Originally Posted by
Xandrios
Does the Alitalia programme itself (and with it, all the miles) expire every few years?
Yes; AZ Millemiglia is unique (? correct me if I'm wrong) in that the programme itself expires, rather than just the miles as in most other programmes.
There are occasional "extensions", but every now and again it will come to an end.
They usually have some kind of option to try and "carry forward" the miles, but if the flyer here is baulking at having to fly once every 20 months [except that, in Flying Blue it's now actually 24 months], they would certainly find themselves in a scenario where they would lose their miles in AZ Millemiglia.
For instance, a new programme started on 1 January 2018. Miles earned in the "old" programme could be saved, on a pro-rata basis, only if you did additional flying, and the amount of miles you could carry forward was capped depending on your status (those without status could only carry forward at most 50% of their mileage balance, and had to take additional flights in a specified format and time in order to be able to save half their miles from expiry)...
Are all miles going to expire on Jan 2018?
Of course, there is no guarantee that the next changeover will use the same scheme, or even that there will be a mechanism to carry miles from the old programme to the new.
The best advice on the changeover last year was to spend the miles (and I will be travelling on the ticket on which I burned all my miles starting tomorrow!).
The best advice for the person asking about dumping orphan miles in any account (not just AZ) - forget about the miles.