This is actually a very short blog post to let you know that the answer is no.
The slightly longer answer is that the integration with SkyTeam and ITA has been poor at best. Some people that have status matched to ITA Volare status have been able to get benefits when flying (and often they are denied even that despite ITA being a full-fledged SkyTeam member).
Since there are few ways to get to Italy non-stop, I tried quite hard to figure out a way to make this happen. I even found the relevant award inventory on ExpertFlyer. But calls that lasted quite some time and included very knowledgable agents to Delta and Air France were wholly unsuccessful. The award inventory can not even be secured via a long sell (two points if you know what that means).
There is some speculation that because Lufthansa may be trying to buy a majority stake in ITA, in which case it would probably become a part of Star Alliance, that may be the hold up.
Personally, I think that ITA is just the same old Alitalia and this is to be expected…
Of course, if you HAVE been able to do what I’m saying you cannot do as of the time of this post, please do correct me in the comments.
If you’re simply curious about what benefits people are or are not getting with either SkyTeam Elite Plus status or Volare status, check this FlyerTalk thread.
Thoughts?
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