Live and Let’s Fly recently highlighted the fact that United has updated its partner page to indicate that Mileage Plus members can earn and redeem miles for travel on ITA Airways beginning today, September 8, 2025. I have not yet seen any award availability with a quick hunt around for dates, but this is nonetheless a nice addition for Mileage Plus members looking to get to/from Rome if and when availability pops up.
I had somehow missed the news that Lufthansa Group had acquired ITA and that ITA is in the process of moving to Star Alliance. That means that we will hopefully soon be able to earn and redeem other Star Alliance miles for travel on ITA as well, like Avianca LifeMiles or Air Canada Aeroplan.
That said, ITA wasn’t known for releasing a lot of award availability before, and with the increased competition for Star Alliance awards, I imagine these will be tough awards to get. Still, another option to/from Europe is surely a bonus, even if a small one, for those with Star Alliance miles to burn.
It’s nice to see United adding this partnership so early. ITA isn’t expected to fully join Star Alliance until early 2026, so United Mileage Plus members get a bit of a head start here in earning and redeeming with ITA.
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I was able to book a July ORD-FCO flight on VA back in March.
Looks bookable now. My IAD-FCO April 2026 flight on ITA is 40k and 5.60 in economy on United; I originally booked through Virgin for 25,500 pts and 5.60.
Those who match to ITA Volare Executive Club, are we allowed to enter United Club on domestic flights?
I believe so. The partnership includes reciprocal earning. I matched to ITA executive last year, but sadly don’t have any UA flights coming up to test the benefits.
This was announced in an email from ITA today. This is great news for those of us who matched to ITA executive last year.
“We are pleased to inform you that United Airlines, one of the largest U.S. carriers globally and a member of the Star Alliance, is now a partner of Volare.
By choosing to travel with United Airlines to one of over 380 domestic and international destinations, as a partner airline of ITA Airways, you will be able to earn and redeem points on flights operated by United Airlines.
Members of the Club Premium and Club Executive will also have access to United-owned lounges with one guest.”
As of 3 weeks ago, the match got me Sky Priority + 2 free bags on a DL flight. No lounge access. I’m flying DL next week again & will see if anything else has unwound with that partnership. *A Gold will be nice for many people but Sky team Elite+ sure was nice being in a DL hub.
Oh, I didn’t realize that ITA was giving Sky Priority benefits 3 weeks ago. I thought they left Skyteam a while ago.
It’s available now. I found some itineraries that included an ITA intra-Europe segment when hunting this morning after I got the email from ITA. I couldn’t find any dates with availability on their North America routes, but they were pretty stingy with award space on such routes when they were in SkyTeam, so I expect it will be the same now. I also didn’t look all that hard.
I see economy available from the US to Rome. For now, it is cheaper to book with Virgin. United wants 44k vs Virgin 25k.
I found business class from FCO to JFK, pricing at 88k United miles, and it seems to only be available on United, since those business classes are not showing up on Virgin.
Great info, thank you!