On October 15, 2021, Alitalia shut operations and ITA Airways took its spot as Italy’s national airline. ITA Airways will acquire all the assets of Alitalia, but not their liabilities, so basically, it is a restructuring of the airline. The new airline has a new loyalty programme, called Volare, offering a very liberal status match. The first round of the status match was offered in 2021, and for those who missed out on it, the airline has brought it back again in 2022.

ITA Airways, which is keen, perhaps, to swell its ranks of elites at the start itself, is offering a status match to everyone who qualifies. Except, their timeline to match you is long, and the new status takes effect only on December 31, 2021.

Update: The airline has been accepted into the Skyteam alliance on October 29, 2021, so, all members of the new Volare loyalty programme will be offered benefits in the Skyteam alliance as well.

ITA is offering a status match to elite members of 24 frequent flyer programmes worldwide, across various alliances, including Skyteam (the original alliance of predecessor Alitalia). The following airlines’ status will be matched (list updated last week of March 2022):

• Aeroflot: Aeroflot Bonus
• Aerolíneas Argentinas: Aerolíneas Plus
• Air Europa: Suma
• Alitalia: Mille Miglia
• Air France/KLM: Flying Blue
• American Airlines: AAdvantage
• ANA: Mileage Club
• British Airways: Executive Club
• Czech Airlines: OK Plus
• Delta Airlines: SkyMiles
• Emirates: Skywards
• El Al: Matmid
• Iberia: Iberia Plus
• Korean Air: SKYPASS
• Lufthansa: Miles and More
• Middle East Airlines: Cedar Miles
• Qatar Airlines: Privilege Club
• Royal Jordanian: Royal Club
• Saudia: Alfursan
• Singapore Airlines: KrisFlyer
• Swiss Air: Miles & More
• TAP: Miles & Go
• Tarom: Flying Blue
• Turkish Airways: Miles & Smile
• United: Mileage Plus

You can get a status match if you are a “premium tier” member with these programmes—for instance, British Airways Gold or Lufthansa Senator. The status match will be available between March 15 and April 15, 2022.

• The new status will be recognized in the ITA systems as soon as the matching process is completed. Members will receive a communication by email confirming the recognition by May 15, 2022.
• The new status will be available and visible to Members by May 15, 2022.
• The digital card and any physical cards will be available by May 15, 2022.
• The assigned status will be valid for one year starting from May 15, 2022; its maintenance methods are indicated in the VOLARE program.
• Any requests that do not include all the requested data or that are accompanied by illegible documentation will not be processed.

How to request the Status Match?

To request the status match form to ITA Airways Volare, you need to send an email to statusmatch@itaspa.com with the following information:

• Email subject: “program of origin” – “status of origin” (for example, British Airways Executive Club – Gold)
• Body text: Name; Surname; “program of origin”; “status of origin” (e.g. John; Smith; British Airways Executive Club; Gold)
• Attach a legible copy of your current valid Frequent Flyer Card (digital or physical) and a copy of your ID card1 (pdf format, jpg)

Things to Note

There are many things to note before you get on the ITA Airways status match. Firstly, this programme is just for ITA Airways for now and not a gateway to Skyteam membership, as ITA Airways has not joined any alliance as of now. Second, there is no sense of where this is going or how long its going to take. For instance, I signed up for the Volaire programme, and I did not even get a membership number assigned, so I am not sure how will they find membership status to upgrade. Third, there is no information yet, on what the status tiers of the Volaire programme are, and how do they get mapped to other programmes.

Update: The Status Match comes in pretty quick. I got my “Executive” Status within 24 hours of applying. Although there is no number so this is pretty useless for now, and I sense I will get a membership number on or before December 31, 2021, when my membership starts. Also, in light of the Skyteam membership, I should be able to get Skyteam Elite Plus, which will get me benefits such as extra baggage allowance and lounge access for me and a +1 when flying a Skyteam member airline.

The SkyTeam Benefits are spotty

While ITA Airways is trying to project itself as a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, the integration into the Alliance IT and the paperwork is still not complete, perhaps by design. Some folk like yours truely are unable to do a premium seat selection in Economy on ST member airlines with our ITA Airways numbers, and others are unable to access the lounge.

At this time ITA is SkyTeam by (self proclaimed) name only. Did Status Match to Elite Plus, but flying AF last week no recognition of status and no ability to credit flights. CDG AF staff “didn’t have any information on ITA”.

— Rune Raunow (@raunow_dk) March 9, 2022

Update?

— Vincent (@vincNW) March 6, 2022

Bottomline

ITA Airways, the replacement of Alitalia, is offering a status match to the elite club members of various airlines across the globe. It may be a wise idea to try and get in on this, and then see where it goes from there, given there are a lot of open ends on this for now. The Skyteam membership should be worth it, although it really hasn’t gone live yet, it seems.

Are you going to try and status match for ITA Airways Volare programme?

(The original article was published on October 19, 2021, and has been updated on March 18, 2022, with information about the second offer)

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.