Now it's real, Volare launches award tickets: what you need to know
Flying is no longer the only frequent flyer in the world without an award ticket
ITA Airways
In these nearly 4 years Volare, which for the record has exceeded 3M subscribers in recent weeks, could have been entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the only frequent flyer program in the world without an award chart. Now, however, the award chart has arrived.
In this article:
I have no idea how many times I have been asked. "how can I use Flying Points." I have dedicated articles, guides and videos to try to explain to users the differences with Alitalia's old Millemiglia, but also with all the other programs on the market today. Here at last we can say that the wait is over.
After waiting for months and months, after hoping to use Volare points to book an award ticket, when hopes had now faded and it was thought that the long-awaited news would come with the entry into Miles&More, here on ITA's website the news has popped up.
The Volare prize ticket has arrived.
A necessary premise
Before going into the details of the new award chart one must have in mind two very important paradigms:
- The era of 80k Millemiglia points for a round-trip ticket in Magnifica class for the United States she died with covid, not only in the ITA house, but in all Fidelity programs.
- Flying, as I have written n thousand times, has always been the most generous loyalty program on the planet. There is no doubt about it, multipliers upon multipliers, promos with double and triple points and special multipliers for corporate tickets. A shower of points. Not forgetting that the generous multiplier is also there with charges made with American Express co-branded cards.
Flying program rewards ITA Airways frequent flyers
Over the years, several readers have shared with me "crazy" credits that were the result of a single flight. Translated if I let you accumulate a lot of points with one ticket, it is obvious that then when I fly you with those points you will need a lot of points to get an award ticket. 
In the example above, not only had the passenger earned, with one flight, enough Qualifying points to obtain/renew Executive status, but a total of 180k Non-Qualifying Flying points. Therefore, it is normal to see an award chart today that looks "out of scale" compared with all other loyalty programs.
Conversely, it is in no way convenient to transfer points to Volare from other loyalty programs, specifically, I don't feel like recommending that anyone move from membership Rewards to Volare.
ITA Airways award ticket, 8 things you need to know
- Two seasons: high and low. Differs by destination.
- Two different charts one for flying aboard ITA Airways and the other for Lufthansa group airlines
- ITA currently has not made any announcement regarding how many award seats will be guaranteed for each flight
- The prices in the table are one way + tax
- Tickets cancelable, but with steep penalties
- No premium economy award ticket with partners
- Unfortunately, no First Class on Swiss and LH using Volare points
- For the first time, it costs less to fly with partners than with the company that owns the FF program
How to book Volare award tickets
To search and make a reservation, you do not have to go through the standard ticket search box, but log in to your private area and click on the specific box.
Here you will have access to a separate search where you can make your reservation using points only.
If you fly ITA award ticket for children is discounted
In case of an itinerary with flights operated solely by ITA Airways, the price expressed in Points of Award Tickets for passengers between 2 and 11 years old, and the related change or cancellation penalties will be 75% of the adult fare. On the other hand, for infant passengers, i.e. passengers from 0 to 23 months, the price expressed in Points of Award Tickets and the related change and cancellation penalties will be 10% of the adult fare.
In case of itineraries with the presence of flights operated by ITA Airways' partner carriers - Brussels (SN); Lufthansa (LH); SWISS (LX); Austrian (OS) - such reductions will not be provided.
Award chart, how much do award tickets cost on board ITA Airways
Award tickets have a specific class assigned:
- Economy class F or X
- Premium economy A
- Business I
This means that by using specific tools it will be possible to hunt for award seats on different flights,
This is the award chart for flying economy aboard ITA Airways with F class. For example, a GOA/PMO round-trip will cost 26,800 Volare points + tax. A GOA/JFK ticket 98,000 + taxes.
This is the award chart for flying economy aboard ITA Airways with X class. For example, a GOA/PMO a/r will cost 54 thousand Volare points + tax. A GOA/JFK ticket 132,800 + taxes.
This is the award chart for flying premium economy on board ITA Airways. For example a/r from Italy to JFK will cost 254,000 Volare points + tax.
This is the award chart for flying business class aboard ITA Airways in the off-season. For example a/r from Italy to JFK will cost 372,800 points Flying + taxes. Flying to LA 498,800 + taxes.
This is the award chart for flying business class aboard ITA Airways in the peak season. For example a/r from Italy to JFK will cost 462,400 points Flying + taxes. Flying to LA 519,600 + taxes.
Award chart, how much do Volare award tickets cost on board Partners
Volare points can be used to book award tickets on board Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels. Unlike award tickets with ITA we only have two tables: one for economy and one for business.
One thing to note is that North America is not divided into east/west coast as in the AZ flight chart, so flying to New York or Los Angeles costs the same, while with ITA the west coast is much more expensive.
This is the award chart for flying in economy aboard Partners. For example, a one-way GOA/JFK ticket 122,500 + taxes.
This is the award chart for flying business class aboard ITA Airways in the peak season. For example a/r from Italy to JFK or LA will cost 258,400 Volare points + tax.
Basically with the same points required by ITA to fly to LA in business with a flight from FCO we get two business class tickets to LA via Munich, Frankfurt or one of LH's other hubs.
High/Low Season
As stated in the regulations, seasonality is defined as follows:
- Domestic flights: low season between December and April
- International flights: low season between November and May
- Inetrcontinental flights: low season between November and March
- Flights to India: low season between April and October
Penalties for changes and cancellations of award tickets Volare
It doesn't matter if it is an ITA or Partner award ticket, the penalties are the same and can only be claimed through Contact Center. No refund in case of no show or when travel has started. It goes without saying, but it's worth remembering, you can only change in cases where the fare is the same or higher than the originally issued ticket. Points and fees will be credited back to the same account and credit card used to pay.
- For an economy ticket, the change/refund has a 50€ penalty.
- For a premium economy ticket, change has a penalty of 100€, while cancellation has a penalty of 150€
- For a business ticket, change has a penalty of €150, while cancellation has a penalty of €200
In conclusion
We waited for it, and finally the Volare prize ticket arrived, of course there are those who will rage (or are already doing so) against this table, but the point at the base is just that if you earn so many points with one ticket it is normal to be asked for so many points for an award ticket.
The detailed regulations is available here.
