The benefits of online travel agencies

With the current brouhaha swirling around the scuffle between American Airlines and online travel agencies Orbitz and Expedia (in case you haven't heard, American has pulled its fares from Orbitz and Expedia has pulled American's fares from Expedia.com and Hotwire.com), I've seen a lot of blog post comments basically saying, "Who needs online travel agencies? What good are they? I always book directly with the airline's website anyway. Good riddance!"

Alitalia joins trans-Atlantic joint venture

Italy's flagship air carrier Alitalia has joined Air France-KLM and Delta Airlines in a trans-Atlantic joint venture that shares costs and revenue but stops short of a merger, the airlines announced Monday.

First strike hits new Alitalia

A union representing flight attendants, ground workers and pilots staged the first strike against the new Alitalia on Monday, a week after the privatized airline took off.

Alitalia starts new life as first flights take off

Alitalia began its new life as a privatized company on Tuesday, with its first flights taking off without delay despite worker protests seeking to mar the inauguration of the streamlined national carrier.

Italy's Alitalia takes over Air One

Alitalia on Wednesday completed the takeover of its smaller competitor Air One as part of a plan to relaunch Italy's bankrupt national carrier.

Rome travelers try to find flights after strike

Alitalia has canceled about 140 flights at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci in the last two days because of a wildcat strike that left holiday travelers stranded, news reports said Tuesday.