Volare program: everything you need to know to book an award ticket
Our analysis of ITA Airways' fledgling frequent flyer program Volare continues. After analyzing the accumulation of points, [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
Our analysis of the newborn program Volare, the frequent flyer of ITA Airways.
In this article:
After analyzing the accumulation of points, In this article we focus on how non-qualifying points can be used to book an award ticket.
The table
ITA Airways has decided to price award tickets according to a fixed table, just as it did with Alitalia. But unlike the Millemiglia program, the table divides the world into 3 zones, based on destination: domestic, international and intercontinental.
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This means that a Genoa/Palermo flight should cost the same as a Milan/Rome. That a Rome/Athens will cost the same as a Rome/Lisbon and that a Milan/New York flight will cost the same as a Rome/Tokyo.
What is not clear is what the cost of premium economy tickets will be, as it is not stated in the table on the website. More importantly, one does not understand the point of a table where it talks about an average price of a round-trip ticket made by mixing travel classes.
The only real change, but we need to see if that is the same interpretation the company wants to give, is that the way it is written on the website, it seems that all available seats on the plane are bookable with points. Something that is not offered by any airline in the world.
How much do flights cost
|
Destination |
|||
|
National |
Economy |
Business (one way) From 19,000 |
Average A/R (all classes) 29.000 |
|
International |
Economy |
Business (one way) From 32,300 |
Average A/R (all classes) 45.000 |
|
Intercontinental |
Economy |
Business (one way) From 195,000 |
Average A/R (all classes) 196.000 |
An intercontinental round-trip ticket in economy will then cost 64,400 points, the same ticket in business class will cost 6 times as much, a huge diversity that is not found on any airline in the world.
Obviously taxes and surcharges will have to be paid in full when booking an award ticket.
In conclusion
Personally, it seems like a joke to me. The table where they average a/r by mixing classes to confuse people is hallucinating.
Not to mention that such a table is out of all logic. Okay to reason by sectors or distances, but to charge a Milan/New York as a Rome/Tokyo just doesn't make sense. The same goes for a Rome/Moscow as a Milan/Frankfurt. I just don't understand
