Questions and Answers

Hello Omaat,

With this post I’d like to highlight the recent changes made to Trenitalia’s “Cartafreccia” FT program.

For who is not familiar with “Cartafreccia” loyalty program, let me only explain its main features.

It is the main train’s ft program in Italy with a mixed revenue/distance based accruing points system. In particular, you get [B]1 qualifying point per EUR spent[/B] towards train tickets (et simila) and [B]1 non-qualifying point every 10Km travelled[/B] on all trains (except buy on board tickets).

You can redeem point toward travel on Trenitalia, upgrades on Trenitalia, Trenitalia’s online shop and you can [B]transfer points to Avios[/B].

Let’s now see the major changes, and especially how non-Italy-based travellers may take advantage of them. At the moment, no news is reported on Trenitalia’s English website, so I try to summarize the most important infos.

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[*]As of mid-April, non-elite members are no more entitled to get a Visa Nexi prepaid card as their “cartafreccia”. Instead, your red card will be featured on your smartphone. Silver, gold and platinum members will continue to have Visa Nexi card issued when they meet the QP threshold. This is a win situation for foreign costumers willing to sign up, because you don’t need an Italian address anymore. Intead, you just have to send an e-mail to [I][EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL][/I] with your name, surname, date of birth, place of birth (in case of birth in a foreign state indicate which), an e-mail address, a telephone number and attaching the legible copy in PDF format of your passport. Expect it will take up to 30 days for the application to be processed.
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[*]We are seeing also an extension of [B]“Cartafreccia Young”[/B] to travellers up to 30 years of age. When you select the “Cartafreccia Young non-refundable fare”, available in all classes except Frecciarossa’s Executive, you will enjoy a [B]30% to 50% discount[/B] from the standard refundable fare. Same rules apply also to “[B]Cartafreccia Senior[/B]”.
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[*]ProntoTaxi Rome rides accrue 1 QP every 4 EUR.
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[*]The will be a “refer a friend” option where both get a 10 to 20 EUR discount after your first trip, though it’s not clear if it is available for in international applicants.
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If you are planning to visit Italy in the next months and you will travel a significant amount of km by train, this is something to consider, in my opinion. If you are aged under 30 or over 60, then it becomes a no-brainer. On top of the discounts, you can earn points for staying at some Italian hotel chains (Starhotels, ATA hotels and more) and you can always transfer points you don’t need to your Avios account back home.

Greetings from Italy!

Moschet

Thank you so much for this great information. I’ve been locked out of their frequent traveler program because I had no Italian address. I have benefited greatly in recent years by the ability to purchase tickets online, in advance, saving me time (endless lines in train stations are thankfully history) and a boatload of money given various super saver discounts. Now I can get further discounts and perhaps meaningful elite status given that I spend over 100 days a year in country, which includes a lot of rail travel. Grazie Mille!