ITA Airways sale, goodbye frequent flyer Volare: new Miles&More cards by year's end
The modalities have yet to be written and the square will have to be found in a situation in which Lufthansa will partner [...]
Lufthansa
ITA Airways
Star Alliance
SkyTeam
The modalities have yet to be written, and the square will have to be found in a situation in which Lufthansa will be a minority partner with, however, almost majority weight and position. Among the many pages to be written of the divestment of ITA Airways to the German group, there is of course that of the loyalty program.
In this article:
Lufthansa's intentions have been put in black and white in recent weeks, ITA Airways will leave Skyteam to join Star Alliance e the Volare loyalty program will die not even two years after its inception (and without even having never issued a prize ticket).
What will happen to the statuses of Volare members
According to the last official statement, last Oct, there were nearly 1 million people enrolled in the program loyalty of ITA Airways. The most likely thing is. a kind of status match campaign will be made reserved to Volare status holders to the new Miles&More program, the frequent flyer program of all the German group's airlines.
Executive or Premium card holders. will be assigned the level Senator, the one that entitles access to the German carrier's top-level lounges around the world. Plus users will be assigned the Frequent Traveller level,
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It should also be remembered that just starting From January 1, 2024, a total renewal of the Miles&More program is planned With new rules for accumulating points and obtaining statuses.
If this pattern were to be confirmed, Italian frequent flyers would say goodbye to qualifying miles and would have to learn to deal with qualifying points. There will be no distinction in terms of tariff, super basic generates the same points as full flex.
- In economy you will earn 5 points on a continental flight and 15 points for an intercontinental one
- In premium economy you will earn 5 points in the first case and 20 points in the second case
- In business class 10 points will be earned for an intra-EU flight and 50 points for an intercontinental flight
- First class you will earn 10 points on short routes and 70 points for intercontinental
Simple, straightforward. You can tell in 10 minutes and in 20 you can define with minimal margin of error how many flights you need to obtain one of 3 statuses: Frequent Traveller, Senator and the more exclusive HON. This is the same accumulation mode present in theexecutive club of British Airways and in the loyalty programs of Air France/KLM, Virgin Atlantic and other carriers.
What will happen to Volare points
The other big question is what will happen to Volare points. A large portion of ITA Airways' frequent flyer membership. has already seen millions of points evaporate with the bankruptcy of Alitalia and the closure of Millemiglia, so much so that there is a class action against AZ's former loyalty program.. In order not to further disappoint users, it is likely that just as levels will be transferred, loyalty points will be credited back to the new card
Then it remains to be deciphered what will happen to dual users, that is, those who are already active and have a points balance on their Miles&More card. These are all issues that will need to be discussed in the coming months. Moving directly into Miles&More will avoid a repeat of the current situation in which more than 16 months after launch it is still impossible to book an award ticket with Volare points.
What will be the new partners of ITA Airways
We have written in recent weeks How the habits of Italian travelers will have to change: farewell to historical partners such as Air France and Delta and hubs in Paris, Amsterdam and JFK and new routes drawn to bases of the rest of the group's airlines, Newark for United and Istanbul with Turkish.
I have never hidden my preferences for Star Alliance. and in particular for the possibility of booking incredible award tickets such as Singapore Airlines' First Class suite, that of All Nippon Airlines or a ticket to make the around the world using less than 200k points.
Alternative strategies
Many readers-since the Lufthansa option has come back into vogue-have asked us for advice on which strategies to use to stay in Skyteam and which backup program to focus on. I'm not saying this because I'm an ambassador, but I say this precisely because I think it is really good: the choice I recommend is Flying Blue from Air France and KLM. If, on the other hand, the flight schedules will be turned over to Oneworld airlines, the card to aim for is British Airways or Qatar, which right now has a very generous promotion which facilitates the attainment of elite status.
