ITA Airways, the national airline of Italy which recently started flying from Toronto has a new status match opportunity where elite members of nearly 20 airlines can receive status in ITA’s Volare program. The list of programs they are matching to include the likes of American AAdvantage and British Airways Executive Club but for most Canadians, the most useful airline on the list is WestJet.
If you do hold status with WestJet Rewards or any of the other 18 airlines and have never matched your status before with ITA Airways you can register for this match. You must register by August 19 and if approved you will receive respective status in the ITA Airways Volare program until December 31, 2025.
For WestJet Rewards members this is how they are matching your status:
- WestJet Rewards Silver = Club Volare Plus (SkyTeam Elite)
- WestJet Rewards Gold = Club Volare Premium (SkyTeam Elite Plus)
- WestJet Rewards Platinum = Club Volare Executive (SkyTeam Elite Plus)
The Volare Elite status levels provide a lot of standard elite benefits like priority check-in, boarding and baggage service. The two highest levels also provide lounge access to ITA Airways lounges and SkyTeam Elite Plus which provides even further lounge access and benefits when flying on SkyTeam airlines.
ITA Airways is currently part of SkyTeam, which means with this match you’ll receive equivalent SkyTeam status as shown above – that is at least until the recently approved 41% purchase of ITA Airways by Lufthansa is complete. Lufthansa has already stated ITA Airways will become part of the the Lufthansa Group which includes Austrian, SWISS and other airlines so ITA most likely become a Star Alliance airline in the near future. If that happens and they extend the elite status benefits once the transition is complete this could be a route for WestJet flyers to (eventually) get Star Alliance status that they could use on Air Canada flights.
Click here to learn more and to apply for this status match