Disappointed in their Alitalia experience

We flew on Alitalia flight No. 637 from Miami, Florida, to Milan, Italy, on Sept. 9, 2007.

The flight attendants were not good about cleaning the bathrooms. My wife did bring the dirty bathroom to their attention, but nothing was done.

The food was okay, but they never served any water during the flight. Overall, it was a bad experience

We figured the service could not be any worse on the return flight: No. 636 from Milan to Miami on Sept. 23. Were we wrong!

The bathrooms were extremely filthy, with no toilet paper in three of the four bathrooms. I told one of the attendants about there being no paper. He went to the front and came back with some but only placed it on the counter, not in the bathroom. I finally put two rolls in the bathroom, myself.

The food was not good, and never once did they provide water service to us in our seats. If you wanted water, you had go to the back and ask.

The seat in front of me was held together with tape. My armrest was broken and pinched my arm occasionally. I told one of the attendants, but he did not seem to care.

We have traveled internationally many times in the past, and most flights with other airlines have been good to excellent. I hope that in the future we do not have to use Alitalia.

ROBERT GAY

Vero Beach, FL

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Alitalia (Empire State Bldg., 350 Fifth Ave., Ste. 3700, New York, NY 10118) and received no reply.