ITA Airways Becomes Part of Miles&More

Miles&More has its 11th member airline. ITA Airways bids farewell to its proprietary loyalty program Volare and joins all other Lufthansa Group carriers in Miles&More. April 1st 2026 is the day for the big switch with Volare closing shop on March 30th 2026.

In this post:

• The End of Volare
• Volare Members What to be Aware of?
• ITA Airways' Last Step Towards Entering the Star Alliance
• Signup to my newsletter

The End of Volare – The Italian Exception No Longer Exists

Let's be honest, Volare since day one appeared quirky and as a lot as a temporary solution. ITA Airways as an airline needed a frequent flyer program to replace Alitalia's Millemiglia, but didn't want to commit to anything long term while it was on the hunt for a strategic partner or buyer.

The way it worked with cash&miles only redemptions isn't what frequent flyers are looking for. And as soon as Lufthansa took over 41% of ITA Airways we all knew Volare had its days numbered.

Volare was initially planned to end on December 31st 2025. The Lufthansa Group needed extra time to complete all formalities for ITA's Star Alliance switch and therefore extended it until March 30th.

With the deadline looming, this time there will be no further extension and Volare will cease to exist. With Volare the only loyalty program exception within the Lufthansa Group will disappear. ITA Airways was the only airline which wasn't a part of the shared Miles&More loyalty program.

Come April 1st that will no longer be the case, with ITA Airways becoming the program's 11th member airline.

So, What Should Volare Members be Aware of?

First, if you are a Volare member don't expect a Miles&More Travel ID to be set up automatically for you. It's not going to happen. If you hold an elite status with Volare don't wait around for an automatic status match, you'll have to do it for yourself and don't put it off. You can get that done here: lufthansa.statusmatch.com. However, miles won't be transferred over to your new Miles&More account.

So if you want to earn miles while flying ITA Airways from now on you'll have to create a Travel ID and a Miles&More membership.

Next let's touch on what to do with any miles balance you might still have in your Volare account. ITA Airways is offering two ways to burn them:

• Book an award flight by March 30th 2026 using your miles. (Better Option)
• Use them to claim a Volare Gift Card. (Worst Option)

If I were you I would book an award flight with those miles by March 30th and not hang around past that deadline. The value you'll extract from your miles will be almost certainly lower if you use your miles for the Volare Gift Cards. Book and award flight and extract the maximum value from your miles while you still can.

ITA Airways' Last Step Towards Entering the Star Alliance

Integrating into the Miles&More ecosystem is the last major step ITA Airways had to take in preparation to entering the Star Alliance.

ITA Airways is expected to become a full Star Alliance member within H1 of 2026. Being part of a fully integrated loyalty program was a necessary step. If it hadn't happened before entering the new alliance ITA would have been the odd one out in Star Alliance not being able to fully operate side by side with all other frequent flyer programs, as volare appeared from day one to be a lame duck.

With ITA Airways fully integrated in Miles&More, Rome Fiumicino will also benefit as more passengers will flow through the airport as the Lufthansa Group channels more passengers through what is now its new southern European hub.