The world's worst airline?

Michael Totten is a very experienced traveller. He's been to lots of different countries, flown a lot of different airlines. When he says he's identified the worst airline company in the world, I believe him:

After spending several weeks each in Iraq and Lebanon at the end of 2008, I bought a plane ticket to the U.S. from Beirut on December 22 and figured I had plenty of time to get home for Christmas. I had no idea, though, that I had purchased my ticket from the worst airline company in the world — Italy's national carrier Alitalia — and that a two-hour layover in Rome would turn into an ordeal that lasted longer than a week. [. . .]

After I landed in Rome, the Departures board said my flight to Chicago was delayed two hours. I didn't mind. I had a 24-hour layover there, so I could wait patiently. But an angry stirring of passengers at the flight counter caught my attention.

"What’s going on?" I asked an American woman who looked concerned yet approachable.

"I'm not sure," she said. "But somebody told me the baggage handlers on are strike and that we might not be going anywhere." [. . .]

"Hey," a woman said and grabbed my arm. "Look. They've posted the European Union's Passenger Rights on the wall."

She was right. Our rights were spelled out in English just behind the foul-mouthed Alitalia employee who, instead of complying with regulations, had just threatened DJ with physical violence. The European Union required Alitalia to provide us with food, hotel accommodations, and a ticket on another airline because we had been delayed for more than five hours. We were also legally owed up to 600 Euros, around 1,000 dollars, in compensation.

I had already been delayed more than five hours. Some of us had been delayed for days. None of us had received food, hotel accommodations, or rebooked flights on a functional airline. [. . .]

Anyone could have pushed the terminal over the edge at any moment. If just one person swung a punch at an employee, it might trigger a riot. I could feel it. The Africans were ready to roll, as were DJ and several of the Italians. Most American passengers seemed a bit more restrained, but even that was beginning to change. The Alitalia staff looked terrified. Their eyes darted sideways as they scanned the terminal for threats and calculated escape routes.

Unbelievably, the experience got even worse. I think I'll avoid ever flying Alitalia, just in case. Nobody should have to put up with this sort of deliberate institutional abuse.