Well, the point of the alliance is to provide a comprehensive network. Of course you want people to primarily fly with you, but you don't fly everywhere. Say someone wants to fly from Europe to Jeju. They don't care whether it's AFKL or LHG that takes them to Seoul, but they need an onward flight to Jeju - and again, they don't care whether it's on Korean Air or Asiana, they just need something. LHG itself will never get them to Jeju. It may sell them a codeshare with Asiana, but those pax will not get any benefits on Asiana.

So, should ITA stay in SkyTeam until it joins Star Alliance, Volare members who need a comprehensive network to secondary airports would simply switch to *A when ITA does and LHG would get their business on a) trips where the local connections are not needed immediately, b) other trips when the alliance switch happens. Instead they're telling them, overnight, that unless LHG+ITA can deliver the entire itinerary, they will not enjoy status benefits throughout their entire trip.

I'm no expert on running an airline but I can't see why this would be a good idea. It seems incredibly shortsighted.