No companion, however, expenses 'buy' status: here are the new American Express ITA Airways
After nearly 2 years of waiting, American Express' new co-branded credit cards for ITA Airways have arrived, [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
After nearly 2 years of waiting, the New American Express co-branded credit cards for ITA Airways, these cards take the place of the Alitalia Amex cards, which still today a great many Italian travelers carry in their pockets.
In this article:
The features of the new American Express credit cards in partnership with ITA Airways dedicated to members of the Volare loyalty program have just been announced.
The new ITA Airways/American Express cards.
At the moment the cards are only for the "consumer" market i.e. there are no corporate cards yet, but it is logical to think that they will be coming soon.
There are three cards and they come in classic Amex colors: basic, gold, and platinum. Aesthetically, I have to say that I preferred the Alitalia branded ones. and that I was hoping for some theatrical coup like Delta did, which used metal from the fuselage of a demolished plane for its platinum Amex cards.
Features of the new Amex ITA Airways cards.
If you were a holder of the old Alitalia cards and are switching to these cards, you will have to get used to dealing with a decidedly different product with very different characteristics from the old cards.
Did you get your flight cancelled, miss your connection, land late?
You could get up to 600€ compensation per person
For a monthly fee starting at €5.5/month for the basic card, €20/month for the gold and €60/month for the most valuable the platinum.
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Platinum card advantages
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Gold card benefits
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Basic paper advantages
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Judging from what is written on the American Express website, there is no longer any fast track for status renewal for cardholders, which was the case with Amex/Alitalia cards.
Accumulating points Fly
The cards, unlike traditional American Express, will only accumulate points Fly e not Membership Rewards points. The accumulation of points changes according to the type of card held.
This means that the accumulated points can only be used with ITA Airways According to the usual pattern of cash and points.
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Platinum Card
Accumulating points Fly
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Gold paper
Accumulating points Fly
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Base paper
Accumulating points Fly
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The main difference with the old Alitalia Amex cards is that before you only got qualifying points, those valid for status, by buying airline tickets. Now, however each expenditure contributes to accumulating qualifying points to obtain/renew status In ITA Airways' Volare program.
The accumulation of points ranges from 1.5 to 4.5 for every euro spent, depending on the card held. Again, ITA Airways is very generous in terms of accumulated points.
The points back
In the first version of the article we had not mentioned the new points back function, because it was not shown in the main benefits of the paper. We apologize to readers.
The Points Back benefit provides credit back up to 125k Flying Points each year, used to purchase a flight on the ITA Airways website/app in Cash&Points mode upon reaching a threshold that varies according to spending with different cards.
This is a benefit that It looks like the old milesback of the Alitalia green card., and that on balance gives away up to 575 euros in ITA Airways tickets each year to Platinum and Gold holders.
The following amounts will need to be spent to get the points credited back:
- Platinum card 10 thousand a year
- Gold Card 15 thousand a year
The Holder will receive a communication from ITA Airways via email confirming the activation within their personal Volare area of the section dedicated to the benefit along with instructions for taking advantage of the benefit.
- To take advantage of the benefit, the Cardholder must enter the PNR code related to the flight purchased and not yet flown for which they wish to request a credit back, in the Points Back section within their personal Volare area.
- Points Back may be claimed for a PNR related to an ITA Airways flight also purchased prior to reaching the prescribed spending threshold and, consequently, prior to the activation of the Points Back benefit as long as the same has not yet been flown.
- Points Back will be disbursed by ITA Airways within 12 weeks from the date the user has flown. Points Back will be claimable within 1 year of reaching the prescribed spending threshold and can only be used once, that is, for a single PNR.
For whom these cards are suitable
Obviously for members of Volare, the frequent flyer of ITA Airways, who aim to accumulate many points on ITA's program by preferring these points to the pliability of Membership Rewards points.
This card is suitable, especially, for those who fly ITA a lot on short- and medium-haul routes in economy. Spending little on tickets today is indeed complicated to climb the levels of ITA Airways' loyalty program and obtain the benefits of status. With these cards, on the other hand, you will have the opportunity to obtain status, simply by paying with the card through the accumulation of qualifying points.
On balance, this card will allow cashback credit, to be used only in ticketing on the ITA Airways website. With Platinum for every 1,000€ spent you will get 22.5€ to use in AZ ticketing.
For whom this paper is not suitable
To those who are not loyal to ITA Airways, Platinum lounge access is in fact limited to ITA Airways lounges only and only when traveling ITA. For the same cost, traditional platinum gives access to thousands of lounges around the world, indifferently from the carrier.
To those who want to be free to use the points as they wish, to airlines, hotel chains at will, To those who do NOT want to take the risk of seeing their points evaporate following the deadline, since it needs to be remembered. Volare points currently will ALL expire in October 2024.
First considerations
Personally, I don't think I will request these new cards., at least until Volare's transition to Star Alliance is clear and how award tickets will be bookable with partner airlines.
Of course the accumulation of points is very generous, but currently Volare points can only be used with a fixed value of 1000 points 5€, to discount in whole or in part, tickets bought on the ITA Airways website. Unable to use them otherwise, or to book airline tickets to fly with partner airlines. Points back is definitely a nice advantage, which if well used allows you to amortize the cost of the paper each year.
Compared to the old cards, but also to other similar products issued in other markets, the companion ticket is missing, that is, the free ticket that you get when you reach a certain spending threshold.
