Seat 1K

Any thoughts welcome! We prefer to fly F but that looks very expensive on partner airlines. Any ideas? Many thanks, 1K

AlicorporateUK

Hi S1K,

Where are you based? I'm sure our miles redemption's gurus such as irishguy28 will be more than happy to help.

G

irishguy28

I believe the only airline you could even book F with is Etihad (Maybe Jet Airways?).

Beware that AZ/Millemiglia will change considerably in the coming weeks, and you stand to lose the entirety of your mileage balance. And any outstanding award tickets booked and paid for, but not yet flown.

I would suggest you go shopping. Immediately.

https://millemigliagallery.it/

Seat 1K

We're based in London ...

Lewis42

Book today!!!

Sciamano

So does it work to book in F though AZ website and miles table don't give this opportunity?

irishguy28

I would advise you to query Millemiglia customer service for any further queries regarding the booking of F awards. It probably is not possible.

AlicorporateUK

According to the new CCO, a new program is in the pipeline (see here), I honestly doubt they will reset current balances (unless they disappear entirely, needless to say).

G

Often1

This reads like a AB thread from the recent past.

If AZ enters insolvency, what happens to your miles will likely be beyond the control of AZ and will depend entirely, in the first instance, on the insolvency administrator working under court supervision and ultimately on whatever becomes of AZ.

As a customer, you can't influence this process and I would spend the miles sooner rather than later (as in today) and get yourself ticketed onto any other carrier. Once MM has paid for the other carrier's ticket, you may not be able to effectively make changes downstream, but at least you will have a ticket.

Maybe somebody will show up with a pot of gold and AZ and its program will be wonderful into the distant future.

irishguy28

If it does, it is only because Alitalia entered administration prior to airberlin.

Etihad cut off funding to Alitalia back on 2 May; they waited until August to do the same with airberlin.


Bloomberg: Alitalia Starts Bankruptcy Process as Etihad Cuts Off Funds

Again, Alitalia has been in the Italian version of insolvency for the past 4 months already.

Just as later happened with airberlin, it was extended a loan by the government (€600 million, as opposed to airberlin's €150; though the Italian loan was intended to keep the airline operating for at least another 6 months, in a longer process than that needed by airberlin):

Having a ticket issued by Alitalia for future travel on a partner airline will be of no use after Alitalia goes bust; you may indeed have paid Alitalia (in cash and/or miles) at the time of purchase, but the operating airline won't get paid until the time of the flight, and will therefore refuse all outstanding 055 tickets once the airline goes.

If anyone wants to book flights with their miles, they would be advised to make sure travel is in September or October; any later, and it is doubtful as to whether any such tickets would be honoured.

ANstar

Whilst its cute that the new CCO is saying this.... in reality nothing is guaranteed.

First we need to see a) how AZ is carved up and b) who the new owners are

AlicorporateUK

Absolutely, however we need to bear in mind that he recently left Emirates for a job at Alitalia and that 1. He wouldn't have done so without a good reason, 2. If he says that a new program is in the pipeline, I doubt he just fancied to say that with no reason whatsoever i.e. he might know something that we possibly don't

G

ANstar

Its certainly a questionable career move in the first place so I guess time will see if it was the right one for him.

irishguy28

People leave jobs for "no good reason" all the time!

The guy is far from unemployable - maybe he just fancied a sabbatical of 6 months to a year in Italy [Dubai is a cultural as well as a physical desert! You need a break from it, trust me] - and then he can go and find a "real" job somewhere else again!

This guy certainly has no crystal ball. There is no way of currently knowing what form Alitalia will take - if it isn't wound up - or whether and which staff (especially in higher management) would survive whatever transitions occur, should Alitalia continue in some form.

NickB

He has no crystal ball but it is a safe assumption to make that he has easier access to better quality information than the average member of this board and that this information may be sufficient to enable him to be confident that AZ will be around and that he has a reasonable personal prospect in this respect. I agree with what I take to be implicit in what AlicorporateUK said, namely that, while no guarantee, this constitutes a reassurance factor