ITA Airways is the new national airline of Italy, and the successor of Alitalia. While the airline belongs to the SkyTeam alliance for now (until Lufthansa completes its takeover), unfortunately it hasn’t been possible to redeem any partner miles for travel on ITA, which is quite frustrating.
As flagged by Frequent Miler, there’s an exciting update on that front. It’s finally possible to redeem partner airline miles on ITA Airways, which I’d consider to be an exciting development!
In this post:
Redeem Virgin points on ITA Airways
Virgin Atlantic’s website is now showing award availability for travel on ITA Airways. It’s possible that other SkyTeam programs also have access to ITA Airways award space, but I’m not seeing it online yet (if anyone sees any other opportunities, please let me know!).
Fortunately Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points are easy to come by, as the program partners with major transferable points currencies, including American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou. Furthermore, we sometimes see transfer bonuses, which can be worth taking advantage of.
As a reminder, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has a distance based award chart for SkyTeam partner flights, with pricing as follows (based on one-way travel for the entire journey):
As you can see, in business class across the Atlantic you can expect to pay:
- 75,000 points for a journey of 4,001-5,000 miles
- 85,000 points for a journey of 5,001-6,000 miles
- 100,00 points for a journey of 6,001-7,000 miles
Those aren’t necessarily the best prices on earth, but the good news is that award availability in ITA business class is quite good, at least for early 2024 (there are two business class award seats per flight many days), and there are no carrier imposed surcharges on these awards.
Redeeming 75,000 Flying Club points plus $5.60 for a New York to Rome award is quite a good deal.
The same is true of redeeming 85,000 Flying Club points plus $5.60 for a Miami to Rome award.
I’m excited about this opportunity!
I’m not suggesting this is the single greatest development to award travel ever, but I really appreciate seeing this:
- I’ve reviewed ITA Airways’ A350 business class, and the airline actually has a fantastic business class, among the best across the Atlantic; the carrier’s lounge in Rome is quite good too
- Finding saver level award availability nonstop between the United States and Rome on other airlines is extremely challenging, so this is going to be your best option for that
- We often see 25-30% transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, which can make this an even better deal
- It’s nice to see a Virgin Atlantic award option across the Atlantic with no fuel surcharges whatsoever in either direction
Ultimately this is just a temporary opportunity. Lufthansa is purchasing ITA Airways, and at that point I suspect it will be possible to redeem Star Alliance miles for travel on the airline.
Bottom line
It’s now possible to redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for travel on ITA Airways. This can be done directly through Virgin Atlantic’s website, and there are no fuel surcharges. ITA has an excellent business class, so if you’re looking to travel to Italy and beyond, definitely keep this in mind.
Any OMAAT readers plan on redeeming points on ITA?
I can't find availability anymore being released for LAX to FCO. Will this return?
I had what seemed like phantom availability on multiple dates on the website but was able to successfully book using the VA app.
No biz class seats available in March from LAX to Rome. But, I was able to book 2 biz class seats on ITA for a nonstop between San Francisco and Rome in March for 400,000 VA miles plus $130 in tax/fees. While I still have to add a flight to SFO, I am happy with that outcome
Enjoy business class. We just flew business class and there was no beer/wine, cocktails or ice. Warm soft drinks.
it all seems very dodgy, some months back I flew from South America to Europe Business Class as a Flying Blue Elite member, only to discover later that I could not get my miles, fo the rest service was good, nothing out of this world with lots of shabby former Alitalia items. web check in, etc not even basic. Just wonder how long this will last.
About a couple weeks ago I was able to successfully book a 1-way biz class this way for my wife and I home from Rome (Nonstop FCO-BOS) for near the end of August. I had previously booked a 1-way in business for us to get to Rome using Lifemiles on Lufthansa.
I was unsure if it was actual availability, so before transferring my Chase points, I called in and had the agent check and hold the space while waiting for the points to transfer.
DO NOT TRANSFER POINTS! PHANTOM AVAILABILITY! I just transferred 100,000 from Amex to Virgin after seeing online availability one way in business from Palermo to Miami in SEP.. then went to Virgin book, and an error message showed up. Called Virgin, and the nice lady said ITA would not allow her to book this flight. EVEN THOUGH IT SHOWED AVAILABLE ON THE VIRGIN SITE! They do not play well together apparently! Now I am stuck...
DO NOT TRANSFER POINTS! PHANTOM AVAILABILITY! I just transferred 100,000 from Amex to Virgin after seeing online availability one way in business from Palermo to Miami in SEP.. then went to Virgin book, and an error message showed up. Called Virgin, and the nice lady said ITA would not allow her to book this flight. EVEN THOUGH IT SHOWED AVAILABLE ON THE VIRGIN SITE! They do not play well together apparently! Now I am stuck with 100K in my Virgin account, who I never fly. Tried calling Amex to refund, they said to call Virgin and plead my case. Unbelievable.. Buyer beware!
Well, surprise, surprise, surprise!
/Gomer
Has anyone successfully booked this? Some posts on Reddit indicate may be phantom availability…
I tried booking SFO-FCO-PMO last night and gave up at midnight (8 tries or so with a call into VS customer service). This morning I got up and was able to book it on the second try. Really look over your VS credit card info, as the website can scramble it sometimes.
It worked for me without issue. I successfully booked an award ITA flight JFK-FCO with Virgin yesterday - for travel in late November.
I just did for an IAD-FCO R/T.
Ha, that was me actually. I had to book Air France. The agent told me *none* of the ITA LFIGHTS FOR Florence or Milan to JFK were actually available.
JFK-MXP falls beautifully in the 4,000 mile range. Wait, did AZ/VS block that option ;)
It does not. It would be under 4,000 if it would be JFK-MXP, but the routing views the route as NYC-MIL, and that route is just over 4,000.
Good development to hear but not sure if it's 100% perfect yet. Tried to look up availability on ITA's MXP-JFK route but the Virgin Atlantic website threw up the error "This route is not redeemable with points." Didn't try in the direction JFK-MXP however or try and book this route over the phone.
Let's see if AF/KL or Delta will add this redemption option or how long it will last before LH Group buys ITA...
It’s already under way. Lufthansa replaced the current ITA CEO with one of their managers today