We recently saw Lufthansa Group acquire a 41% stake in ITA Airways. The German airline group taking a major stake in Italy’s national carrier is quite a development for European aviation. While we’ve had a general sense of what ITA Airways’ integration into Lufthansa Group would look like, some more details have just been officially…
Continue reading: ITA Airways Leaving SkyTeam, Joining Star Alliance In 2026
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The unbelievable cost of changing alliances makes the whole thing pointless, will only serve to increase fare prices significantly, if not double them as a result. Think of the reputational damage, rebranding, uniforms, training of staff, all agreements that need to be put in place. Not good.
I do not see in this following press release by Lufthansa Group that they are immediately leaving SkyTeam from 05 Feb, my understanding is that they initiated the process.
So how am I supposed to get that free checked baggage on the Light fare I just booked with KLM moments ago...?
Out of luck there buddy-boy. Guess you're paying full price. This is going to be a recurring theme - ANGRY customers!
Michael,
SkyTeam just announced it:
https://www.aviacionline.com/ita-airways-exits-skyteam-and-aligns-with-lufthansa-group
BLAH BLAH BLAH. Guy is a Degenerate. Perhaps something did not quite descend as well? Something that begins with TES and ends with TICLES.
BENJAMIN,
Why the "*A"? Can you not say STAR ALLIANCE. Say it LOUDLY AND PROUDLY!
@ Ben -- The press release from Lufthansa Group suggests otherwise:
"ITA Airways' official accession to the Star Alliance is planned for the first half of 2026."
https://newsroom.lufthansagroup.com/en/integration-of-ita-airways-into-the-lufthansa-group-has-commenced/
Thank you for the correction. Other publications reported differently. But we'll see. There might be acceleration of the process.
Yikes. Sure glad I didn't book those ITA flights over the weekend for credit to Delta.
I watched a fascinating interview not long ago between Richard Quest of CNN and the Lufthansa CEO. I was surprised to learn that Italy is Lufthansa's biggest market.
Ben,
Curious to see if Volare Executive members will get the same benefits as HON circle members. With ITA eventually adopting Miles & More as their loyalty program you'd have to wonder if Executive members will become HON circle members or be "downgraded" to Senators
Im amazed there are almost as many Volare members as M&M members given how much larger the LH Group is compared with ITA
@ Dennis -- I think there's zero chance that Executive would convert to HON Circle. In terms of perks, it's more in line with Senator, and Lufthansa doesn't just give away HON Circle (especially given how aggressively ITA has been status matching).
Don't hold your breathe on ITA joining Star in 2026. They technically joined Skyteam in 2021 and have consistently not been recognized by most Skyteam carriers over the last 4 years. It was a running joke in the frequent flyer community. And there was an unpublished list of "non-earning" Skyteam carriers (including Tarom) whose flights could not credit to ITA, on top of most Skyteam carriers refusing to recognize ITA status. It's a total joke, so it's hilarious to see Ben write "Well, it’s going to be a slow process. ITA Airways only plans to join Star Alliance in the first half of 2026, so we’ll be patient." Patience is an understatement.
It will be interesting to see which one-on-one partnerships (non-Star Alliance) exist post-transition.
FANTASTIC NEWS. It was about time they left that awful alliance for something way better. I hope other skyteam members take note, and follow ITAs lead
From the very beginning of the new ITA， They know they will be purchased either by AirFrance-KLM or LH, either way their own program will be merged into Flying Blue or M&M. There is no point of making their own program at all, so they just made a simple shell for this transition time. Everybody in the frequent flyer community (except you, apparently ) knows and expects nothing more from it. they even give a lot people easy "free" Skyteam elite Plus for many years. What are you complaining about?
My complaint is 100% legit. It makes a mockery of the alliance system when an airline is part of an alliance for FOUR years and does not honor any of the benefits of the alliance. Once you've created that precedent, it's a dangerous slippery slope and calls into question the very concept of an alliance. Loyalty Lobby did tons of blog posts on how shameful the entire ITA saga was, and that is a highly respected blog - so your comment that "everybody in the frequent flyer community" knew this is complete nonsense.
As much as we have been expecting it, similar to how we expected SAS to leave Star Alliance for SkyTeam, I don’t get why they rushed to leave SkyTeam so quickly to spend up to year without alliance.
Couldn’t they have done a SAS-style transition where they leave Skyteam one day and join Star Alliance the next day. (Eg. ITA Airways leaves SkyTeam on 31 Dec 2025 and joins Star Alliance on 1 Jan 2026)
Will them joining SA in 2026 and current matched status ending in early 2026, I'm pretty sure people will have no status to roll over.
Ben, what do you think will happen to those with LIFETIME Executive Per Sempre status?? Will LH give lifetime Senator too...or what?? Interesting article to write about lifetime statuses being honored during airline mergers.
So If I used my Cap1 Visa to move 10k miles into ITA FF program -- will it merge into Miles and More ?
Skyteam airlines should do a status match for Volare elites. Eurobonus would be ideal, but I could also make do with Flying Blue or UX.
