baggage policy, which allows an 8 kg carry-on plus a separate personal item. Passengers should be able to rely on the information provided by the airline when packing.

ITA needs to ensure its staff apply the published baggage policy consistently.

Had a complaint for damaged clothing. All email addresses and call centers have automated responses towards an online complaint form which does not work. So I am stuck and cannot reach anyone.
Airline is only good when everything goes well... :-(

Even though they confirmed via email that they would pay me €250 in compensation due to a booking change, I have been waiting weeks for my money.

I booked two flight tickets from Thailand to Bulgaria through Rome using ITA. Tickets were purchased through Mytrip (which are just as unhelpful). The flights got cancelled a month before we were supposed to fly. I got presented with 1 option - refund. I applied for refund on the following day and was told I am supposed to get my money back within 5 working days. Its been 10 months and I still got nothing. The airline has refused the refund twice and Mytrip just throws the ball at them and sends them another request. I have spent hours on the phone with call centers. I have contacted ITA and they responded 2 months later with a completely irrelevant response to my question not even mentioning the refund but acknowledging that the flight got cancelled.
I have contacted institutions as well as preparing a small claims court case once I get back to Europe next month and about to get extra compensation for this ridiculousness. I had to purchase more expensive new tickets on short notice which I was fine with as long as they refund me but they haven't. Never again am I using this airline and good luck in court. European law is quite strict about refunds on services in which the customer have been scammed by a big company like this.

Very Disappointing Experience with ITA Airways. Complete Scam!

We travelled with ITA Airways back in May, and we were supposed to receive a $400 refund. It has now been three months, and I have called customer service five times trying to resolve this.

Every time, I have been transferred multiple times, sometimes to three different people, and initially I’m told they can’t even see the refund in the system. Eventually, after speaking with a manager, they find it and assure me that the refund will be processed within 10 business days.

But nothing happens.

Three months, five phone calls, multiple transfers, and the same promise every time — still no refund.

This has been an extremely frustrating and disappointing experience. ITA Airways needs to do much better when it comes to customer service and handling refunds.

Unfortunately, after this experience, I would not fly with ITA Airways again and cannot recommend them.

Terrible customer service and ridiculous policies. The check in agents are rude, unhelpful, uncommunicative and patronizing.
Do NOT fly with this airline.
The intentionally overbook flights and only let people who checked in online on the actual plane, giving no notice.

Worst airline ever. Lost our luggage in both directions, one piece wad damaged beyond use. Sold us a connection that was impossible to make and then booked us on another flight three hours later but refused to compensate us. 2 1/2 months later we still have received no compensation for the lost luggage or anything else and its impossible to get an answer from them.

Terrible Experience — Ita Airways.
I had an extremely disappointing experience with this airline and feel compelled to warn other travelers.
Our departure was delayed significantly, Eventually, our flight was cancelled altogether. The airline gave us no better alternative — we were left with no choice but to wait it out, and then were rerouted through a completely different country just to reach our original destination, turning a simple trip into an exhausting ordeal.
To make matters worse, customer service was unhelpful and dismissive throughout the entire process, offering no real solutions or accommodations for the inconvenience they caused. It's especially disappointing that an airline representing a country with UNESCO-recognized culinary heritage would serve such poor quality food on board — a real missed opportunity to showcase what the country is known for. The seats were also extremely uncomfortable, with barely any legroom or space between rows, which made a long flight even more difficult and unpleasent.
On top of all this, the airplane had a persistent bad smell, even when boarding a plane the smell was a welcome message. This raised real concerns about cleanliness and maintenance.
Overall, this was one of the worst flying experiences I've had. Between the delays, cancellation, lack of alternatives, poor service, disappointing food, uncomfortable seating, and hygiene issues,

Realy old planes. Stink .The repaint them outside. INSIDE is complete disaster. 1 Time to tri. Not anymore.

Three days. Two airports. Never reached my destination. Not one person responsible.

Booked: Málaga–Rome–Catania, 13 August. Here is what happened.

The night before, ITA cancelled my outbound and unilaterally moved me to the 14th. I never agreed to it. The app showed the cancellation; my boarding pass stayed valid. I travelled to the airport anyway — a 90-minute journey.

