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ITA Airways Joins the Lufthansa Group
The Lufthansa Group has officially acquired a 41% stake in ITA Airways, Italy’s flag carrier. ITA Airways becomes the fifth network airline to join the Lufthansa Group, joining Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines.
I’ll be flying ITA on 4 legs next month including their 1+1 business class on their brand-new A321. I am really excited about trying this as I have heard great things about the seat and the service.
ITA Airways’ journey toward joining the Lufthansa Group began shortly after the airline’s launch in 2021, following the closure of Alitalia.
In just a few weeks, ITA Airways’ frequent flyer programme, Volare, will be integrated with Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More programme. You will soon be able to earn and redeem miles across both programmes.
This integration is just the first step towards deeper cooperation, which includes joint codeshare agreements, lounge access, and ITA Airways’ eventual admission into the Star Alliance.
Carsten Spohr, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, shared:
“We are proud to finally welcome ITA Airways to the Lufthansa Group. The ITA Airways team has written an impressive success story in recent years and, with great energy, passion and expertise, has built an airline that is already the pride of an entire nation. We look forward to continuing this success story of ITA Airways together. With our investment, we will now strengthen the Italian and European aviation market and the position of the Lufthansa Group as number one in Europe. Our joint passengers worldwide will benefit from improved offers and optimised connections as early as this upcoming summer flight schedule.”
ITA Airways has seen rapid expansion since its launch. Here are some key facts:
Finnair Expands British Airways Codeshare
Finnair has announced an expansion of its codeshare agreement with a fellow Oneworld alliance member, British Airways.
Finnair will add its code to 7 more BA domestic routes. You can now book these services directly through Finnair and fly from a closer regional airport with BA before connecting onto a Finnair flight at Heathrow. The codes will be added to BA flights between Heathrow and:
- Aberdeen
- Belfast City
- Inverness
- Jersey
- Manchester
- Newcastle
- Gibraltar
This expansion builds on Finnair’s existing codeshare agreement, which already includes flights from London, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
There are now more options for starting your journey at your chosen airport and for having more connectivity when travelling to Finland and beyond.
I think this is great for those not based near London but want a closer to home starting point and the airports they have chosen pretty much cover the whole of the UK.
We are fans of Finnair at TLFL and we regularly see them appear as a cheap option in our fare round ups, so this strengthening of their codeshare could see us travelling with them more in the future.
You can see a review of Finnair Business Class here.
From Heathrow, Finnair offers direct flights to Helsinki, with onward connections to a wide range of destinations in Lapland, the Nordics, and the Baltics. The codeshare also opens up connectivity to long-haul destinations via Helsinki, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Singapore, and Seoul.
Following Finnair’s addition of 50% more flights to Helsinki in late 2024, there are now even more options to connect through Heathrow. Finnair now operates:
- 6 daily flights from Heathrow
- 2 daily flights from Manchester
- 7 weekly flights from Edinburgh
This expanded codeshare will simplify the booking process and give smoother transitions between British Airways and Finnair flights.
IHG Mystery Bonus Sale: 100% More Points with Points Purchases
IHG has kicked off the new year with a Mystery Bonus sale for IHG One Rewards members, running until 31st January 2025. Depending on the offer you’re targeted for, you will receive up to a 100% bonus on points purchases of 5,000 to 200,000 points. Most people seem to have the 100% offer.
Although this 100% bonus offer has been offered many times before, it’s still the best offer IHG runs to other deals offering a 30%- 90% bonus. Points are bought in USD. The price of a point with the 100% bonus is 0.5¢ (41p).
Although buying IHG points typically offers low value for money, this offer can eliminate that. Purchasing points is useful for redeeming free night stays on high-value properties, especially since you have identified award availability that provides big savings compared to the cash rate.
To see whether you’re eligible for this offer, log into your IHG Rewards account and go to offers. Scroll down to the 100% bonus offer.
You can check the offer you’re eligible for here.
You will then need to choose the number of points you’d like to purchase. The best rate of 0.5¢ per point starts at purchases of 26,000 points or more.
Here’s a currency conversion accurate as of today*:
| Number of Points | Value Per Point (USD) | Value Per Point (GBP) |
| Less Than 5,000 | $1.35 | £1.11 |
| 5,000-10,000 | 0.675¢ | 0.55p |
| 11,000-25,000 | 0.575¢ | 0.47p |
| 26,000-200,000 | 0.5¢ | 0.41p |
* Currency conversions are approximate and subject to change based on the exchange rate at the time of purchase.
Regardless of the offer, you can purchase a maximum of 200,000 IHG points each calendar year (this has been seen to go up to 300,000 during specific offers). For example, if you have already purchased 50,000 points in 2025, you will be able to purchase a maximum of 150,000 points during the offer period.
