ITA Airways sale to Lufthansa, what changes for Italian travelers
With the sale of ITA Airways to Lufthansa, much will change, especially for those who used to Skyteam travel. Goodbye to the [...]
ITA Airways
Star Alliance
SkyTeam
With the sale to Lufthansa of ITA Airways Will change a lot, especially for those who were used to traveling Skyteam.
In this article:
Goodbye to the hubs of Paris, Amsterdam and JFK. Now it will route not only to Frankfurt, Munich and Newark, but Vienna and Zurich could also join the airports most frequented by Italian passengers.
No change for tickets issued
Barring external issues such as strikes and unforeseen disruptions, nothing changes for passengers holding a regularly issued ticket. What will change for future flights will be the interline and code-sharing partners.
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While agreements with Air France, KLM or Korean are in place today for destinations not served by ITA Airways, upcoming flights may be operated in cooperation with Austrian, Lot or Turkish.
New alliance, goodbye Skyteam: joining Star Alliance
Lazzerini - in a recent interview with us - spoke of 12 months for the migration to the new home to be completed. ITA Airways will join the other 26 companies within Star Alliance: so there will be new partners, new rules, and new opportunities for frequent flyers from ITA and other carriers.
Goodbye to Skyteam lounges and access to those Star Alliance around the world and to those of companies in the same alliance.
The Volare loyalty program
The transition to the new alliance will bring many changes, some positive others less so. The biggest unknown remains that on the Future of Flying, ITA Airways' frequent flyer.. All carriers in the LH group have the Miles&More card, amicably called Miles&Less: whether Volare will continue to exist will have to be understood interchange within the group, while whether it will be absorbed it will need to be seen how Volare members will be treated, starting with the many forever Executives.
It will also have to be seen which level Volare will achieve Gold Star Alliance status: this level is the one that corresponds to Senator status in the German loyalty program and grants access to the eponymous lounges, a step above the German carrier's business lounges and fast track routes at many airports around the world.
