Article: ITA Airways: Not a Real SkyTeam Member?

[AFF Editor]

ITA Airways: Not a Real SkyTeam Member? is an article written by AFF editorial staff:

ITA Airways: Not a Real SkyTeam Member?

Italy's flag carrier ITA Airways joined the SkyTeam alliance in 2021. Most other SkyTeam airlines still don't recognise its membership.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[Scarlett]

Is this one of the most Italian things to do: just tell everyone that you’re a member of Skyteam without actually being one?

<accompanied by much hand waving>: qui dice Skyteam, quindi deve essere vero!

 

[Melbourne musicia]

Used my ITA status to access the Air France lounge at CDG and got priority boarding. So it does provide some benefit across airlines...

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

My first thought was also, "this is a very Italian thing to do" (my Nonna would agree, before anyone blasts me), but also, it's on SkyTeam for allowing this.

Either require your members to honour SkyTeam Elite status before they advertise same, or enjoy the consequences of the entire alliance's reputation being brought down.

Given SkyTeam is already the least consistent and compelling of the bunch, well, par for the course, perhaps.

 

[rezzadogs]

I wonder if Alitalia versions 1, 2, 3, etc (as a separate legal entities) still owe other Skyteam members for reciprocal access to lounges, points flights and are being treated like other creditors? Given ITA is effectively another version, are they being denied full access until some form of repayment is made?

 

[kamchatsky]

Slightly off-topic, ITA Airways website is a complete piece of cr*p.

For the last few days I attempted to book A3/AZ JTR-ATH-FCO Y for 4 passengers. It is displayed on their website as bookable with ranges of options. So I proceed to book and pay. They charged the credit card, and then displayed the message "Dear client, due to a technical problem we kindly ask you to call +39 06 85960020 (daily 06:00-24:00)."

So I called them, and they said they couldn't get A3 to confirm the flight, and the seats are not available for sale. So I have to ask them to manually reverse the credit card charge. Very annoying to do it twice.

I would have booked A3 all the way on their website already, but their prices are quite high. I may have to go the OTA route like Expedia or booking.com to book the A3/AZ combination. I always prefer to book on airline website direct but AZ's website is just too hopeless.

 

[justinbrett]

I wonder if Alitalia versions 1, 2, 3, etc (as a separate legal entities) still owe other Skyteam members for reciprocal access to lounges, points flights and are being treated like other creditors? Given ITA is effectively another version, are they being denied full access until some form of repayment is made?

I came here to post this!

 

[PERLHR]

Any updates on ITA recognition within Skyteam recently? Are Lufthansa still going to buy or become major holder?

 

[WCFCHobart]

Used ITA status to successfully access KLM lounge at Schipol late in April, when flying KLM

 

[SYD]

Any updates on ITA recognition within Skyteam recently?

There was a recent article, which unfortunately I can’t put my finger on but it implied that things were improving.