ITA Airways

ITA Airways: flight cancelation policy and compensation

About ITA Airways

ITA Airways came into existence as the successor of the previous flag carrier, Alitalia, which went bankrupt 15 years ago. ITA stands for Italian Air Transport (Italia Trasporto Aereo in Italian) and initially, the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance was the only owner of the air company. But in the beginning of 2023, Lufthansa Group acquired 41% of the company’s shares and has plans to become the only shareholder in the next few years.

ITA Airways officially started operating in August 2021 and currently has 74 aircraft in its fleet with plans for 105 aircraft by the end of 2025. The planes were mostly inherited from Alitalia and they are all Airbus.

Destinations and travel classes

The Italian airline’s main hub is Rome Fiumicino airport (FCO) and Milan-Linate is used as a focus city. ITA flies to over 60 destinations, including internal and overseas routes. You can get long haul flights from Rome to Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles. There is also a direct connection between Milan Malpensa to New York.

ITA Airways’ frequent flyer program, called Volare, allows its loyal customers to accumulate points which they can then redeem for flights and additional offerings like seat selection or partner services (accommodation and car rentals).

When buying a ticket, you can choose between 5 travel classes: Business Class Long Haul, Business Class Medium Haul, Superior, Premium Economy and Economy seating.

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ITA Airways flight cancellation policy

Like every airline, ITA Airways has its own terms and conditions about canceling bookings. If you want to cancel your flight for whatever reason, you need to consult the fare rules for the travel class of your ticket.

The ITA cancelation policy generally allows a rebooking or a refund but in most cases, this is possible if the ticket is canceled within 24 hours of departure. Airport and security taxes are fully refundable for all fares, but the sales service is never reimbursable.

ITA advises its customers to make changes or cancel their reservations online on their website or on their mobile app under the section “My flights”. All you need to do is enter your booking reference number and surname. However, you cannot use the online cancelation service and will need to contact the customer center if your ticket was purchased with Volare Cash & Points, if it is a part of a group flight, a special assistance or a “Multi-destination” ticket.

If you used a travel agency to organize your trip, they should take care of the cancellation process for all ticket purchases.

If you cannot make it to your flight due to illness, you should cancel your booking before departure and provide the airline with medical documentation within 7 days of the cancelation in order to receive a replacement flight or a refund.

ITA Airways canceled flight: Refund or compensation

Unfortunately, flights get canceled sometimes and flights operated by ITA Airways are no exception. But don’t worry, there is a silver lining: Regulation EC no 261/2004 is a law issued by the European Parliament that aims to protect air passenger rights in cases of flight disruptions (including delays and denied boarding).

First and foremost, you should know that if your ITA flight gets canceled, no matter what the reason is, you have the indisputable right to get an alternative flight to your final destination OR receive a full refund of your ticket fare. We advise you to contact the ITA customer center as soon as you find out about the cancellation in order to inquire what you should do next.

But there is more: EC 261 guarantees you financial compensation for the inconvenience if the cancelation (or delay) was preventable and ITA Airways is to blame for it. The compensation amounts vary between $275 (€250) and $700 (€600), depending on the total distance covered by your flight and the duration of the delay that you experienced. You can consult the table below for more detailed information:

€ 250	€ 400	€ 600
Unter 1.500 km	Zwischen 1.500 und 3.500 km	Über 3.500 km

Conditions for eligibility

In order to be eligible for ITA flight cancelation compensation, a couple of conditions should be fulfilled:

ITA Airways informs you about the cancellation less than 2 weeks before the planned departure of your flight
ITA Airways arranges a replacement flight to your final destination but it arrives more than 4 h later than the original arrival time (in the cases when ITA told you the flight is canceled between 7 and 14 days before the flight) or more than 2h later (in the cases when you found out about the cancelation less than 7 days prior to departure).

Usually flights get canceled twenty four hours or less before departure, so your chances for getting compensation are high, as long as the replacement flight is more than 2 hours late.

If your ITA flight was just delayed, not entirely canceled, the eligibility conditions for reimbursement are slightly different. Check out our article on flight delay compensation or use our free compensation calculator to find out whether your flight qualifies.

Keep in mind that you will not get compensation if the flight disruption was the result of extraordinary circumstances, such as:

Air traffic control restrictions
Bad weather (storms, hail, blizzards, etc.)
Bird strikes
Runway closures
Airport staff and union strikes (NOT airline staff strikes, a.k.a. wildcat strikes)
Medical emergencies
Political or social unrest, terrorist attacks.

However, you will still be entitled to a refund or an alternative flight.

Claim ITA Airways flight cancelation compensation

SkyRefund’s experienced legal team is committed to going through all necessary legal steps to obtain your ITA compensation. We will take care of all the bureaucracy and should the need arise, we are prepared to take the matter to court.

Our fee of 35% from the refund amount (including VAT) applies only when we successfully obtain your compensation from the airline. Check your eligibility, submit your claim with us, and rest assured we will do everything in our power to get you your rightful reimbursement!