My experience with ITA Airways Volare status on other SkyTeam carriers

In the middle of 2022, I got Volare status on ITA Airways through a status match program they were running. Since then, I’ve found very limited use of this status.

Through my Volare Club Premium status, I’m supposed to have access to SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits. However, as of December 31, 2022, I have not been able to use them on Delta Air Lines.

Today, on the first day of 2023, I checked to see if I could put in my ITA Airways loyalty number into my Delta account. To my pleasant surprise, it looked like it was possible. Throughout most of 2022, neither an Alitalia nor an ITA Airways option was available on this page.

Unfortunately, if you try to input your loyalty number, it won’t actually save. It told me “Error occurred while updating Other Loyalty Programs of customer.”

Just to be sure this was an issue only related to ITA Airways, I put in my Flying Blue number, which had no problems saving.

It doesn’t seem like they check the loyalty number for validity, but it doesn’t even appear that ITA Airways loyalty numbers can be saved at this point.

When I tried booking a flight, the results were even worse. I was able to add my Flying Blue number to my booking, and it even checked the validity of my number. When I tried putting in my Volare number, however, it would simply refuse to accept it, saying my name is not associated with this frequent flyer number.

Up until this point, I had only been able to use my Volare status once—at the KLM Crown Lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Even then, since my Volare number was not associated with my ticket, I had to go and manually show my Volare status to the lounge staff, who then manually stamped a KLM Crown Lounge admission pass on the back of my boarding pass in order to allow me inside.

It’s pretty disappointing that my ITA Airways Volare status is still not accepted on Delta. I would fly them a lot more if I could use my SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits with them. Up to this point, only manual intervention has allowed me to enjoy these benefits at the KLM Crown Lounge. I doubt that things will get better for the next few months.