Success: ITA Volare Status Match Processed & Updated to PREMIUM Level (SkyTeam Elite Plus)

A few days ago I wrote about the new status match opportunity of ITA Airlines’ Volare program and after a little bit of wait, my status which has previously been approved has now been updated in the online profile to their PREMIUM tier.

The tier level was matched from Lufthansa Senator (Star Alliance Gold) to Volare Premium which isn’t their highest level but still carries SkyTeam Elite+ status for alliance-wide benefits.

This is the second time that ITA offers a status match though in the first round it was rather difficult to sign up due to website issues and to this day for some (technical?) reasons many SkyTeam partners don’t even recognize ITA Volare in their systems.

Participating in this status match is an excellent opportunity to get Skyteam Elite Plus status which is usually hard to come by as matches by SkyTeam carriers are extremely rare.

You can read more in my original article from last Saturday here:

ITA Volare (SkyTeam Elite Plus) Status Match Is Back For New Applications Through April 15, 2022

You can access the status match landing page of ITA Volare here.

Sign up now to our new program Volare. If you already belong to a loyalty program of one of the 24 selected airlines*, you can sign up to the Status Match campaign and request recognition of your status in our program by 15 April.

Complete the Status Match dedicated request form which you can find in your personal area by entering your personal data and uploading a legible copy of your Frequent Flyer program card of origin (digital or physical) and a copy of your valid¹identity card (pdf, jpg format)

Your request to match your membership status will be examined and sent to you via email to confirm if your status has been recognized by 15/05/2022.

After applying my match was confirmed a few hours later:

I received a formal confirmation that my match has been accepted:

Dear Sebastian

We are pleased to inform you that your request for a Status Match for the ITA Airways Volare loyalty program has been accepted.In the next few days we will send you all the details regarding the services of your new club.Thank you for having chosen to take part in our Volare program, we look forward to seeing you on board an ITA Airways flights soon!Yours sincerely,Volare ProgramStatus Match Team

This was more efficient than I imagined and today I got another email that the status has been updated and a digital card is available for download:

It wasn’t announced to which level Volare would actually match you when participating in this campaign and as it turned out it would be the “Premium” tier which isn’t their highest but it at least carrier SkyTeam Elite Plus which is probably what most people are after, assuming that not many will ever set foot on an ITA plane where the distinction would matter.

These are the different Volare Tiers and associated Benefits:

Smart level :

access by registering for the Program and accumulating Points for each expense relating to goods / services offered by ITA;
access to a wide network of commercial partnerships for the accreditation and use of Points, as communicated from time to time pursuant to the previous article 5;
purchase of ancillary services through Points.

Plus Level :

benefits of the Smart level ;
priority waiting list;
free ancillary services;
dedicated customer service;
check-in business.

Premium Level :

benefits of the Plus level ;
lounge access ;
24/7 dedicated customer service;
priority boarding;
dedicated on-board welcome;

Livello Executive:

benefits of the Premium level ;
golf equipment included;
lounge access + guests;
dedicated assistance 24/7;
free food and drink;
invitations to exclusive events;
dedicated reception.

The website is still rather difficult to navigate and it’s very hard to find specific information. Gotta wonder who designed this.

And then there is another problem, namely that many SkyTeam partner airlines don’t know what ITA / Volare is and they don’t recognize the number in their systems so your results might vary depending on which SkyTeam carrier you’re flying.

Conclusion

The ITA Volare Status match is back and available to members of select competitors until April 15th 2022 and my match was processed and updated within three days from start to finish.

ITA’s page of Valero is still very light on information beyond that the program is revenue-based (you earn points based on the Euro amount spent), but the T&Cs reveal the benefits of each level.

This Alitalia to ITA back to Alitalia is very messy and challenging to see what benefits this Volare Premium match could offer beyond possible other matches in the future and SkyTeam Elite+ for now. The real important ITA benefits would kick in with their Livello top tier only.

I don’t think this is a very attractive program and if I use this for my SkyTeam flights I’d probably have the mileage affiliation switched back to another program at the lounge or gate short before boarding.