We leave on September 1, and we are not flying Alitalia - but maybe you are. From Bloomberg News:
"Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi declared a strike planned by Alitalia SpA's flight attendants illegal, increasing the stakes in the struggle between Italy's largest airline and one of its unions.``It's unacceptable that, in such a delicate moment for Alitalia, people do not give up strikes and their own selfish interests,'' Lunardi said in an interview today in Rimini, Italy, outside the 25th annual meeting of Comunione & Liberazione, a Catholic organization.
The Sult union, which represents about 25 percent of Alitalia's 4,000 flight attendants, has called a 48-hour strike starting Aug. 30 because the Rome-based airline said two weeks ago it no longer recognizes the union. Sult opposes Chief Executive Giancarlo Cimoli's reorganization plans. Lunardi's declaration means Alitalia employees who join the strike will face sanctions from the government as well as from the company."