ITA and Lufthansa announce status benefits and Star Alliance integration

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• Gerry says:

  4 Feb4 February 04:16

  “Your ITA status card should still be respected by other SkyTeam carriers until that date.”

  It’s not respected by many of them even now 😉

  • Phillip says:

    4 Feb4 February 04:42

    That’s certainly my experience!

• Dubious says:

  4 Feb4 February 04:44

  “Should” ne “Will”

  • Dubious says:

    4 Feb4 February 04:45

    “Should” does not equal “Will” 🙂

• William says:

  4 Feb4 February 07:21

  ITA status always recognised by SAS.

• Inman says:

  4 Feb4 February 08:03

  I’ve got a return trip (cash flights) to LIN booked on AZ in May and I’ve added the Virgin Flying Club FF membership number to it.
  Do you think points will be added to Virgin? Would it be a good idea to change the FF number to something else. I’m not a member of Volare though. Thanks in advance.

  • Rob says:

    4 Feb4 February 08:43

    No, they will be fully out of SkyTeam by May.

• Speedbird676 says:

  4 Feb4 February 08:04

  It’s funny how the FAQ from the email I received from ITA yesterday contradicts almost everything in the announcement.

  2. Will ITA Airways join a new alliance?

  ITA Airways and Volare have enter into agreements with 4 airlines of the Lufthansa Group: Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines. The mutual agreements entered into at this stage regarding earning and using points will not imply the entry of ITA Airways into the Star Alliance.

  30. What will happen to my Elite or Elite Plus status within the SkyTeam alliance?

  The benefits associated with the SkyTeam Elite and Elite Plus statuses will remain unchanged.

  • Rob says:

    4 Feb4 February 08:43

    The FAQ wasn’t updated from what it was before – no idea why they linked to it!

• Richie says:

  4 Feb4 February 08:20

  IAG has more slots at Milan Linate from this change in ownership of ITA Airways. It seems BA and BACF have released for cash booking and avios redemptions additional flights from LHR and LCY to Milan Linate for summer 25. Some LHR to Malpensa flights may have changed to Linate.

  • Rob says:

    4 Feb4 February 08:42

    Yes, it’s crazy. I know a lot of non doms moved there but the new frequencies are ridiculous!

    • Nick says:

      4 Feb4 February 09:43

      Milan is an interesting market. It’s one of the highest yielding in Europe, but the Italian government won’t let ITA serve it properly (and in Alitalia days the unions wouldn’t let them serve it profitably) so it becomes quite a dynamic market for ’non home’ airlines.

      LIN is a weird one too. Some airlines want to be there so much they’ll lease any slots available (ahem, BA). Post-Brexit the government declared it Schengen only to avoid having to hire customs officers… BA protested hard and got that reversed. But some customers massively prefer MXP so they need to continue both!

      • Rob says:

        4 Feb4 February 09:48

        Malpensa is what, 19 per week now? Pretty thin.

• Swiss Jim says:

  4 Feb4 February 08:54

  My status still hasn’t been updated from 2025-2 to 2026-1 (or whatever) post recent keep status challenge. If they fail to honour that that’ll be the end for me. But who then to fly with short haul? Not the disaster that’s BA. Ryanair I suspect.

  • Pangolin says:

    4 Feb4 February 09:06

    It’s now only going to be valid for other SkyTeam carriers until April 30 anyway, so the status run turned out to be a waste of time in my case (my next flights on KLM are scheduled for May).

    • Swiss Jim says:

      4 Feb4 February 15:11

      Unless it can be rolled into something else.

      • Dubious says:

        5 Feb5 February 06:05

        One selfish concern I have is that all the flights I’ve used my ITA status on have been non-crediting to my Volare account.
        If there’s a status match it’s going to look like I’ve not been flying as no transaction show on my Volare statement.

        I hope that’s not going to be the case.

      • Dubious says:

        5 Feb5 February 06:05

        One selfish concern I have is that all the flights I’ve used my ITA status on have been non-crediting to my Volare account.
        If there’s a status match it’s going to look like I’ve not been flying as no transaction show on my Volare statement.

        I hope that’s not going to be the case.

• JimmyJimmy says:

  4 Feb4 February 08:58

  I have Volare premier via the status match and I’m flying SAS. Does anyone know what SAS Eurobonus this maps to such that I can understand which benefits I may be entitled to. My googling has so far came up short.
  J

  • Rhys says:

    4 Feb4 February 09:08

    I believe it’s just SkyTeam Elite, not Elite Plus

  • W says:

    4 Feb4 February 11:08

    You should be able view entitlements from the SAS app (under my trips look out for a section called whats included)that is if you have added your ITA number to reservation.

    As Sky Team elite plus departing from LHR I’ve received fast track, free seat selection, group 1 boarding plus generous luggage though luggage is dependent on fare type.
    Access to SAS gold lounge is included where available

  • Barrel for Scraping says:

    4 Feb4 February 11:18

    If you mean ‘premium’ it’s Elite Plus but to be sure just check what it says on your card.

    To other airlines there’s only two levels of SkyTeam status:
    Elite – a bit like BA bronze (some benefits, but not lounge)
    Elite Plus – a bit like BA silver (includes lounge access)

    ITA has executive above premium but to other airlines it’s just Elite Plus.

    oneworld is unique in having three alliance wide status levels.

    • Pangolin says:

      4 Feb4 February 11:34

      Since other airlines apart from ITA see Premium and Executive as essentially the same (Elite Plus) I wonder if LH would fold both statuses into LH SEN.

      But this is Lufty so they’ll probably match Premium to FTL 🙁

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