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ALITALIA CLUB MILLE MIGLIA
The
customer, first and foremost. And when he is the loyal kind, he deserves
even more than the red carpet service. This is Alitalia’s philosophy
towards its most faithful customers, the members of the Club Mille Miglia
for frequent flyers. In Italy, this is quite a popular club. The frequent
flyer programme of the Italian airline boasts a current membership of
more than one million and among these, some 250,000 members are resident
outside Italy. This statistic serves to confirm the success of a programme
that has rapidly crossed national borders. And just think that the programme
began back in 1992 with just 60,000 members. The reasons for such satisfying
results in such a short time? Easy registration methods (done by telephone
or by mailing in a short membership form and the points are awarded
with the very first flight), speed in “racking up” the bonus points,
fantastic awards, and incentives of all kinds. Plus, a survey conducted
on the frequent flyer programmes of the world’s primary airline companies
resulted in Alitalia being voted among the top airlines for this particular
classification. And the customers, to be sure, take full advantage:
in 1999, over 150,000 free tickets were distributed. Awards earned by
the most unflagging travellers, but also by the more “sedentary” members.
One distinctive feature of this programme is that every year, Alitalia
holds a drawing to award free tickets to Mille Miglia Club members at
random. In this way, even those members who fly less frequently have
the opportunity to win awards. The way it works is very simple. Every
flight is associated with a certain number of points, the “miles”. Each
time that a club member takes an Alitalia flight, he accumulates new
miles. Upon reaching a certain point score, the member can request Alitalia
to issue a free return ticket for himself or for his family members
or friends. The more miles he accumulates, the further away may the
destination requested be, even on the other side of the world. The seat
booked can be in economy class or, with a sufficient number of points,
in First class, Business Class Europea, or if the member wants even
more pampering, in the ultra comfortable Magnifica class. Points can
be accumulated even when flying with partner airlines (Northwest, Continental,
Malev, Eurofly), or by staying at associated hotel groups (Concorde,
Forte, Heritage, Meridien, Posthouse, Golden Tulip, Inter-Continental,
Shangri-la, Starhotels, Starwood, and Summit), by making telephone calls
(with Omnitel and Telecom), renting a car (Avis, Hertz, Maggiore), by
using certain credit cards (American Express, Diners) or in many other
ways (Assitalia, Berlitz, Club Intesa, DHL, FS, Kataweb, Offshore, Stream).
The Alitalia programme distinguishes itself not only for the ease with
which the awards are earned, but also for the other advantages of membership.
For instance, compared with other frequent flyer programmes, there are
no black out periods or off-limits routes: you can fly all year round
on the entire Alitalia network, including at Easter, Christmas or during
the peak summer season. The many seats already reserved for free tickets
are constantly increasing, although it is still a good idea to reserve
well in advance, especially during peak periods. By accumulating miles,
you can become a member of the exclusive flight clubs, such as Ulisse
(granting entrance to VIP lounges, priority in waiting lists, check-in
at the business counters) or the even more prestigious and advantageous
Freccia Alata club. In fact, the most recent incentive offered is for
Freccia Alata members only: customer service dedicated exclusively to
them with a privileged telephone line (8488/65644; 06-65644 from Rome
and from cellular phones) providing all sorts of useful information,
from bonus points updates and the latest news concerning special deals
and promotions, to reserving awards tickets and having them sent directly
to your home for free. But Alitalia believes that all of its Club Mille
Miglia members should be treated with special care. It is no surprise
then that Alitalia has decided to invest heavily in creating a new control
system for the member database (CIS), one of the most modern in the
world and just recently operational. What’s more, members have a special
information centre available (8488/65640; 06/848865640 from Rome and
from cellular phones) with some 150 specialised operators at their service.
The member can use the service to reserve normal or free awards tickets
and have them sent directly to his home for free. New ideas are always
the order of the day. And new and pleasant surprises will be coming
soon to the members of the Mille Miglia Club. Alitalia doesn’t stop
here, but turns its attention to “special needs passengers” as well.
ALITALIA
AND SPECIAL CARGO
Special
attention for special passengers. For instance, dogs and cats, but also
ostriches and snakes, or perhaps extremely delicate flowers, perishable
fresh fish, delicate mozzarella cheese, or even hazardous explosive
or flammable materials (and under aviation regulations, this category
includes perfume). Airline travel is not only for people - all kinds
of cargo are shipped, too. Sometimes, when the goods are absolutely
hazard-free, they are transported in the hold along with the passenger
baggage. Other times, when travel becomes more delicate from a safety
standpoint, special aeroplanes become necessary - the so-called “cargo”
planes, entirely dedicated to merchandise. The ways and means of transportation
are countless, but Alitalia’s attitude is just one: they pay the utmost
attention to each piece of cargo because every product has its own special
needs, safeguarding the passengers on board and ensuring that travel
is done by the books. For instance? When Alitalia was faced with transporting
a large quantity of ostriches from South Africa to Italy - and this
really happened -, those large feathered creatures were shipped inside
custom built cages with an opening at the top so that they could stick
out their heads. And not just any old plane would do: they needed a
jumbo-jet, the only one with a hold high enough to accommodate their
necks. This problem was not encountered with the Maine lobsters which
needed particular refrigeration and storage conditions in order to arrive
safe and sound in Italy, whereas tropical fish fly protected in special
containers with adequately oxygenated water. Animals suffer during air
travel and therefore, they can never get too much special attention.
Horses, for example, fly protected in special stalls accompanied by
hay, stable-hands, and veterinarians. Alitalia has had experience with
special flights since 1947 and therefore, they are fully prepared to
respond to all sorts of unusual needs. With one exception: the importation
of endangered species, absolutely banned by the airline. To offer an
even better and more competitive service, an ad hoc operational unit
was created within Alitalia Cargo, completely dedicated to special and
delicate transportation: fresh and perishable food products, flowers,
live animals, pharmaceuticals, hazardous chemical products, valuables.
All items that require special treatment from the take off to the landing.
For instance, in order to prevent special fabrics made in Italy from
getting soaked with rain during transfer operations or to keep animals
from baking under the sun between one stopover and another; to maintain
fresh flowers shipped from South America at constant temperatures and
humidity levels and avoiding that the fresh mozzarella en route to New
York end up transformed into a block of chalk or that plasma, so precious
for saving human life, should deteriorate further from one hospital
to another. So, we are not talking merely about transportation, but
a whole other logistical system to keep under strict control and monitoring:
from the “climatic” conditions inside the aeroplanes to the efficiency
of the logistical operations, to the specialisation of the ground warehouses.
And not only in Rome and Milan, but in all the terminals where the Italian
carrier operates. Alitalia Cargo has planned for all this. To attain
and maintain the best international service standards, the airline has
invested consistently in new transportation technologies, in their operational
network, and the logistical ground infrastructures, by taking advantage
of the most advanced technologies available on the market. The key words
are state-of-the-art technology and specialisation. Otherwise, it would
be difficult to have the ostriches arrive at their destination in perfect
condition or, to cite another example, to look after and protect those
30 million kilograms of perishable products travelling in the holds
of the Alitalia planes each year.
(traduzione
Interpres sas-Giussano)
ALITALIA
S.p.a.
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