On Dec. 31, 2007, Alitalia’s MilleMiglia program will end and Alitalia promises a new program to begin Jan. 1, 2008. Current MilleMiglia members will have until June 30, 2008 to use all their miles in the program based on the current award chart. If they do not claim the awards by that date, they will lose all the remaining miles unless they fly at least two times with Alitalia in the first six months of 2008 (until June 30, 2008). If they fly the required two flights, they will receive a “Loyalty Reward” that is the mileage equivalent of the MilleMiglia miles in the new program. For example, if you have 40,000 miles in the MilleMiglia program you will get 40,000 miles in the new program. No word yet on the name of the new program, but Alitalia has released information such as mileage will be awarded based on class of travel as well as distance flown; a one-way flight award will be introduced and new benefits will be introduced for the most frequent flyers. Current MilleMiglia members will automatically be enrolled in the new program and retain their membership number.

The MilleMilglia members we’ve heard from are not happy that the miles in their accounts aren’t automatically being transferred to the new program and are skeptical when they hear that miles will be based on the class of travel as well as the distance flown — is Alitalia paving the way to offer fewer miles at lower fares? To ease members into the changes to come, the program is offering a “Rewarded Flights” promotion where members can earn bonus miles by flying at least four times between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2007; 4-7 flights will get you a 15 percent bonus on Alitalia flights, 8-19 flights a 30 percent bonus and 20 or more flights a 50 percent bonus. The bonus miles will be credited to your account at the end of the promotion and not before Jan. 15, 2008.