In early 2025, Lufthansa Group acquired a 41% stake in Italy’s ITA Airways. Italy is an important market for all major European carriers, and it’s one where SkyTeam has historically been strongest, so Lufthansa Group wanted to change that.
Shortly after that happened, ITA Airways left the SkyTeam alliance, with plans to eventually join the Star Alliance, and adopt Miles & More as its loyalty program. We now know the timeline with which that will happen, and we won’t have to wait much longer.
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ITA Airways will enter its next chapter on April 1, 2026
ITA Airways has announced that as of April 1, 2026, it will adopt Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More loyalty program, replacing the carrier’s own ITA Volare program. As you’d expect, points and status will transfer over, and it should hopefully be pretty seamless for members.
On top of that, ITA Airways is also expected to formally join the Star Alliance as of that date, meaning the program will finally offer full reciprocal perks in terms of being able to earn and redeem points, and take advantage of elite perks, including for Star Alliance Gold members. Now, let me emphasize that this hasn’t technically been directly communicated by the airline, but this is my understanding.
It’s good to see ITA Airways no longer in “no man’s land”
While I’m not necessarily a huge fan of Lufthansa Group or of the Miles & More program, I do consider it to be objectively good that ITA Airways will fully be in an alliance. For roughly a year now, the airline has been between alliances, and that’s just not ideal in terms of reciprocity for earning and redeeming points, taking advantage of elite perks, etc.
Now, ITA Airways has had some bilateral agreements with other airlines during this time, but that’s still a long ways from the simplicity of belonging to one of the major alliances, where the policies between airlines are pretty straightforward.
I’m delighted that it’ll be possible to redeem all Star Alliance rewards currencies, including Avianca Lifemiles, for travel on ITA Airways. Furthermore, this should make a lot more people eligible for lounge access with ITA Airways, both in terms of status and class of service, so expect that the carrier’s limited number of lounges will get a bit more crowded.
Bottom line
On April 1, 2026, ITA Airways will adopt Lufthansa Miles & More as its loyalty program, replacing ITA Volare. On top of that, it’s expected that the airline will join the Star Alliance, roughly a year after leaving the SkyTeam alliance. I’m excited to have more opportunities to earn and redeem points for travel on ITA, and also to take advantage of elite perks.
What do you make of this ITA Airways loyalty development?
Good for Rove?
Not sure if this is all as good as it sounds. If I understand correctly, if you have status with ITA, it will essentially expire since there's no more program from April 1st onward.
There is a free status match in place from ITA Airways Volare to Miles & More.
My match failed, guess I’m out of luck
ITA/Alitalia from SkyTeam to Star Alliance; SAS from Star Alliance to SkyTeam. Musical chairs!
I look forward to Flying Blue and Avios becoming common programs for their respective alliances.
There was so little info out there on how to redeem for ITA while they were in no man's land, but I think it was theoretically possible to use Aeroplan points? I never saw a single award available for any long-haul route they fly, so I'm not sure if 4/1 will really be that big of a milestone.