Italy’s ITA Volare Offering Elite Status Match

Italia Trasporto Aereo, Italy's new national airline, began operations on October 15, 2021. In the last few months of 2021, the airline offered a status match promotion. Anyone who was interested but didn't take advantage of the last offer will be able to do so in 2022.

I wanted to share my experience requesting a status match, as well as the basics of this opportunity.

ITA Volare status match details

The Volare frequent flyer program is running a status match campaign. The airline is offering status matches from a number of loyalty programs.

How does the match work? If you are not a member of the program, you should register. You can send an email to statusmatch@itaspa.com once you have done that.

• Email subject: “program of origin” – “status of origin”
• Body text: name; surname; “program of origin”; “status of origin”
• Attach a legible copy of your current valid frequent flyer card (digital or physical) and a copy of your ID card (pdf format, jpg)

Your status will be valid for 12 months if your status match is approved.

You need to have some status in order to match the 24 airline frequent flyer programs that ITA Volare is matching.

• Aerolíneas Argentinas – Aerolíneas Plus
• Air Europa – Suma
• Alitalia – Millemiglia
• 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 & More
• Middle East Airlines – Cedar Miles
• Qatar Airlines – Privilege Club
• Royal Jordanian – Royal Club
• Saudia – Alfursan
• Singapore Airlines – KrisFlyer
• Swiss – Miles & More
• TAP Air Portugal – Miles & Go
• TAROM – Sky Team
• Turkish Airlines – Miles & Smiles
• United Airlines – MileagePlus

Should you request an ITA Volare status match?

Is it worth it to match status to ITA Volare? You will have access to some elite perks if you join the SkyTeam alliance, which is the first thing that's interesting. When flying with other airlines, like Delta, there could be benefits like a free checked bag or priority boarding.

All the way up to the top tier, ITA Airways is matching elite status. What are the benefits of being in the program? The details are vague, but we know what we know.

• ITA Volare Plus is the entry level elite tier, and offers priority waitlisting, free ancillary services, dedicated customer service, and business class check-in
• ITA Volare Premium is the middle elite tier, and offers lounge access, 24/7 dedicated customer service, priority boarding, and a dedicated onboard reception
• ITA Volare Executive is the top elite tier, and offers free checked golf equipment, lounge access (including with a guest), food & drinks free of charge, invitations to exclusive events, and a dedicated reception

It's worth taking a few minutes to match status with ITA Volare. This is a new airline, and it is owned by SkyTeam, so I think opportunities will be hard to come by. It's frustrating that there isn't a way to redeem miles with other SkyTeam partners for travel on ITA Airways, so the only way to do that is to pay cash.

My ITA Volare status match experience

I wanted to share my experience after requesting an ITA Volare status match during the promotion. I had to register for the program first.

I just had to click a link in an email to complete the registration after I entered some basic information.

The link to the status match page was contained in the next confirmation email.

You aren't issued a frequent flyer number when you register for the ITA Volare program. That isn't an issue, as it's not necessary to request a status match. I contacted statusmatch@itaspa.com with the very basic information.

• Email subject: “program of origin” – “status of origin”
• Body text: name; surname; “program of origin”; “status of origin”
• Attach a legible copy of your current valid frequent flyer card (digital or physical) and a copy of your ID card (pdf format, jpg)

I sent a picture of my American AAdvantage Executive Platinum account, but I messed it up. I assumed that my Executive Platinum card wouldn't work because it was expired. I remembered that I could use the American Airlines app to get a digital elite card, so I sent a picture of that. I was matched all the way to the Executive tier a day later.

Bottom line

elite members of other frequent flyer programs can get a status match from ITA Airways. Status should be matched by May 15, 2022. The process of requesting a status match was easy to understand. It's not clear whether or not this comes in handy at some point.

Do you plan on requesting a match?