American Airlines Launches Quarantine-Free Flights to Italy for All Passengers
Douglas25 Mar 2025
Last Updated: 06 Jul 2026
News
American Airlines (AA) has been offering quarantine flights from the US to Italy since April 2nd. But previously only essential travellers, who met a strict list of immigration conditions, were actually permitted entry to Italy via these routes.
Now AA has become the second US-based airline, after Delta, to announce quarantine free flights for all passengers, including leisure travellers, from the USA to Italy. This follows a relaxing of Italian immigration rules commencing May 16th 2021.
This also means that American Airlines award flights to Italy are not just available but a viable option to book for holders of AAdvantage miles or Avios.
Are All Flights To Italy Quarantine-Free?
Currently, not all flights between the US and Italy have been designated “quarantine free”, however American Airlines believes they soon will be. The Italian government is updating its travel restrictions on a route by route basis, rather than based on a journey’s country of origin.
Passengers looking to book a quarantine-free flight to Italy, who plan to book immediately, should only book the officially designated “quarantine-free” flights out of New York.
Italy only allows passengers to bypass quarantine and arrive for leisure travel if they are on one of these COVID-tested flights.
At the moment flights designated as quarantine-free are operating from New York John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) to Milan Malpensa (MXP) and Rome Fiumicino (FCO) airports.
The latest American Airlines timetable offers daily flights between JFK and MXP and a three-times-weekly service to FCO.
American Airlines also operates a four-times-weekly service between Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and FCO and they expect those flights to become quarantine-free and open to all travellers in the coming days. However, it is unclear exactly when the Dallas-departing flights will fall under the official quarantine-free programme.
How Does The Quarantine-Free Flight Programme Work?
Prior to travelling on a designated quarantine-free flight, passengers will need to provide proof of an accepted, negative COVID-19 test and then do so again on their arrival in Milan or Rome. After taking a second rapid Covid test at the airport of arrival, producing a negative result, travellers will not need to quarantine in Italy.
You do not have to have completed a course of Covid-19 vaccinations to fly on one of the quarantine-free flights. Italy has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic but tourism is a huge part of its economy, so the Italian government is keen to find a way to safely restart tourism before an internationally agreed approach is reached for proof of vaccination.
Passengers who book flights to Italy should note that there are local restrictions in effect and that these might change with shifts in the status of the pandemic. So don’t rely on the airline to give you the latest information, make sure you do your research and stay up-to-date on local regulations before your trip.
American Airlines award flights are currently exempt from change fees and admin charges following an update to the airline’s policies, to attract back passengers. This makes AAdvantage miles redemptions a highly flexible and cost-effective option for anyone planning their return to the skies.
What An Award Flight?
We frequently get asked what the difference is between an “award flight” and a “reward flight”. They are essentially the same thing:
An award flight is an airline flight ticket for which the fare can be fully paid for with an airline’s loyalty currency, plus taxes and fees.
Airlines that have adopted British English tend to refer to “reward flights”, whereas those using US English favo(u)r the term “award flights”. Some airlines use both phrases, depending on where the audience they are talking to resides.
When it comes to airline loyalty currencies, some airlines call theirs “points”, others use the term “miles” and a few come up with weird and wonderful brand names instead. It doesn’t really matter, so long as you think of airline currency as money and find the best way to get value for it. At Reward Flight Finder (RFF), we aim to help you do just that.
