Goodbye American Express Alitalia, existing cards will accumulate MR and no more Millemiglia points
At last the mountain has borne the mouse, American Express says goodbye to cards in partnership with Alitalia and announces [...]
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In the end, the mountain gave birth to the mouse, American Express says goodbye to the cards in partnership with Alitalia and informs all cardholders that the cards will stop accumulating Millemiglia points, but will accumulate Membership Rewards points.
In recent weeks Amex had notified Alitalia Green, Gold and Platinum cardholders. to work to find a solution to the end of the Millemiglia program and upon completion of Alitalia's operations, today the notice sent to the holders.
As of October 15, 2021, the date on which, based on public announcements to date Alitalia SAI will cease its flight operations, it will no longer be possible to transfer miles to your MilleMiglia account under Alitalia's MilleMiglia Program for transactions made with your Card.
However, in order to safeguard the value of your relationship with American Express, we are upgrading our systems so that your Alitalia American Express Card can be enrolled in the Membership Rewards® Club and thus allow you to participate in the Membership Rewards® Sweepstakes and the Pay with Points Initiative.
This transition will occur automatically, at no charge to you and without any action required on your part. Please also be advised, that due to the technical time required to manage the transition of your Card to Club Membership Rewards®, until October 28, 2021 in your secure area of the American Express website and in the Amex App you will continue to view your mileage total, which may increase if you make transactions with your Card until October 28, 2021, according to the current accumulation criteria in your Card.
Once the technical steps related to the transition to Club Membership Rewards® are completed, any miles related to transactions made after the close of your last statement (prior to October 15, 2021) will be converted to the same number of Membership Rewards Points.
By way of example, where your last statement closes on October 11, 2021: miles credited due to expenses accounted for up to October 9, 2021 will be transferred to your MilleMiglia account under Alitalia's MilleMiglia Program; expenses accounted for from October 10, 2021 will accumulate Membership Rewards Points. You will be able to view and use these Membership Rewards Points starting October 29, 2021.
The choice of American Express is therefore to transform the existing cards into "normal" personal cards where instead of earning miles an accumulation of MR points will be generated.
Your point accumulation rules will remain unchanged:
- 1 Membership Rewards point for every euro spent with your Alitalia Green American Express Card or Alitalia Business American Express Card.
- 1.25 Membership Rewards points for every euro spent with Carta Alitalia Oro American Express or Carta Alitalia Business Oro American Express.
- 1.5 Membership Rewards Points for each euro spent with your Alitalia Platinum America Express Card, subject to the exclusions set forth in the MR Regulations
No parachute from American Express regarding points accumulated through credit cards and intended to remain within the loyalty program that will be auctioned, in which ITA will not be able to participate.
In conclusion
From Amex I definitely expected something more, meager consolation that the former AZ cards will allow holders to earn more MR points than the traditional ones. Definitely, starting October 10, I will shift all my personal and business spending to these cards due to the possibility of earning 3 points for every 2 euros spent on my Platinum and 2.5 points for every 2 euros spent on the AZ Gold business card.
But it is only a meager consolation.
- 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