It’s official. ITA Airways, which is the new Italian national flag carrier that is replacing the very-much bankrupt Alitalia, is officially joining SkyTeam.
It has not “yet” bought the MileMiglia program from Alitalia’s assets, but that is expected to be the next step (in a very roundabout way since iTA was barred from making such a purchase, but of course they can purchase it from a company that purchases it!).
Importantly, this means that if you are able to status match to whatever mid-tier ITA’s frequent flyer program equals SkyTeam Elite Plus, you would get those benefits (like lounge access on an international economy flight).
I want to point out that I was matched to Premium level and yet there is no page anywhere that says what the levels are or what each offers (and certainly not which are SkyTeam Elite Plus).
We do know that if you register and book 2 segments by Dec 31, 2021 you get 10,000 bonus miles.
We also know you can start spending ITA Volare miles from March 2022, but here’s another interesting tidbit I just uncovered on their site.
9. TERM OF DELIVERY OF THE AWARDS GIVEN
The Program allows you to accumulate Points until the deadline of 15 October 2024. The Awards may be requested by the Member by 15 November 2024, and will be delivered to the entitled party at the same time, with the exception of any Awards that must be delivered to the Member’s home (which must be communicated when requesting physical Awards). ITA undertakes to deliver within 90 days of the request.
Update: Gary Leff responded to me on Twitter that this is a standard thing under Italian law and that you should wind up with a way to extend your miles when the time comes.
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