Get 5,000 mile sign-up bonus in MilleMiglia, ‘the world’s worst programme’, worth €25 off a flight

I got myself crossed off Alitalia’s Christmas card list last year, when I ran this article asking whether their MilleMiglia scheme is actually the worst frequent flyer scheme in the world.

The driver for this post was the fact that, every three years, Alitalia closes down its loyalty scheme, wipes out your existing miles balance, and then relaunches the scheme the next day!  December 2012 was the last time this happened, and the new version of MilleMiglia is now up and running – but only to December 2015 ….

At present, Alitalia is offering 5,000 bonus miles if you sign up for MilleMiglia before tomorrow night.

The ONLY reason I mention this on Head for Points is that you can use 5,000 Alitalia miles to claim a €25 discount on a €100+ Alitalia flight.  You might therefore find this worthwhile if you were planning a break in Italy.

The 5,000 miles do not credit automatically, however.  You need some activity on your account to receive them, which would involve crediting a SkyTeam flight.  More easily, it seems that making the minimum 1,000 point Amex Membership Rewards transfer should be enough to trigger it.

There are no worthwhile flight redemptions for 5,000 miles.  Alitalia does not even allow one-way redemptions, so the cheapest option would be 20,000 miles for a European economy flight.  The €25 flight discount appears to be the only sensible way to use the bonus miles.

And an extra titbit ….

Whilst researching this article, I found that the Alitalia reward chart contains this fantastic example of Italian bureaucracy at work.  Imagine if you had to do this every time you booked an Avios reward ticket for a friend or family member:

“Whenever an Award Ticket is issued in the name of a beneficiary, i.e. a customer other than the MilleMiglia account holder, the beneficiary must be in possession of full documentation relating to the award ticket when effecting check-in operations: i.e. travel document, personal identity document, authorization written and signed by the account-holding member, photocopy of the personal identity document and MilleMiglia Card of the account-holding member.”

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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review