Questions and Answers

Hi everyone,

I was all set to transfer miles from Amex Membership Rewards to an Alitalia MilleMiglia account I just opened to redeem 2 business class award tickets. At the last second, I noticed an ominous notice on Alitalia’s website saying that only a maximum of 75% of transferred miles can be used for an award; the last 25% must be earned with Alitalia.

Is this really enforced? I’ve seen some folks on the Web say they’ve had no problems, but why is this still on their website then? I’ve also seen no mention of this policy in the articles on this site about redeeming Alitalia miles.

I’m hoping someone can confidently clear this up for me before I transfer miles that will otherwise be stuck in Alitalia. [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] can you help?

Thanks so much!

Best,
Todd

Oh… two more things…

ExpertFlyer shows 0 seats available, but Alitalia’s website shows 2 (48K miles each for FCO-BOS on 10/19). Should I be worried that this is phantom space?

Also, I do have 0 miles on Alitalia, but I keep getting stuck in an infinite loop on their website — I logged in, searched for the flight, and then after selecting the ones I want, it asks me to log in again, at which point it takes me back to the home page. Has anyone else had this problem?

Transferred doesn’t mean what you think it means in this case; miles coming from Amex are fine.

That being said, if you aren’t a very chill and relaxed person who is happy to roll with things, dealing with Alitalia is a miserable experience, and likely not worth the mileage savings.

Thanks so much, [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] . It’s not the mileage savings I was really after, it’s the route FCO-BOS and the timing of the flight that are perfect.

What are your thoughts on the fact that ExpertFlyer doesn’t show the availability and when I go through the paces on alitalia.com (albeit with no miles in my account) I get stuck in an infinite loop and can’t get to any ticketing pipeline. Should I be worried? I’d hate to transfer the miles over only to find that I can’t book the flights after all.

oh [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] you are so right about the need to be relaxed and chill! I took the plunge and transferred the miles. When I log in, the miles are there. As soon as I start the reward booking process, it says I have no miles.

What do I do? Is there a known problem of a delay for systems to update?

Help please! 🙂

Wow — it just gets worse. [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] you weren’t kidding. I managed to get the miles to show up during the booking process and thought I was home free. I proceeded all the way to the end and then the ticketing timed out.

But, the miles are deducted from my account, I see the fees charge on my citibank statement online (though I can’t tell if it’s an authorization or a real charge), the award inventory is gone, and Expert Flyer shows the seats I picked now occupied.

But I have no receipt, no locator number, and of course Alitalia does not seem to store your bookings online.

And you can’t reach anyone at Alitalia now.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do? There are 96K miles and the perfect itinerary at risk, so I’ll be really anxious until I resolve this.

Thanks,
Todd

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER]

It’s probably just an authorization, but you’ll need to call.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] If it’s just an authorization, what do you think happened to my miles, the award inventory, and the seat availability for the seats I picked?

How do I rescue this booking? Alitalia is completely unreachable. (You warned me…)

Thank you for your help… I’m panicking like crazy now…

Well, I brainstormed where else I could find necessary information — so I installed the app, logged in, and voila, my reservation is there with a locator number and everything. I went back to the website and pulled it up and it looks fine too. Can’t see an eticket number, but I have no idea what Alitalia usually displays in normal circumstances. Citibank also said the charge is 100% approved and final, so maybe I can relax now?? Would you consider this resolved?

Hmmm…. well it’s still not right… can’t click through on the booking to update seats or anything at all. I can’t do any of the things their website says you should be able to do under “My Flights”. So that does suggest it’s in a weird state. Hopefully I can get through on the phone someday soon…

Todd, whatever you are able to see on the app – I’d make sure you are screenshotting. Can never be too safe!