Esselunga and ITA Airways activate partnership: possible to convert Fidaty points to Volare points (and vice versa)
The Volare program announced the activation of a partnership with Esselunga's loyalty program, as of this moment it has been [...]
The Volare program has announced the activation of a partnership with Esselunga's loyalty program, as of this moment the possibility of converting the points accumulated in the respective loyalty programs by transferring them from one card to another has been activated.
In this article:
This means that you will be able to pay for your groceries using the points accumulated by Flying, or by using for example ITA Airways American Express Gold Credit Card and vice versa turn the points obtained by shopping at Esselunga supermarkets into airline tickets.
How to Use Fidaty Points with ITA Airways
Almost four years later, an airline partner returns to Esselunga's loyalty program catalog, In fact, in 2021 the partnership with Avios had ended., customers of Italy's largest private retail chain in fact allowed its members to transfer Fidaty points into the currency of British Airways' loyalty program.
The difference from the current collaboration is that At that time the transfer of points was one-way, that is, solely from Esselunga to British always at a rate of 1:1, while today the Volare member can also decide to transfer from their account to Esselunga's account. So 1000 Fidaty points can become 10o0 Volare points.
New in this collaboration is the possibility of transferring from Volare to Esselunga as well. In this case the conversion rate from Volare to Fidaty is not 1:1, but rather 10:3
Here are some examples:
- 500 points Fly in 150 points Fìdaty
- 1000 points Fly in 300 points Fìdaty
- 1500 points Flying in 450 points Fìdaty
- 2000 points Fly in 600 points Fìdaty
- 2500 points Fly in 750 points Fìdaty
Is it worth taking advantage of this opportunity to accumulate Flying points?
As I have explained several times, the Volare program currently has only one yardstick for placing a value on points: 1000 Volare points are worth €5 to be used in cash & points mode to pay for a ticket.
As of today, Esselunga loyalty program members can transform 3000 Fidaty points in a shopping voucher worth €27, while the same 3000 points moved to Volare would have a value of only 15€. Vicerversa to get 3000 Fidaty points starting from Volare one would need to transfer 10 thousand points, which have a value of 50€ on ITA and which would become 27€ in Esselunga groceries.
In conclusion
It's a given, but I'll say it again, Flying points obtained through this conversion do NOT qualify, that is, they do not participate in obtaining or renewing elite status in the Volare loyalty program. That being said. I say that at the present time it is very good news that there is this collaboration, but that if there are no special multipliers or bonuses I don't see much convenience in converting between the two programs, different if tomorrow ITA were to have an award chart that would allow pure award tickets to be redeemed.