Is the fundamental problem
Italian journalism? Or is it the
inability of Italians to plan ahead?
Or is the Italian predilection for what sounds good, as opposed to what
seems true, at fault?
Whatever it is, I was amazed
(amused? appalled?) by an article
that ran in Corriere della Sera,
Italy’s leading newspaper, a few weeks ago. The article purported to describe the situation at Milan’s
Malpensa Airport the day of the city’s first major snowstorm on December 22, at
the height of holiday travel.
The reporting was peppy and upbeat, talking about the hard work of the
personnel who had showed up in spite of the bad weather, overcoming the
difficulties of severely limited access by auto. The article described an
orderly airport where people who were stranded by cancelled flights had warm
places to sit and snack, where information was communicated in timely fashion,
where thwarted passengers remained calm and comfortable. And oh how efficient the airport
administration, SEA, had been throughout this meteorological crisis!
Right, I thought.
Nice piece of fiction.
Either that or the author is living in a parallel universe and has not
been within 10 miles of the airport on the day described. His sources had to
have consisted entirely of press releases from SEA -- not the most objective
source of information. Come to
think of it, unlikely that any executive from SEA, and certainly not the pr
person charge of press relations, had been at the airport on the day in
question.
I know because I WAS there that day, trying to catch a
flight to the US. Before setting
off for the airport, I had done what any sensible traveler does when the
weather looks iffy: check the
airport website, the airline website, and Flight Tracker.com. (I might also have tried calling
the airport but knew – from long experience in Italy – that my flight might
well depart before anyone would pick up the phone.) The SEA website reported some flight cancellations from the
low-cost carriers and a few “delays” for flights to London, but nothing amiss
for my Swiss flight to Zurich. The
Swiss website reported no problems for that flight or my connecting flight from
Zurich to Miami. Flight Tracker
carried the same information.
So, in spite of the snow and freezing temperatures, at 7:30
am I took the train to the airport feeling sanguine about my travel. That optimism vanished as soon as I
arrived at Malpensa. The train
station was wall-to- wall people, the escalators were clogged with passengers
and luggage, the entrance to the airport proper was a mass of confusion. When I fought my way to the
flight information board, I understood why: almost every flight had a “cancelled” sign.
True to form, the Information Desk at the entrance to
Malpensa was unattended; I have never seen a person at that desk in 10 years of
flying from this airport. I
made my way to the Swiss check-in counter; that was easy since there was no one
in line, only a couple of agents behind the counter talking to each other or to
their cell phones. I managed
to flag the attention of one agent to ask what was happening and what were
travelers supposed to do.
She seemed bewildered.
“The airport is closed this morning. All Swiss flights are cancelled today. The airport might open at 11 am, or
maybe 1 pm. We don’t know.”
“But what about my flight? I have hotel reservations and appointments in Miami. Can you book me on another
airline this afternoon? If I take
the train to Zurich, can you get me on another flight to Miami this evening?”
The agent looked at me blankly. “No, no, we can’t do that here. You have to go to the Swiss ticket office at the
airport. Or you can call one of
these numbers,” and she scribbled two numbers on a piece of paper. Then she turned back to her
conversation with her colleague.
I made my way to the Swiss ticket office. This was easier said than done because
there were not only crowds standing around, dragging suitcases and strollers
and children and dog carriers and backpacks, but also dozens of people sitting
on the floor, playing guitars, playing cards, reading books, and slumped over,
asleep. Some travelers were
eating, but my guess is that this was food they had brought with them. Only one stand-up café was open in the
entire airport, and it was under siege from hundreds of caffeine-crazed
would-be passengers. No sit-down restaurant was open, nor was the food court
functioning. I later learned
that some travelers had been camped out for up to 48 hours at Malpensa, left in
a limbo state thanks to lack of information from the airlines and the
airport. How they managed to feed
themselves, I haven’t a clue.
The Swiss ticket office consisted of ONE agent and ONE
computer terminal surrounded by at least 400 unruly passengers. No line, no
order, just an angry mob. To insinuate
myself into that horde would be to risk life, limb, and luggage. So I hovered at the edges and
tried to call the two numbers I’d been given. Naturally, no one answered. To be expected:
the airline may be Swiss but the numbers I’d been given were
Italian.
In between phone attempts, I ran into an American friend
trying to find out about her flight – she was headed to New York, and New York
was also struggling with a snowstorm.
We had both been standing around for three hours at this point, so she
suggested we find a place to sit down, drink a cup of coffee, and compare
notes. No seats, no coffee, so we
compared notes perched precariously on a stair ledge. Her carrier, American Airlines, told her that her
flight would be leaving today, though they couldn’t say when, so she was
willing to risk the wait.
I wasn’t.
Fortunately I live a short train ride from Malpensa, so it was easy for
me to return home and try to make contact with the airline by cell phone, land
phone, or computer. No one
in Italy ever responded. I managed to reach Swiss Airlines by calling them
directly in Zurich. While
waiting on hold for them to rebook my flight, I amused myself by checking the
Malpensa website again. Nary a
word about the airport being closed:
it continued to show almost-normal flight schedules.
(When I returned to Malpensa next day, I questioned a SEA
employee about WHY their website was dispensing false information. “Oh yeah, there was a problem. The website was broken or
something,” was the offhanded reply.)
The website glitch, like the overall chaotic situation at
Malpensa, didn’t receive any press scrutiny. Not surprising:
SEA is stacked with cronies of Prime Minister Berlusconi, and Berlusconi
controls most of the media in this country. The “fundamental problem” isn’t Italian journalism or
an unexpected snowstorm; it is a media monopoly that stifles criticism and
keeps planes – and countries – from taking off. That’s the Ugly Truth.
###
Based in Italy, Claudia Flisi writes about business and culture
for the
International Herald Tribune and many other publications, and for
corporate clients ranging from Apple (computers) to Zegna (clothing). She can
be reached through her website at www.flisi.net. Her thoughts about European women and beauty are found
here: http://frenchfacelift.blogspot.com/ and about horse riding here: www.worldreviewer.com/member/claudia-flisi/
Posted
Jan 08 2010, 06:47 AM
by
Claudia Flisi