Cardless is launching a TAP Air Portugal Miles & Go American Express card. They haven’t released a lot of the product details yet, but it’ll be interesting to have this Star Alliance airline enter the U.S. co-brand market. They had just starting making an unfortunately-timed big push for U.S. customers right at the start of the pandemic, with easy access to inexpensive miles and Star Alliance Gold status. So this could be interesting.
Even more interesting for right now is that if you join the waitlist to be notified of the card, and then you later apply and are approved, you will receive:
- an extra 5,000 bonus miles
- plus 5,000 elite qualifying miles
And that’s on top of a limited-time offer they are teasing for the card’s launch. There’s no reason not to give your email to ‘waitlist’ for the card, and there’s upside you won’t be able to go back later and get if you decide you want the card but didn’t do this. So do it now, just in case.
Trash Air Portugal
From past experience:
Pros:
– Newer comfier planes
– Nice flight attendants
– Edible food on long haul flights
Cons:
– Poor IT infrastructure
– Untrained / powerless customer service agents
– Uncoordinated boarding process
– LCC traits to nickel and dime passengers (e.g. €125 to check an “overweight or oversized” carryon on a transatlantic flight)
Thanks, but very strong hard pass.
The rewards are paltry vs. the blockage of access to aother credit.
Please don’t signup for this. Many people don’t fly TAP often, and their partner award redemption rates are terrible, and worse than even United MileagePlus, assuming you can find a redemption that meets your needs. If you’re chasing Star Alliance Gold, their initial 70k status miles requirement is not easy to earn unless you concentrate on Star Alliance and probably lose out on far better $ return by not pursuing status. That 5k bonus miles will sit in your account unused for 3 years and then expire.