Alitalia MilleMiglia Elite Status: How to Get it and What’s in it For You

Alitalia, the national airline of Italy, serves 102 destinations in 51 countries. In the United States, the airline flies to Boston, Miami and New York, and seasonally to Chicago and Los Angeles.

The airline’s loyalty program, MilleMiglia, offers affordable redemptions, but it can be confusing to use. It has different award charts for economy and business on Alitalia flights, a chart for SkyTeam members and a separate chart for each partner airline.

Alitalia uses its own terms for different classes:

• Classica is economy
• Classica Plus is premium economy
• Ottima is business class on short- to medium-haul flights
  
• Magnifica is business class on long-haul flights

It also has different award fares: Standard, Elite and Flex for economy, and Standard and Flex for business. Standard is what Alitalia calls its saver awards, so you should aim for these whenever possible.

MilleMiglia has some nice perks. You can mix classes and pay corresponding miles instead of being charged for the higher class of service for all segments of the itinerary. There is also a Cash & Miles option, allowing you to purchase miles if you don’t have enough for an award.

Alitalia has two U.S.-based transfer partners, Starwood Preferred Guest and Amex Membership Rewards. It also offers a co-branded credit card to U.S. residents.

When Should You Use MilleMiglia Awards?

Despite its latest devaluation, redemptions in the MilleMiglia program remain good, and, in some instances, very generous. You can fly between the U.S. and Italy on Alitalia for only 50,000 miles in economy and 80,000 miles in business. Unfortunately, the airline adds sizable fuel surcharges to its own flights and some of its SkyTeam partners.

Another redemption sweet spot is on flights between the U.S. and Israel. Since Alitalia groups Israel into the Europe 3 and Near East Zone, flights cost only 50,000 miles in economy and 80,000 miles in business.

There are some other routes available with partner airlines that offer fantastic business class redemptions. From the U.S., you can get round-trip tickets to:

• South America for 75,000 miles
• Southeast Asia for 95,000 miles
• India for 100,000 miles
• Tahiti for 90,000 miles

Economy tickets on these routes also offer good value for your miles, but they aren’t that much less than business class. For example, an economy award ticket to India is 80,000 miles, so paying only 20,000 miles more for the extra comfort is hard to resist.

Partners Bookable Online:

• None

Partners Bookable by Phone:

• Aeroflot
• Aerolineas Argentinas
• Aeromexico
• airberlin
• Air France
• Air Europa
• Air Serbia
• Air Seychelles
• CSA Czech Airlines
• China Southern Airlines
• China Eastern Airlines
• China Airlines
• Delta
• Etihad Airways
• Garuda Indonesia
• GOL
• Jet Airways
• Kenya Airways
• KLM
• Korean Air
• Malaysia Airlines
• Middle East Airlines
• Niki
• Qantas
• Tarom
• Vietnam Airlines
• Xiamen Air

When to Book by Phone:

• For all partner airlines
• When creating complex itineraries
• To make changes to an existing itinerary

See below for our phone booking tips.

How to Search for Alitalia MilleMiglia Award Seats Online:

On the Alitalia homepage, mouse over “MilleMiglia” in the upper right corner, and click on “miles with Alitalia.”

On the next page, scroll down until you see “spend miles on flights.” Click “request your award ticket” on the lower right.

You’ll be asked to log into your account.

Fill in the flight information on the next page, and click “search.”

If the flights you want are available, follow the prompts and pay the taxes and fees to complete the transaction.

Phone Booking Tips

• Alitalia’s U.S. phone number: 1-800-223-5730

Some Alitalia agents are competent and courteous, but others are not as knowledgeable. Try to find your award flight through a partner airline’s website, such as Delta, Alaska Airlines or Etihad, before you call.

Important Award Booking Considerations

• One-way redemptions cost 60 percent of a round-trip ticket
• No free stopovers
• Open jaws are allowed
• Cash & Miles awards available
• No fee for date changes
• Fuel surcharges on Alitalia flights and most partners