Great news if you are an ITA Airways frequent flyer and also hold an American Express credit card. The airline and the credit card company have finally signed an agreement to allow points transfer. Let’s take a closer look at what the news is all about, how the points transfer will work a how it can be useful to you.
What is the ITA Airways American Express Agreement all About?
From now on AMEX card holders (Green, Gold or Platinum) will be allowed to transfer their Membership Rewards points to ITA Airways’ Volare frequent flyer programme.
The Volare miles will then be available to book reward flights with the Italian flag carrier. You’ll be able to book flight across the ITA Airways destination network.
What is the AMEX Membership Rewards to ITA Airways Volare Miles Conversion Ratio?
Surprisingly at the moment the ratio for transferring AMEX points to Volare Miles is 1 to 1. That means you’ll get 1 mile for each and every point you transfer over.
This is quite a rare conversion ratio for AMEX point to be converted into frequent flyer miles. Usually most ratios offer 2 miles every 3 AMEX point or 4 miles every 5 points.
How Long Does it Take To Transfer Points?
AMEX and the airline assure that the time to transfer the points over to the Volare frequent flyer programme are quite fast. As a matter of fact Membership Rewards points should be converted over to Volare within 30 minutes.
The Possibile Alliance Change Coming Up
If you’re a SkyTeam frequent flyer I would hold back from transferring all your points though. Soon a minority share of ITA will be bought by German flag carrier Lufthansa. This might direct the Italian airline to jump ship from its current SkyTeam alliance membership to join Star Alliance.
Also earlier this year ITA moved over to Amadeus booking systems which are the same as the ones used by Lufthansa. Another clue that the airline is aligning with the acquiring party.
So I would just transfer the point I need to book a reward flight until it is sure what will happen in terms of airline alliance status.
