Flight from Milan to Dakar at 9 am. The day before the flight I tried to get a boarding pass online through the web site but it would not work. We arrived at the check-in desk at 7.32 am, only to find it deserted. We went to the general ticketing office of Milan Malpensa Airport where a kind lady told us that for flights to Dakar the check-in closed 90 minutes before take-off and that no Air Italy staff was available as they had all moved to the gate. I checked my ticket but this information was nowhere to be found. Only with the help of this lady could i find this information in a sub-section of the Air Italy website. The lady told us we had missed our flight and nothing could be done (the plane was due to leave in over 75 minutes by then). She told us to try and contact the Air Italy call centre (2 euro per minute) and see if we could get on the next flight which would leave 3 days later by paying a penalty. I tried to call but after a few minutes of recordings I just gave up given the high cost of the phone call. More people with small children arrived just after us for that flight and no one was offered any help or could speak to any Air Italy staff member. In the end we had to buy a ticket with another airline leaving on that same day. I was appalled by the lack of any form of assistance or of clear communication (they should have mentioned that the check-in closed at 90 minutes on the ticket). Never again will I fly with Air Italy.
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