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TAP Air Portugal is running a promotion to buy TAP Miles & Go miles with up to a 150% bonus. This deal runs through June 22, 2023, allowing members to buy miles for as little as 1.52¢ each. This is certainly an improvement on TAP's last promotion (offering miles at 2.18¢ apiece), but is it worth it? Let's have a look at some examples to see if it makes sense.
A Note on Buying TAP Miles & Go Miles
Buying points and miles is typically not the best way to accumulate any award currency. The same holds true with Miles & Go. We always advise earning points and miles through everyday purchases, credit card welcome bonuses, and travel purchases. As always, there are certain situations where buying points and miles can make sense.
First, if your balance is just short of booking that next great redemption, buying miles can be the fastest means of getting over the hump. Since award availability can change at any moment, waiting for miles to post to your account may mean the difference between snagging an award and not.
Second, the cost to buy miles can be cheaper than paying the cash rate for a flight. Below, we'll look at some examples of this.
Buy TAP Miles & Go Miles – Key Terms
- Buy or gift Miles & Go miles and receive up to a 150% bonus.
- Promotion expires on June 22, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. mainland Portugal time (GMT+1).
- You can buy TAP Portugal Miles & Go miles in increments of 2,000.
- Must purchase 8,000–20,000 miles to receive a bonus.
- The maximum number of miles a member can purchase is 20,000 miles per transaction (up to 200,000 annually).
- Purchases of Miles & Go miles are not refundable.
- All miles are valid for a 12-month period from purchase.
The terms and conditions don't say how quickly miles will be deposited in your account. However, data points from AwardWallet users show that purchases are processed within 24 hours.
This promotion offers bonuses ranging from 50% to 150%. Your bonus depends on how many miles you buy:
It's also possible to buy 2,000, 4,000, or 6,000 miles but without any bonus at those levels. And you should definitely buy miles in euro here, because 700 euros is roughly ~$760 for 50,000 miles. Buying in Dollars costs $870 instead.
If you buy 50,000 miles for ~$760 (paying in euros), that's 1.52¢ per mile.
The value of TAP Air Miles & Go miles
TAP isn't known for its rewards program. In fact, this is only the second promotion we have seen to buy TAP Miles & Go miles over the last year. But there are still instances when you can redeem Miles & Go miles for some pretty good trips.
Another benefit of TAP Miles & Go is your ability to use miles on other Star Alliance airlines. So if you accrue Miles & Go miles and you don't see something you like with TAP, you have the ability to redeem miles on other Star Alliance members.
Redeem Miles & Go Miles for Flights
The TAP Miles & Go program isn't the strongest loyalty program out there. As a result, quality award redemption options are few and far between. However, there are some good redemption options with TAP's Star Alliance partners — and even some niche redemptions on its own flights for the right price.
San Francisco to Lisbon, Portugal with TAP Economy Class
TAP Miles & Go has much better redemption rates on its own flights than with partners. It's not luxury, but this is a good example of when buying miles can be cheaper than buying a flight.
- Mileage rate: 29,000 miles
- Typical cash price: $1,050
- Cost to buy 29,000 miles (at 1.52¢ each): $441
San Francisco to Lisbon, Portugal with TAP Business Class
If you take that same flight in TAP's “executive class,” the mileage requirement is nearly four times higher. But buying these miles is still cheaper than buying the flight in cash.
- Mileage rate: 100,000 miles
- Typical cash price: $3,500
- Cost to buy 100,000 miles (at 1.52¢ each): $1,520
Newark to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in Ethiopian Business Class
Love nature and coffee? You'll be hard-pressed to find a better place to visit than Ethiopia. To the surprise of many, Ethiopian Airlines has a great business-class experience on its newer planes.
- Mileage rate: 115,000 miles
- Typical cash price: $4,337
- Cost to buy 115,000 miles (at 1.52¢ each): $1,748
San Francisco to Ho Chi Minh City in Asiana Business Class
Looking for a nice bowl of pho? You can grab this flight to Saigon on Asiana's beautiful Airbus A350 business class.
- Mileage rate: 115,000
- Typical cash price: $2,700
- Cost to buy 115,000 miles (at 1.52¢ each): $1,748
London to Brisbane, Australia in EVA Business Class
It's definitely quite the haul to get to the Land Down Under. But when you're flying in EVA's Boeing 777-300 business class, it makes the journey quite enjoyable!
- Mileage rate: 150,000
- Typical cash price: $4,210
- Cost to buy 150,000 miles (at 1.52¢ each): $2,280
Mexico City to Dubai in Turkish Business Class
One of our favorite business class cabins is on Turkish Airlines. With beautiful seats and fantastic food, it will make the journey from the capital of Mexico to Dubai an enjoyable experience.
- Mileage rate: 115,000
- Typical cash price: $4,088
- Cost to buy 115,000 miles (at 1.52¢ each): $1,748
Maximize Your Purchase
As with most other programs, if you buy TAP miles, you'll make your purchase through Points.com. This means your purchase won't code as airfare or travel. You should pay with one of these cards:
- The credit card for which you're working on a sign-up bonus. These are the best welcome offers available right now.
- Any credit card with perks you can unlock from spending, such as hotel free night awards, hotel elite status, or airline elite status.
- Your best card for everyday spending, such as the Citi® Double Cash Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.
Related: Which Credit Card Should You Use to Buy Points and Miles?
Other Ways to Earn Miles & Go Miles
If time is on your side, there are less expensive ways you can add to your Miles & Go account. You can transfer points from the following to Miles & Go:
- Capital One Rewards: 1:1 transfer rate
- Marriott Bonvoy: 3:1 transfer rate, plus a 5,000-mile bonus for each 20,000 miles received after the conversion
Any card earning Capital One miles or Marriott points can effectively earn TAP Miles & Go miles, meaning you wouldn't need to buy them.
- Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening; worth $750 in travel if redeemed for a fixed-value, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 2 Miles on every purchase
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $100)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
Bottom Line
TAP Air Portugal members have the chance to buy Miles & Go miles with up to a 150% bonus at this link.
Buying miles for 1.52¢ isn't special, but that's not to say you can't find good value. For certain redemptions, this deal could make sense — especially when the cost to buy Miles & Go miles ends up being cheaper than the cash price of the same ticket. For some redemptions, the cost of buying miles doesn't present significant savings, but it can provide a big discount on other routes/dates.
Would you buy TAP Portugal Miles & Go miles for 1.52¢ each? Are there any sweet spots in this program you think we should highlight?
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