During the pandemic, American Airlines and Brazilian airline GOL launched a partnership, which included an equity investment. While the airlines have offered reciprocal mileage earning and redemptions for a while, awards are now bookable online, which is exciting.
In this post:
Redeem AAdvantage miles on GOL through aa.com
You can now redeem American AAdvantage miles for travel on GOL directly on aa.com. The pricing follows American’s standard partner award chart:
- A one-way economy award within South America Zone 2 costs 10,000 miles
- A one-way economy award between South America Zone 2 and South America Zone 1 costs 12,500 miles
- A one-way economy award between the United States and South America Zone 2 costs 30,000 miles
For context, since GOL is a Brazilian airline:
- South America Zone 1 includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Manaus (Brazil), Peru, and Suriname
- South America Zone 2 includes Argentina, Brazil (excluding Manaus), Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela
Is there value in redeeming American miles on GOL?
On the surface the redemption rates on GOL look really low, so does that mean award redemptions are also a good value? A few things to note:
- Award availability on GOL is generally very good, so that’s exciting at least
- While GOL flies from Miami to Brasilia (and you can redeem miles for that), spending 7hr50min on a Boeing 737 MAX isn’t necessarily everyone’s idea of a good time
- Many regional GOL flights cost under $100 when paying cash, in which case many may prefer to save their miles for more valuable redemptions
- Personally I think the biggest value here is in being able to book GOL as part of a larger itinerary; for example, if you book an award on American (or another partner) to Sao Paulo, you can then add on a connecting itinerary to your final destination without paying additional miles, assuming it’s in the same region
Bottom line
American and GOL have a partnership, and it’s now possible to redeem AAdvantage miles for travel on GOL directly on aa.com. It’s always nice to be able to easily search award availability, and to not have to pick up the phone to book.
GOL is a valuable AAdvantage partner for travel within South America, given how big the carrier’s network is from Brazil. While it’s not a full replacement for American losing its partnership with LATAM, it’s still valuable.
Could you see yourself redeeming AAdvantage miles on GOL?
(Tip of the hat to LoyaltyLobby)
This is good news.
On most airlines 8 hours in a 737 MAX isn't meaningfully different than flying in back on most other economy seats for similar timeframes.
Plenty of cheap domestic cash tickets in Brazil but also some pricier tix especially to popular destinations (IGU for example) Also watch as the lowest price is usually carry-on only with no advance seat assignment, so be sure you're comparing apples-to-apples.
I was trying to book 2 way Mia to Mvd, and it was impossible. May be it only works inside Brazil