How can there be a Volare Lifetime Status holder? That program is only 3 years old.
Not necessarily. Eurowings and Lufthansa also have separate Frequent Flyer Programs.
Not necessarily. Eurowings and Lufthansa also have separate Frequent Flyer Programs.
what would be the benefit for LHG if ITA would still be part of skyteam?
LHG wants passengers to connect to LH/LX/OS/etc flight and not to Skyteam flights.
I am optimistic that Miles&More Status Holders will soon have status benefits when flying ITA (and maybe vice versa).
In the meantime it’s probably a bit like with Eurowings/Edelweiss/City/Air Dolomiti: You will find these airlines on your Star Alliance Itinerary, but you will not have Star Gold benefits.
I’m surprised by the relative calm and civility in the comments today. Hmmm, what a pleasant surprise.
Fun fact: ITA website doesn’t show the Skyteam anymore but now an „inspired by Alitalia“ logo…
I am holder of lifetime Volare Executive status + it is already mentioned here that such status exists: https://www.ita-airways.com/nl_nl/fly-ita/airports/lounge-fast-track-service/test.html + https://www.ita-airways.com/content/dam/ita/files/IT/volare/mondo-ita/societ%C3%A0-trasparente/2024/ITA-Bilancio-consolidato-e-esercizio-31.12.2023.pdf .
Currently there are 800 such lifetime members.
Thanks for the update on ITA! Nice to read actual travel related news on this site again, rather than recycled reviews, corporate/credit card promotions and hot button clickbait it has fallen into recently.
Eurowings and all other LH group airlines use Miles and More, I don’t understand your comment.
Ah you’re right. Eurowings Boomerang Club is discontinued and points were converted to M&M at a ratio of 2:1.
For a long time, Eurowings customers had the choice of collecting miles for their flights with the Lufthansa subsidiary through Miles & More or the Eurowings Boomerang Club. Although Eurowings belongs to the Lufthansa Group and is also fully integrated into Miles & More, the low-cost carrier previously had its own, less complex frequent flyer program.
Nice to see Star Alliance get a major airline after losing SAS last year and the pending loss of Asiana once they complete their merger with Korean. Star has also suffered with the degradation of carriers like South African and Avianca and not seeing a new addition since Air India in 2014 while OneWorld and SkyTeam have been expanding.
And when will service downgrading to LH-group level start? In terms of service, AZ is way superior than any LH-group airline.
I understand that and I agree that LH group wants ITA customers to quickly look to them as close partners and enjoy benefits on LH group airlines (eg. frequent flyers, lounge access etc.) , rightfully so, and we obviously knew ITA's move from SkyTeam to Star Alliance was going to happen.
What I am arguing about is why it has to be a year-long switchover between SkyTeam and Star Alliance rather than an overnight switch like SAS.
Once AF/KL's purchase of SAS shares was approved, SAS's transition from Star Alliance to SkyTeam only took a couple of months, it only took a few months for SAS to switch alliances (final approval came April/May 2024, and SAS switched alliances on 31 Aug/1 Sep 2024)
In this case, since ITA is now expected to fully exit SkyTeam on 30 April 2025, couldn't they have been admitted to Star Alliance with immediate effect or even just weeks after its full exit from SkyTeam (May-June 2025) rather than wait until Q1 2026 at the earliest?
Couldn't ITA have had a quicker admission into Star Alliance, like around this summer?
Well,the ITA Status Match got me a few Skyteam lounge accesses (very reluctantly from the host airlines, especially AF [*]), but it will have been the shortest lived promotion ever.
[*] The AF staff at CDG TWICE told me that access was denied as "everybody knew that they were going with Lufthansa", but I insisted and they could not find any ground to reject me.
I was there (CDG T2F) twice in January and on both days I just entered the lounge by scanning my AF boarding pass (with Volare status). I didn't need to talk to (or be checked by) anyone.
I guess they would, if they _could_. It might just be that they can't because of IT complexities or any other red tape...
Disaster for Skyteam, best of their European airlines moves to the dark side. Absolutely gutted. Was going to get a few more flights in this year, lose ITA gain SAS, lose a pound find a penny. I guess most of what's great about ITA will disappear but doesn't really matter as I won't get to see it
This is LH we're talking about.. they'll probably downgrade both Premium and Executive to FTL!
ITA has always been a reluctant ST member at best, and their service and amenities are nowhere near Air France. It will not be a huge loss for frequent ST travellers.
No, but its business class is light years ahead of both LH and LX in terms of both hard and soft product.
@Ben
I booked ITA before this announcement, but the flights don't take place until after April 30. At booking, I chose my Flying Blue account as the program where the earned miles would go. Do you know if my Flying Blue account will still be credited?
Status match available since October it seems, but not seen it publicised much. Surprised not an article on here for it.
I've matched Volare Premium to Senator with minimal activity (although no minimum activity requirements stated) - all within a matter of hours.
https://lufthansa.statusmatch.com/