Is A Club TAP Miles&Go Subscription Worth It? (Black Friday Special)

I would not recomend it because TAP is about to collapse. So that would only enrich them, not the subscribers.

@Nelson - I believe that the government of Portugal took a majority stake in TAP a few months ago. To me that is a clear sign that they're going to do anything to stop it from collapsing.

However, yes - there could be major devaluations in the TAP mileage programme for sure.

However #2 - there are actually some interesting pros and sweet spots in this programme that I hadn't noticed before.

The Portuguese government bailed them out, as it has done numerous times in the past. Despite the fact that TAP have been haemorrhaging bucket loads of money for years, they're seen as a symbol of national pride and the government will spare no effort to keep them flying.

i am applying for a D7 Visa next year and seriously considering moving to the Cascais/Sintra area. This maybe perfect for me. Looks like vaccines are rolling out in the next few months so this may be a good risk for me.

"as tempting as it is to join 'Club Top'” LMAO

#straightmenknownotofwhichyouspeak

Can you please dig into their redemptions sweet spots also on non Star Alliance partners such as Emirates? Thanks!

@Bill, Lucky you! I love Sintra.

I like that TAP provides free wine and snacks on short hops.

Could be why they lose so much money.

Have any of you dealt with TAP customer service at all? I have-there is NONE! I've flown TAP-it gets you there, but it's nothing special. I was supposed to fly from Lisbon to Faro and back and the on to Barcelona this past October. Portugal closed its borders, and TAP changed my flights by over five hours in departure time and still refused to give me a refund even though the flights were renumbered as well! It's website would only generate a voucher that expired quickly. They never responded to emails or messenging. I finally had to dispute the credit card charges. I would think long and hard about this. If everything ALWAYS goes fine, you are set. But it's TAP, so it won't.

They called my cancelled flights "rescheduled" and just about all the changes, and for one flight, it changed at least 4 times, they NEVER notified me!!!

I've missed something - the top status (Gold) is only valid for 6 months? or for the year?

The 6 month number only appears in your bottom line summary as far as I can see.

In semi-related news:

Starlux is launching flights to Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 5th. If anyone wants to match Starlux top tier status for the next 4 years, and need something to match with, this is probably the deal to do it with minimal cost, no flying requirement, and no location requirement.

Hahaha @Nathan I thought the exact same thing ;).

Major disadvantages, first class redemptions are absolutely impossible.
Also, most redemptions for
Business class are usually the market price for a flight you can book with money & earn awards and status.

In addition, my customer service experience was horrible. Once I tried to book something which I bought miles to and got an error (probably a phantom).

My recommendation - just not.

Their customer service is the worst of any Airline I have ever dealt with. Try crediting a flight afterwards- you won’t even get a response. And the miles you get per flight in Economy are miserly

Based on my experience of their customer service I wouldn't bother. If something goes wrong with this offer and you don't get what they promised ( not so unlikely) the effort to get it sorted out won't be worth the hassle.

@ Stephen Morrissey, don't know on what flight you had snacks and wine. I flew them back in AUG on a four hour flight. No snacks, no wine. Only water and beer.
Snacks and wine is from before covid.

@Nelson, correct before Covid. December 28th 2019 and February 2020.

Lis-Tfs and return.

The Status match promotion is a complete DUD.

I registered for it (AA Explat) when you first announced it and then.... NOTHING HAPPENED.

TAP, for all intents and purposes, is a totally inefficient airline which is about to collapse. Stay clear of the falling ruins. Alitalia at least rebounds (and rebounds... and rebounds). TAP won't.

... And if you add to this that Lisbon is probably the worst, most disorganized and extremely impractical airport in Europe, there really is no reason.

but what about just booking a biz class or first class ticket with the mileage? like, not even commit to flying TAP, and run away with the SA gold status (if you don't have gold with SA)

So I went for the Platinum, but after registration I recieved all the bonus black friday extra miles but it gave me only an Silver Star Aliance status. Has anyone else also had this problem? I hope that it will update, since for at least 6 months it should be a gold...

@Lucky @Ben

There are some new confusing offers from TAP Miles&Go

https://www.flytap.com/en-ua/miles-and-go/promotions

according to my math, miles can be bought for slightly less than 0.6 euro cents a mile.

--> How far along are you in analysis of this program? With fuel surcharges and award redemption fees, miles validity, etc., would you take this offer?

Did you decide to join Club TAP Miles&Go? It looks like they make this offer regularly.

I live in PT and signed up for this promotion in 2021 for $887 and 144K miles. I wish I hadn’t. Their miles have been devalued to the extent that we’ll be lucky if we’re able to redeem them all for a ONE WAY ticket in biz. The chart now says US-EUR redemptions are FROM 100K, but I haven’t found a single flight yet for less than 145K.

It’s a complete scam. Best redemptions for TAP are through Air Canada Aeroplan. Never again.

Am I required to join a PAID TAP mileage program (club) to earn credits? I have an account with TAP, but I can't locate a link to enter my recent flight.

Hi
I have just moved to PT. Are there any other rewards cards that you can recommend here in Europe?
Thanks