Millemiglia points agony, yet another tease for former Alitalia loyal customers
There were 5 million subscribers; however, active users were just over 1 in 5. Those who saw [...]
Alitalia
There were 5 million subscribers; active users, however, were just over 1 in 5. Those who have seen millions of millemile points vanish several tens of thousands, and among them are diehards who have also self-taxed to Take what remains of Alitalia Loyalty to court with a class action lawsuit.
History
In this article:
The program Millemiglia has been the most popular frequent flyer program in Italy for over 20 years, being the card of Alitalia.
For years it allowed people to redeem award tickets to fly with the former national airline and beyond. My last use of Millemiglia points with Alitalia. dates back to October 2019. The covid was already among us (but we didn't know it yet) while I with my family we were flying to Tokyo spending less than 65k points per ticket to travel in Magnifica class.
By far, the last ticket I pulled off using the points Millemiglia was the one with Etihad from Malpensa to Phuket.
Did you get your flight cancelled, miss your connection, land late?
You could get up to 600€ compensation per person
I actually had other tickets booked, but when Alitalia died-October 14, 2021-they were cancelled. Points credited back and fees refunded.
On October 15, 2021, ITA Airways was born. e Volare is the loyalty program that took the place of Millemiglia. It was not a management choice, but an imposition from above. A choice that only did good for ITA's coffers and bad for those of the loyal customers who for years believed in Alitalia flying and spending with Alitalia Amex credit cards.
In these nearly 3 years, however, Millemiglia has not died; on the contrary, it has continued to exist as the only loyalty program in the world not linked to an airline. Valid statuses, many partners and (devalued) points usable to redeem travel vouchers e award tickets with a small selection of companies.
The new program
Italian law imposes a maximum duration of 36 months on point collection programs. Of course, there are programs that have found a solution to this constraint, but in Italy we prefer to treat our loyal customers like fish in the face instead, and almost all point collection programs make everything expire as soon as possible.
This time MyMile decided to help users at least renew the validity of points, also because this is the only asset left, even if hopes of selling to someone are increasingly rare.
While one might see the glass as half full, the reality of the situation is that for the few and die-hards came yet another cold shower of point devaluation.
If the previous conversion of millemile points into Last Minute vouchers was already a joke, it must be said that the new one is a giant "VAFFA" like a house.
Compared with the previous table, the conversion rate has (slightly) improved, but the 500-euro voucher has disappeared. This would not be a problem if the rules for using vouchers on Last Minute's dedicated site did not prevent multiple vouchers from being combined. So if before you could discount up to €500 on an airline ticket or a stay, now in fact the maximum rebate cutoff is only 250
This table is valid until May 30, and vouchers must be used within one month of issue.
In conclusion
The way Italian frequent flyers are constantly mistreated is truly unique in the world, which is why I recommend that everyone accumulate points on programs other than the Italian ones, such as Air France and KLM's Flying Blue or British Airways' Executive Club.
The end of Millemiglia still stings. Volare was born from its ashes and still has no award table to redeem real free tickets.
