132,000 Miles And Star Alliance Gold Status For $855

by Gary Leff

Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal sells monthly mileage packages. For Black Friday (until November 30, 2020 in Lisbon) they’re offering more miles than usual at signup, more miles per month, and elite status as a signup promotion.

Their Platinum tier package offers:

  • 36,000 miles up front
  • 8,000 miles per month for 12 months
  • Star Alliance Gold status for 6 months

That’s 132,000 Miles & Go miles and six months of Star Alliance Gold, at a cost of 718 euros for the year (US$855).

Normally I’d say this was worth it for the mileage purchase alone ($0.0065 per mile) but should flag that TAP’s award chart can be expensive, though not unreasonable for one way US-Europe business class (80,000 miles, plus surcharges).

And over the next 6 months the opportunities to use Star Alliance Gold status are somewhat limited, though it does open the doors of United Clubs (that are open) when flying United domestically.

Many of you may have TAP Miles & Go miles from their less than 1 cent per mile sale back at the start of March. We’re seeing a lot of creativity out of Lisbon, including their September offer of 10,000 bonus miles for booking an award on a partner airline and their two mile redemption sale.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. TAP does not comply with EU261. They do not honor mediation afterward. They do not follow the EU laws and good practices. TAP is not an honest company and if you have issues like canceled flights they wont take care of you with a replacement flight with any status. I know this is super tempting but its not worth supporting a company that has horrible customer service practices. Please do not support this company that feels like its above the law. Support airlines that deserve the business.

  2. I status matched to TAP gold.
    I’m an American living in Lisbon for a few months.

    TAP is fine. Not great, not bad. But they fly lots of places and being Gold is better than no status.

    I wouldn’t spend $800usd for it, but if you are not paying for business class and flying twice a month or so… I could see the value.

  3. @George. When did you status match and what was the offer then? Thanks.

    @Jonathan. Thanks for the very revealing insights into Tap’s horrible policies.

    Shame on you, Gary, for not revealing those policies in your post.

  4. @Gary – Just want to note that I believe the 132,000 miles for the “club platinum” purchase is ***inclusive*** of the sign-up amount of 36,000 miles. So, that is to say you get a total of 132,000 miles for the year of being a subscriber, it’s just split into:

    36,000 miles at sign up
    8,000 x 12 months = 96,000
    Total of : 132,000

    When I look at all the other plans offered the same math holds true as well.

    Still, and interesting offer. I wonder if I pull the trigger on this and receives Star Gold for 6 months, if I’d still be able to later down the road apply for a status match with TAP (assuming its still live)

Comments are closed.