Adding ITA Airways Volare Number to Air France Flying Blue Booking
Like many of you I enjoy some of the perks of elite status. Admittedly when I was younger in this hobby the allure of lounge access and other perks meant more (nowadays I’d rather get from A to B as quickly as possible), but I still enjoy the perks if/when I am able to take advantage. That is especially true when I can get status via a match or promo. For that reason earlier this year I matched my way into SkyTeam Elite Plus status via the brand new ITA Airways.
Matching AA Status to ITA Airways
Earlier this year ITA Airways (think of them as the replacement airline for Alitalia) ran a status match promotion for their Volare program. A few years ago American Airlines and Hyatt gave some Globalist members Executive Platinum status and I have been riding that status since then due to Covid. I was able to use it to match to Volare Club Executive which equates to SkyTeam Elite Plus status.
Booking Air France Out of Europe
My family and I crossed over to Europe back in April on a free Transatlantic cruise from Carnival due to their FunMatch offer and needed to get back to the United States for our MtM Diamond meetup in Detroit. We enjoyed our time in Europe which concluded with a couple of weeks in the U.K. and France with my dad. I’ll have more on that later, but for now I’ll just say Paris was our last stop.
This worked out well, because Air France flies directly from Paris to Detroit and any time I can avoid connections I take that as a win! While I was tempted to book us in business class, there was no direct option so I opted to save the miles and fly us direct in economy on Air France. It was 20K Flying Blue miles plus $155 each for the tickets, but I only needed to transfer 48K Amex Membership Rewards points to cover 3 tickets due to the current 25% transfer bonus. Cash prices were insane so this was an exceptional deal.
No Option To Add ITA Airways Number to Air France Flying Blue Booking
While I matched to ITA Airways status without a specific use, I was excited that I would be able to try out SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits while flying Air France on the way to Detroit. Unfortunately this never happened because Air France/Flying Blue doesn’t seem to have a way to add the ITA Airways number to a booking. Or at least I couldn’t figure out how.
First off, I tried entering my number when booking the reservation, but ITA wasn’t listed as a partner. So then I turned to Air France and a quick phone call revealed they couldn’t add it. They referred me to Flying Blue who wasn’t able to add it either. I did see an option for Alitalia online so I added that using my ITA Airways number, but as expected that didn’t work. My final attempt at the airport kiosk failed as ITA wasn’t listed as a partner there either.
The only other thing I didn’t attempt was to wait in the super long line at CDG Airport to see if an airport agent could add it. The security line was already long and we ended up not having a ton of extra time so it all worked out. I would have potentially been able to select better seats and had lounge access for me and a guest, but it really isn’t the end of the world. In the end our direct flight from Paris to Detroit went well and I was actually impressed with the economy experience on Air France. And 18K Membership Rewards + $155 wasn’t a bad price to pay for a Transatlantic flight, especially right now.
Adding ITA Airways Volare Number to Air France Flying Blue Booking – Bottom Line
ITA Airways is a new SkyTeam member and I wasn’t able to figure out how to add my elite status to get partner benefits on Air France. While it wasn’t a big deal, I was a little disappointed to miss out on the benefits since that is part of the fun of this hobby. If you have found a way to add your ITA Airways number to an Air France Flying Blue reservation let me know in the comments so future readers don’t need to miss out like me!
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I can confirm that I was able to use the AirFrance Lounge at Orly in Paris with my Volare Premium (SkyTeam Elite Plus) card. The staff at AF Orly Lounge were aware of the issue and even added the Volare number to my ticket. I couldn’t not do that over the phone or online.
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[…] How Air France Robbed Me of SkyTeam Elite Plus Advantages From ITA Airways Standing! […]
[…] How Air France Robbed Me of SkyTeam Elite Plus Advantages From ITA Airways Standing! […]
[…] How Air France Robbed Me of SkyTeam Elite Plus Benefits From ITA Airways Status! […]
Hi Shawn,
I work in the industry. As an FYI, all of your work was, unfortunately, a waste of your time, because the new ITA elite status that, theoretically, provides Skyteam Elite Plus status doesn’t get you any substantial Skyteam benefits yet. Neither Delta nor AF/KL are giving lounge access, extra bags, seats, etc. to ITA elite members even if you have the Volare Club that shows your status.
Do you need to add the number to your booking for lounge access? I would assume you could get access by showing your status at the door.
Air France told me that ITA wasn’t part of SkyTeam despite showing on all websites. They denied lounge access at CDG and said ITA was not making the required payments to cover lounge access. They were nice enough to waive bag fees and give preferred seat at the airport.