The boarding pass worked at security. At the gate I was refused: “You have no boarding pass.” I was standing there holding one. Flight AZ 091 operated as scheduled that day. Without me. No ITA desk at Málaga. No representative. No duty of care. No hotel. Nobody.

The hotline: two attempts, over 25 minutes on hold each, never reached a human. The app refused every change because I was checked in on a flight that had already landed — a state their own system created and cannot undo.

The following day I made it as far as Rome. The connection was cancelled. Rebooking to Palermo: not possible, everything full. My bag had been tagged straight through to Catania — an airport that had been closed for days. ITA lost it anyway. Official property irregularity report filed.

I reached Sicily by overnight train. Paid for it myself.

Gate-checked my bag at Heathrow over 500g of overweight allowance, despite offering to redistribute weight into my nearly-empty personal item, which would have brought me fully within the limit.

The gate agent refused to allow any repacking, citing an announcement that supposedly banned it. When I asked to see or hear evidence of this announcement, none was provided. If such a policy exists, it should be clearly stated at check-in or bag-drop, not sprung on passengers at the gate with zero opportunity to comply.

A 10.5kg cabin bag is a trivial overage that I was actively prepared to fix on the spot. Instead I was forced to check my bag, with the added cost, delay, and inconvenience that comes with it. This wasn't weight enforcement, it was an obstruction of a passenger's reasonable attempt to comply with the airline's own rules.

Flight LHR-FCO, Heathrow gate A17

PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS! THIS IS THE WORST AIRLINE IN HISTORY OF AVIATION.
This was our worst flying experience ever!
1. We were kept inside the plane for 1.5 hours with no air conditioning while "waiting for other passengers"
2. Due to the delay, we lost our connection and ITA AIRWAYS couldn't care less. Worst experience ever at the Sao Paulo (GRU) local office to sort it out.
3. Their fleet is completely obsolete. Old planes, feels like a pirate ship
4. One of our luggage got lost and THERE IS NO WAY you can get in touch with them. The "WhatsApp" number they give is unresponsive, ignores all messages and calls.

Please take these words of advice and AVOID THIS AIRLINE AT ALL COSTS!

Very bad customer service. I am unable to reach them. I called, and the call timed out. I wrote, and never got a reply. My flight is now uncertain. :(

This has been one of the worst airline experiences I have ever had, with serious problems on both legs of the same return booking, made worse by customer service that was genuinely horrible and almost impossible to reach.

I was travelling with my wife, our one-year-old infant and nine suitcases, which made the way this was handled particularly hard to accept.

On our outbound journey (Cairo–Rome–Malaga), our flight was cancelled on the day of travel and we were rerouted via Cairo–Frankfurt–Rome–Malaga instead. When we finally landed in Malaga, two suitcases were missing and not delivered for four days, and my golf travel bag came back damaged.

Our return journey was worse. We arrived at Malaga Airport for our confirmed flight to Cairo, with no amendments made to the booking. At check-in we were told there was a mismatch between our infant's passport name and ITA's system, and that she could not travel. This makes no sense: the same infant, with the same passport, had already flown the outbound leg of this exact booking with no issues. Same child, same passport, same booking, no changes — yet ITA's system suddenly blocked us.

We spent about 90 minutes at the airport while ground staff tried to reach ITA. With the counter closing in 30 minutes, I offered to buy another infant ticket myself, but was told this could only be done through my travel agent, not at the airport. We were sent to the ground services office, where staff still couldn't resolve it with ITA. We were denied boarding and left stranded in Marbella with an infant and nine suitcases, through no fault of our own, and I had important commitments in Egypt over the following five days.

Trying to get help from ITA afterward was its own ordeal. Customer service was slow, dismissive and extremely hard to reach: calls went unanswered or sat on hold indefinitely, emails took days to get any reply, and when we finally reached someone we were passed between departments with nobody taking ownership. There was no proactive outreach to a family stranded abroad with an infant, and despite sending all our documentation and following up repeatedly, ITA ultimately refused to rebook us or offer any compensation.

