This was my second time flying with Allitalia on a connecting flight between New York City and a third destination. Both times were horrendous as far as the level of service was concerned. They refuse to allow you to select your seats or print your boarding pass before you fly. I am extremely claustrophobic so always make very sure to get to the airport extremely early to reserve an aisle seat or if possible reserve one in advance. This, is however impossible with a transfer because as soon as you land, they make you wait at the boarding gate at Rome Airport until an employee actually shows up to print your boarding pass. As usual, when I landed there was absolutely no assistance from Allitalia in finding the right terminal or making the flight connection. Luckily, I had been through the ordeal before so managed to ride the motorail two stops to the right terminal. I then had to go through security again (never mind I went through it twice at JFK and locate the Allitalia boarding gate. I remembered from past experience that there was no general Allitalia information desk or anyone I could ask to print my boarding pass and select my seat. Most of the Allitalia employees speak no English and those that do are very rude and usually refuse to help. This time was no exception. I waited at the boarding gate for over an hour and a half. Several Alitalia employees were nearby checking in another flight but they refused to even let me start asking a question, let alone answer one. This was even after the other flight was fully checked in so that they could no longer pretend to be too busy to look up. They did, surprisingly enough, have plenty of time for personal conversations with one another, though. Finally, an employee showed up at my gate and everyone rushed up there. I managed to tell him I needed a boarding pass and could I please have an aisle seat. He glared at me as if I should have told him earlier (which would have been impossible as he was not there) and then printed a ticket. I asked if it was an aisle seat and he said "yes" but then muttered "this is all we have left". Sure enough, it was a middle seat. I immediately felt a panic attack coming on so I asked if I could take the empty aisle seat two rows down. They initially said OK but then made me move back because it was first class. The only actual difference it turned out was that "first class seats get a meal while the masses are served a beverage and a cookie. The seat size and legroom appear to be exactly the same. I tried to sit in the middle seat but had to get up frequently just to calm down. I noticed that there were several aisle seats that appeared to be free in the "economy" part of the plane. The staff on the plane were also generally rude to the passengers. The woman sitting next to me did not understand English or Italian to fill out an immigration form and they were very abrupt with her. Alitalia has no regard for service or for accommodating the needs of individual passengers. They act as if they are doing you a favor by allowing you to choose their airline and do not seem to make any allowances for the fact that they are catering to an international crowd. I know my need for an aisle seat may seem trivial or irrational to some people but it actually affects my comfort and ability to fly greatly. Luckily, this was only a one hour fifty-five minute flight, but had it been longer, I think I would have had to have taken the next flight instead. Allitalia seems to forget that this is a service industry and that passengers have a choice as to who to fly with. I believe it is this attitude which has caused the decline in air travel. It is stressful enough to have to fly as it is and deal with the so-called "enhanced security" and pay the outrageous prices. Airlines like Allitalia only make it worse.