ITA Airways the Volare program is still without content
ITA Airways is the new Italian national airline and Volare is the loyalty program launched to replace Club [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
ITA Airways is the new national airline of Italy e Volare is the loyalty program launched to replace Alitalia's Millemiglia Club. October 15 is the date on which the carrier took off and the Volare program has been very much noticed, for better or worse, in Italy and abroad.
In this article:
Phase II of the program was to begin on January 1., a few days before the deadline, however, the airline had postponed the real takeoff of frequent flyer until next February 28. Now that less than 20 days to go it would be logical to begin to see all the details of the loyalty program, but this is not the case.
We created on FB a group devoted to discussions about the Volare program, if you are interested sign up.
To date, members have received their (virtual) card and obtained their ID number. STOP. The very point is that the basis of a loyalty program is to accumulate points, flying and otherwise, and spend points on the airline and with various partners.
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The only real benefit that is provided to members is access to lounges and priority boarding only on flights operated by ITA.
Currently, however, no one has any idea how many points are earned by flying ITA Airways, just as it is impossible by flying with other Skyteam airlines select the Volare program and credit the points to one's profile. The same goes for the equally important rules for status renewal: it is total darkness.
There are more than 250,000 people enrolled in the program, many of which came through the status match campaign that brought so many former Millemiglia to obtain the level in Flying. With less than 10 months to go before the expiration of the card, and its status, there is still no information on ITA's website explaining what criteria will govern obtaining/renewing the level after 31/1/2023.
In addition to this there is the obvious depowered membership in SkyTeam alliance. As complained by so many members, ITA Airways status is not recognized by other carriers, except by the benevolence of some staff.
I recently traveled aboard Aeromexico. and in the February edition of AIRE in-flight magazine, the Skyteam alliance pages feature ITA's logo on the presentation page, but is not present in the table where the Mexican company explains privileges and benefits reserved for members of its loyalty program on other companies.
I booked a flight with Delta and not only is ITA Airways not selectable among the program partners, but here is still the option to enter the Millemiglia code. Of course, in some cases it is definitely also the fault of the other airlines who have not yet updated their systems, but this is also a sign of weakness in the link between ITA Airways and the other SkyTeam carriers.
In conclusion
At this point I would not be surprised if, In light of the negotiations with MSC and Luftahnsa, the company would decide to Postpone program activation again. Of course, if it is confirmed that the new strong partner and owner will be the global shipping giant, it is not certain that the change of alliance will take place, but if Lufthansa is in the game it is a foregone conclusion that it will cease its affiliation toward the youngest of the aviation alliances and move to Star Alliance along with all the companies that are in the German group's orbit.
