Millemiglia program, why ITA is better off losing Alitalia frequent flyers
We have talked about it on many occasions at TFC, Alitalia's loyalty program, namely the Millemiglia Club, is one of the [...]
Alitalia
SkyTeam
We have talked about this on many occasions at TFC, the program loyalty of Alitalia, namely the Millemiglia Club, is one of the lots that is in danger of being sacrificed on the altar of negotiations between the government and the European Commission.
In this article:
It is easy to Understand the motivation behind the European Commission's to want to prevent the loyalty program from automatically transitioning from the current Alitalia to the new ITA. The EU, in fact, wants a total discontinuity with a ban on the use of the brand name, and of course frequent flyers are precisely one of the continuity factors between the old and new companies.
Not only the master data, but especially all the benefits related to the elite statuses of travelers as well as information about them: preferences, regular routes, personal social profiles, and much more. Information that would greatly help the new company to dialogue with old customers.
Why ITA is better off NOT continuing with the Millemiglia program.
The motivation is purely economic. Starting from scratch without having hundreds of thousands of customers boasting a credit, Millemiglia points, and that they could book award tickets on the new company, would represent a lower cost to ITA derived from lost revenue. Or even a higher cost by having to pay for tickets booked with Millemiglia points on the company's partner carriers.
By complying with EU demands, the new carrier could blame the European Commission and justify itself So with all travelers enrolled in the program.
Moreover, without the Millemile program, ITA would have its hands free to be able to choose the new alliance, seeing the relationship with Skyteam lapse and thus being able to dialogue with Lufthansa to join Star Alliance or completely rethink the relationship with Delta and Air France KLM.
Personally right now I have almost 400k Millemiglia points on my profile, points accumulated by flying and using my American Express Alitalia cards, my intention is to use them in the coming days to book seats on Skyteam partner companies and try to get them to safety.
We had already analyzed the possible scenarios in the event of company bankruptcy for those enrolled in the program. Although it seems avoided today, the nightmare of losing points remains. The assumptions on the table remain the same and if, like me, you have a lot of Millemiglia points or award flights booked with Alitalia the advice is: cancel flights and use miles to book tickets with partners and without routes operated by Alitalia aircraft.
What could happen to American Express Alitalia holders.
There could be two scenarios. If the partnership is terminated and the new ITA decides not to continue with this partnership, the same thing could occur Recently occurred with Avios credit cards.. Immediate suspension of issuance of new cards and, within a few months, active cards would be withdrawn from the market.
In case of renewal instead Of the relationship between Amex and the new ITA, a replacement of the cards, a redesign of the benefits and features of each of the cards, could take place. This could help holders in maintaining statuses, much more difficult if not impossible to carry Millemiglia points for the reasons written above.
Just in the past few days, Alitalia (the old one) launched. Two new credit cards linked to the Millemiglia program. and this choice, made at a time of uncertainty, had surprised me. But it could also be seen as a first step toward ending the marriage with American Express.
