ITA and Trenitalia become partners, here's how to earn Volare points with train travel (and vice versa)

If in Germany quado you travel aboard Deutsche Bahn trains you get miles, Since the German railways are a Star Alliance "carrier", in Italy it will be possible to do something similar starting today.

ITA Airways and Trenitalia have signed a new partnership dedicated to Volare and CartaARROW, their respective loyalty programs.

Flying and CartaFRECCIA: the partnership

Thanks to this agreement, charter program membersARROW will be able to convert their points to Volare points, and likewise, Volare program members will be able to transfer points to their points balance CardARROW.

This option is perfect for those who, for example like me, travel little or nothing by train. In this way it will be possible to transfer any points accumulated from trips to Volare, but in the same way it also works in reverse. A frequent Trenitalia traveler not interested in Volare points could do the reverse operation and use the points accumulated from flights to redeem award tickets aboard Trenitalia's AV.

Flying and CartaFRECCIA: conversion rates.

Two different conversion rates are provided. If you want to move from CartaFRECCIA to Volare the conversion rate is 1:6, that is, for every 1,000 points moved you will receive 6 thousand points on your Volare card.

The conversion rate in the opposite direction, from Volare to CartaFRECCIA, is 9:1 or 9000 fly points will become 1,000 CartaFRECCIA points.

How much do Trenitalia award tickets cost

The table below summarizes the cost of award tickets to travel on Trenitalia's AV.

With 9k Volare points you can redeem a Florence/Bologna or Rome/Naples ticket. With double that you have enough points for a business class between Turin and Naples.

Making two calculations emerges the little convenience of transferring from Volare to Trenitalia for an economy ticket. Considering that the Volare points themselves have a value of 45€ it is better to pay the ticket cash.

In contrast, 2,000 CartaFRECCIA points for a business class ticket on Trenitalia's long routes allow for a much higher counter value than standard usage with AZ tickets.

Given that the operation is not instantaneous, but takes up to 6 weeks to complete, I recommend doing the math well before making these transactions.

Flying and CartaFRECCIA: statements

"The partnership with Trenitalia represents a very important step for ITA Airways and the Volare program. - stated Emiliana Limosani, Chief Commercial Officer ITA Airways and CEO Volare - Trenitalia is a strategic partner for us: in April last year we launched FCO Connect, the project that combines Aeroporti di Roma, ITA Airways and Trenitalia for increasingly integrated train-to-air intermodality. This new agreement reinforces what we have done so far and the importance of doing Sistema, enriching the customer experience with more opportunities to use points. The founding values of our program such as flexibility, customization, choice and connection are always behind the selection of Volare's partners to continue to guarantee our customers a dynamic program that can capture and anticipate their needs."

 "The important partnership with Volare, of which we are proud, is another step in offering CartaFRECCIA members an increasingly exclusive and personalized - affirms Mario Alovisi, Trenitalia marketing director and CEO of Italia Loyalty. With more than 10 million members, we aim to be a reference for those who travel in Italy: we do this by choosing partners who share with us vision and values to guarantee an increasingly complete experience adapted to the preferences of our members, so as to ensure maximum added value".

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