UPDATE: Alitalia / SkyTeam status match now ‘officially’ on their website

Yesterday I wrote about the status match that Alitalia appeared to be offering to British Airways Executive Club status members.

When I wrote that article, it wasn’t clear if this was a ‘formal’ status match programme or if Alitalia had unofficially decided to start accepting matches.

We now know that this is a formal Alitalia programme.

Here are the rules:

You have until December 2015 to ask for a match

The match will last until March 2016 UNLESS your existing status card shows an expiry date beyond March 2016.  If it does, your matched card will be issued until March 2017.

ANY elite status card from an airline which is not part of the SkyTeam alliance will be accepted

As the match is now ‘official’ I fully recommend that you apply.  Even if you have no plans to fly on a SkyTeam airline, you should be able to leverage this card for a match with another airline – possible a oneworld one – at some point before it expires.

There is one catch which is a common problem with most matches involving British Airways.  Most airlines have Gold as their MIDDLE tier.  British Airways has it as their top tier.  You need to be careful, when your match is processed, that your BA Gold gets you a top tier match and NOT a middle tier match.