Alitalia still offering SkyTeam status match to BA Silver and Gold

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Given that it is two months since I first mentioned this, it is worth a reminder. Alitalia is currently offering a status match to British Airways Executive Club Gold members as well as other top-tier and middle-tier status holders with other airlines.

Full details can be found on the Alitalia website here.

This is, presumably, part of the relaunch of the airline under the pseudo control of Etihad. Etihad has recently outlined its plans for turning around the struggling carrier and a willingness to match status cards from other airlines – a technique which Etihad Guest has used aggressively – is a way of getting people to try it.

Alitalia card

The scheme

The Alitalia frequent flyer scheme is called MilleMiglia. There are four elite levels which are outlined here.

As a BA Gold, you should expect to be matched to Freccia Alata Plus. This level is equivalent to SkyTeam Elite Plus which is the equivalent of oneworld Emerald.

As a BA Silver, you should expect to be matched to Freccia Alata. This is ALSO considered to be SkyTeam Elite Plus. This means that you would get worldwide lounge access with SkyTeam except on US domestic flights with Delta.

Why you should do this even if you never fly Alitalia

Alitalia is now a member of two airline alliances.

The formal membership is with SkyTeam. Your Freccia Alata Plus card would get you top tier privileges, including lounge access (except on domestic Delta flights in the US, I think), with the following airlines:

Aeroflot
AerolineasArgentinas
AeroMexico
AirEuropa
Air France
Alitalia
China Airlines
China Eastern
China Southern
Czech Airlines
Delta
Garuda Indonesia
Kenya Airways
KLM
Korean Air
MEA
Saudia
Tarom
Vietnam Airlines
Xiamen Air

Alitalia is also a member of Etihad Airways Partners. This is not yet finalised, but the eventual plan is that a status holder with any of the following airlines – all of which have received equity investment from Etihad – will have reciprocal privileges with the others.

Etihad
Jet Airways
airberlin
Air Serbia
Air Seychelles
Etihad Regional

Alitalia also has partnerships with GOL, Malaysia and Qantas but I’m not sure if they offer any benefits for Alitalia top tier cardholders.

There is another reason to get a match. You never know when there might be an opportunity to match your Alitalia status to a different Star Alliance or oneworld airline!

How do I get a status match?

You need to email a scan of your British Airways Gold card and your MilleMiglia account number, so you need to open an account first, to statusmatchmillemiglia@alitalia.com.

Here are the rules:

You have until December 2015 to ask for a match

The match will last until March 2016 UNLESS your existing status card shows an expiry date beyond March 2016. If it does, your matched card will be issued until March 2017.

ANY elite status card from an airline which is not part of the SkyTeam alliance will be accepted

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios, SkyTeam alliance partners

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Tim says:

4 Sep4 September 06:37

I submitted my application 2 months ago. My expectations of Alitalia have never been particularly high and true to form, I’m still awaiting their reply. I might resubmit over the weekend.
- Rob says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 09:01
  
  I submitted by request for status match with BA gold, didn’t hear anything back, but after a month I checked my account and i’d been matched to alata plus, so check your account just in case.
- Fenny says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 18:02
  
  I submitted a status match to my Cathay Pacific Gold in July and got a response saying they were really busy and would get back to me. I resubmitted in August and got a pretty much instant response and the card came within a couple of days. This made me think they’d actually actioned the match and just hadn’t told me.
  
  I then tried to get a match from Alitalia to Gulfair, who said they weren’t currently offering status matches.
Brusselsprout says:

4 Sep4 September 06:55

I got matched at the start of the promotion, but I have not received a card as yet. I tried to use the printed one from the website but Korean Airlines would not accept it. Fortunately I was able to fall back on Priority Pass
- The_Real_A says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 13:00
  
  they will not send you a card until you take your first Alitalia flight
  - CV3V says:
    
    4 Sep4 September 13:07
    
    not correct, they send the card out after status match, i have mine and never flown with them
    - The_Real_A says:
      
      4 Sep4 September 17:06
      
      Have you ever flown with them previously? Did you have a physical card before the upgrade? How long did it take to arrive?
      
      I asked several customer service agents to send me a card but the line was that it was only sent after the first flight.
      
      I hope you are correct.
      - CV3V says:
        
        4 Sep4 September 20:17
        
        I have neve flown with alitalia, i was sent the card after status match, the status confirmation email advised it would be sent in the mail. Check your confirmation email to see if it advises card will be sent, just in case something had changed (they must have sent out a lot of cards across the globe).
        
        Likewise i have never flown with Gulf Air or Air Berlin, but still have the gold cards 🙂
      - The_Real_A says:
        
        4 Sep4 September 21:49
        
        I cannot believe it. Arriving home this evening to find a shiny Alitalia gold card in my post 🙂
  - Fenny says:
    
    4 Sep4 September 18:02
    
    I got mine a couple of weeks ago. Never flown with them or been a member before.
    - Dave H says:
      
      4 Sep4 September 19:02
      
      Likewise never flown with them, opened an account then applied, mine actually arrived today, noticed a couple of weeks ago that my online account showed the upgrade.
      
      Took two attempts to get the upgrade, the first attempt sending screenshots of my online BA Silver card was rejected as the picture wasn’t clear! Took an actual photo of the card which must have been satisfactory.
Akkers says:

4 Sep4 September 07:03

I received mine relatively quickly. One of the things they sent along was two “upgrade” vouchers. Did anyone else receive these and have any experience of using them.
- Fenny says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 18:03
  
  No, I didn’t get upgrade vouchers, but it seems to imply on the website that you can choose to upgrade.
Sussex bantam says:

4 Sep4 September 07:12

I finally got this a few days ago – after 8 attempts during which my (perfectly legible downloaded gold card ) was rejected as being unreadable. If people are still struggling I’d recommend sending a photo of your actual card instead.

I only found out by logging into the website – I haven’t had any actual notification.
Howard says:

4 Sep4 September 07:16

I tried about 6 weeks. I sent them my Etihad and Marco Polo Gold. They came back saying they could not read and I should re submit. I did this about 14 times using both cards and individually. I sent via iphone, laptop and desktop but each time they could not read. I sent via photo or PDF etc.

3 weeks ago I sent them an email saying I had tried 14 times and this was my last attempt. They replied saying they could not read and I should resubmit. I gave up!!!!

A few days ago my card (as above photo) came in the post!!!
Stuart says:

4 Sep4 September 07:33

This was painless for me. Submitted my application (BA Gold) and received my card plus two upgrade vouchers within about a month.
- Erico1875 says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 10:14
  
  I hope their pilots are a bit more switched on 🙂
Moomin says:

4 Sep4 September 07:50

I received mine very quickly. Another bonus is that you receive the ability to gift a membership of a lower tier (Freccia Alata) to another person. They also receive skyteam elite status for 2 years. I gave mine to a friend and it worked. They were able to access the skyteam lounge with a guest at LHR T4 using a print out of their temporary card.
The link for your guest to submit their information and the password issued to you is here http://www.alitalia.com/gb_en/forms/carta-freccia-alata-per-te.html
Fraser says:

4 Sep4 September 07:55

They successfully matched my Virgin Gold status. Has anyone used the four business class upgrades they offer as part of thr Freccia Alata Plus benefits?