Club Volare, I got the match status of ITA Airways and now what?
We have talked extensively about the status match offer proposed by ITA Airways to obtain the elite level in the loyalty program of the [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
We have talked extensively about thestatus match offer proposed by ITA Airways to obtain the elite level in the Italian airline's loyalty program. Therefore, the time has come to tell about my experience.
What the status match consists of
In this article:
This practice allows a loyalty program to offer the same treatment to a member of a competing program. It has been Designed to snatch a customer from the competitor granting him the status, and the expected benefits, without having earned it in the field, but only because he was possessed in the competing company.
ITA Airways' proposal.
The neo club Volare, having to start from scratch and not being able to rely on the 6 million members of Alitalia's Millemiglia program, has focused on a very simple proposal, open not only to Millemiglia members, but to all major global loyalty programs.
My experience
Did you get your flight cancelled, miss your connection, land late?
You could get up to 600€ compensation per person
I sent in my request listing in detail all my levels in the various FF programs I own. In the hope that given the variety I would be recognized for a better level. I thus sent all the details of my levels Gold Singapore Airlines, Winged Arrow Alitalia, Bronze British Airways, Silver Virgin Atlantic and Silver Air France.
The response to my request came after 2 days, on a Sunday morning.
Unfortunately, no move to the Executive level, the highest in the program, but just what I expected, which was premium, the equivalent of the Winged Arrow level I owned with Alitalia.
What to do about the status
At the moment, the possibilities of using the status are reduced although ITA is For all intents and purposes a member of the SkyTeam alliance. The email states that soon you will be able to start enjoying the SkyPriority benefits. Also until the table for calculating mileage gain and the costs of future award tickets, it is also unclear whether or not it makes sense to accumulate points in the Volare club.
It should also not be forgotten that the reduced network of ITA Airways toward the long haul, much narrower than the defunct Alitalia, does not leave much imagination when thinking about booking an award ticket.
The numbers of Flying
Today, ITA Airways announced that there are currently 129,000 members enrolled in the program. To celebrate, the Company decided to award member No. 100,000 with Premium status rather than the Smart status to which he was entitled.
"The customer is at the center of our strategy," said Emiliana Limosani, Chief Commercial Officer of ITA Airways, "and for us it is essential not only to understand their needs and meet their expectations, but also to make them feel appreciated and pampered. This is why we decided to reward our 100,000th member, to celebrate with him the trust that all passengers have shown us by signing up for the Volare Program. This action also," the manager adds, "seemed to us the most natural way to thank him for choosing Ita Airways and our Volare loyalty program. "
In conclusion
I would have expected many more status match campaigns targeted on Millemiglia registrants, instead at the moment, over ITA came (for now) TAP Portugal only. Certainly the numbers show how the choice to launch such a simple status match campaign was apt. In less than a month, the new company has gathered nearly 150 thousand members, sure there were 6mln in the Millemiglia program, but estimates spoke of just over 1 mln active accounts, so in 30 days and without yet having unveiled the details the new carrier has already taken home more than 10% of members, not only former Millemiglia members, but also many from around the world enticed by the status in the SkyTeam alliance.
Now that I have obtained the status, what to do with it is a different story.
