In one year of the pandemic I collected over half a million points, here's how I did it
Those who know me, know that I have been a happy customer of American Express for years, specifically I have always had the [...]
Alitalia
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Those who know me, know that I have been a happy American Express customer for years, specifically I have always had the Alitalia cards. First the Gold, then the Platinum, and of course the Green, for as long as I can remember.
Over the years, I have taken a lot of satisfaction from exploiting at 100% companion tickets, miles back and spending multipliers that have allowed me to accumulate over 2 million Alitalia miles in just over 4 years.
I am a family man and belong to the "middle class," I am certainly not rich, and I think I can be the classic example to follow to understand how reward travel can be a way to gain many advantages to enjoy some otherwise impossible vices.
Of course it takes strategy, but as in all things in life, if you put your mind to it you will get results.
You have already read some of my "success stories" such as the Maldives at Christmas or the missed trip to Rovaniemi, but over the years with the family we have gone business to many of the AZ destinations, especially North America. This year, however, I decided, after careful consideration, that it was time to take a break from Alitalia. Too uncertain was the future, both of the airline and of the routes in the coming years, better to go for an interchangeable and non-depreciating currency like Membership Rewards. So I decided to join the regular American Express family and started accumulating MR points.
So here it is today, at the end of 2020, a pandemic year, I have collected
230,000 Millemiglia points thanks to American Express Platinum
At the beginning of 202, when it seemed like just another year, I detached for a group of friends tickets for a bachelor party to the United States and this helped me take advantage of the Alitalia qualifying miles multiplier. In addition, I introduced some friends and received related bonuses, took advantage of a small bonus from Alitalia as a "cure-all" for the pandemic, and finally earned points related to daily use of the card. To maximize my collection, my whole family uses additional cards for everyday spending, so by doing so all the points end up in my account.
Here is the detail:
- 40,000 amex bonus for poor ability to use benefits
- 70,000 bonus introduce a friend
- 50,000 or so of Alitalia ticketing
- 70,000 or so in normal amex expenses
Total Alitalia miles earned this year: over 230k, to which two companion tickets should be added. Right now I have about 850k MM points in my account. Enough for the next trip with both Alitalia and some partner airlines.
325,000 Membership Rewards points from May 2020
As mentioned, in May I decided to "stop" collecting miles and start accumulating Membership Rewards points, in detail:
- 30,000 welcome gold
- 80,000 platinum upgrade
- 175,000 introduce a friend
- 30,000 presents a friend by their mistake
- 10,000 approx. with miscellaneous expenses
Total Membership Rewards since May 2020: over 325k. I invested half of it in 5 tickets to Rovaniemi, taking advantage of the possibility of converting points to Finnair +.
As you can see, I have taken full advantage of the welcome bonuses, this is the ABC's of those who want to travel with points, as well as the use of family supplementals that help me maximize my accumulation plan.
There are no miles for flights because all my trips abroad are "skipped," and there are no points in the various hotel chains for the same reason. That is why I will make up for it in 2021.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back