I am a Star Alliance Gold member and a frequent, loyal traveller who understands that operational issues happen in aviation. What sets this apart is the combination of failures on both legs of one journey, the refusal or inability to fix an airline system error that stranded a family with an infant, and a post-incident customer service experience that felt designed to wear us down rather than help.

I have kept full documentation: the original booking, rerouting details, baggage paperwork, photos, correspondence, and the report from ground services confirming the denied boarding.

I'm sharing this so other passengers, especially families travelling with young children, know how ITA Airways treated us when problems arose that were entirely outside our control.

Same child. Same passport. Same booking. Yet we were stranded because of ITA's system error, and their customer service made a bad situation far worse.

I will update this review if and when ITA Airways takes responsibility and resolves the matter.

Look at the reviews! This airline doeas not care. Appalling customer service – impossible to resolve a simple baggage error

I am due to fly with ITA Airways from Rome to Madrid on 15 August 2026.

I purchased and paid for a 23 kg checked bag for my Rome–Madrid flight. Instead, the baggage allowance has been applied to my Madrid–Rome return flight, where I do not need it.

This should be an extremely simple issue to correct: move the 23 kg baggage allowance to the correct flight, or refund the baggage charge so I can purchase it again.

Trying to get ITA Airways to actually resolve it has been extraordinarily difficult.

I called customer service 16 times - no answer.There appears to be no general live customer-service chat available. No reply to emails.

I then submitted the issue in writing. ITA acknowledged it and gave me case number 06146533, but the automated response says they will respond “within the next few days.”

My flight is in a few days.

I have paid ITA Airways for a service that has been attached to the wrong flight, yet I cannot reach anyone who can simply correct it.

An international airline should provide an effective way for customers to resolve time-sensitive problems online, particularly when telephone support fails.

I am not asking for anything complicated: put the 23 kg baggage allowance I paid for onto my Rome–Madrid flight, or refund the charge.

Unfortunately, this is not just about one incident. After years of flying ITA Airways because it is often the only practical option for me when traveling home to Italy, I can honestly say it has consistently been one of the most frustrating airline experiences I have had. If I had a reasonable alternative on those routes, I would almost always choose another airline.

The latest issue has been the worst.

My flight AZ1620 was cancelled in June 2026. Since then, ITA has acknowledged in writing that I am owed:

* €800+ as a ticket refund.
* USD 700+ in compensation under EU Regulation EC261/2004.

Months later, I have still not received either payment.

During this time, I have made more than 20 phone calls and sent over 30 emails. Every interaction ends with another promise that the issue is being handled, yet nothing actually happens.

Flight cancellations happen, and I understand that. What I cannot accept is an airline acknowledging that money is owed, repeatedly promising payment, and then forcing a customer to spend months chasing what should have been a straightforward resolution.

I have now had to escalate the matter by filing formal complaints with regulators because the normal customer service process has completely failed.

I genuinely wanted to support Italy’s national airline, but my experiences over the years—and especially this one- have left me with very little confidence in ITA Airways. Until this matter is resolved and the airline demonstrates a significant improvement in customer service, I cannot recommend flying with them.

Very disappointing experience with ITA Airways.

My partner and I booked our flight from Rome to Buenos Aires months in advance and paid an additional fee to reserve seats 51A and 51B specifically so that we could sit together during the approximately 15-hour flight.

However, when we checked in online two days before the flight, we discovered that our seats had been changed without any prior notice or explanation. We were assigned seats in completely different parts of the aircraft, so we spent the entire flight separated. I was also assigned a middle seat between two lavatories, surrounded by passengers I did not know.

What was even more frustrating than the seat change itself was the complete lack of assistance. We asked several members of staff for help and an explanation, but we were repeatedly redirected to someone else or told that nothing could be done. The last person we spoke to even told us that we had to solve the situation ourselves.

I understand that operational issues and seat changes can sometimes happen. What I find unacceptable is paying for a specific service, not receiving it, and then being unable to get any assistance from the airline when trying to resolve the problem.

We have already submitted a formal complaint to ITA Airways, but so far we have received no response.

We also have a return flight with ITA Airways in a few days from now, and we sincerely hope that our reserved seats will be honoured this time and that we will not have to go through the same situation again.

I am sharing this review because I believe customers deserve both the service they pay for and proper assistance when something goes wrong.