Alitalia Economy Catania-Florence

CTA-FLR
Catania-Florence
Alitalia 1672
Economy
Seats 11CD (Exit Row)
A319
3:00P-4:30P
September 30, 2012

First time on Alitalia in nearly 10 years. I was a little concerned about lack of advanced seat selection on domestic flights until the day before departure. But the process was actually pretty efficient. AZ.com recognized my Sky Priority status and let me select the only two good seats on the all Y A319... cross aisle exit row seats 11CD.

At the airport, Sky Priority was again our friend as at least 100 pax were queued to check bags. There were 10 pax in something called PRIORITY Baggage Drop, but absolutely no one in the SKY PRIORITY lane. Baggage check was a breeze and we were thru security 5 minutes later, although I use the term "security" loosely with Mrs. SFO noting that the woman viewing the x-ray monitor was simultaneously doing her nails.

With an hour before boarding, we searched out the local VIP lounge, a Priority Pass affiliate, a small and pretty spartan lounge with limited snack and beverage offerings. and complimentary WiFi. We were the only pax so it was our private lounge for nearly an hour.

Boarding was easy as the gate featured a SKY PRIORITY lane, which GA called and boarded first.

OK talk about tight legroom.

For everyone but row 11.

In flight service consisted of choice of coffee, tea or water.

For all it's tourism, FLR has a very small airport with no jetways. All pax movement is by those wonderful shuttle buses, even for those pax on planes parked 100 feet from the terminal entrance.