After Avianca made unannounced changes to its award chart back in May (read my take here), GOL decided to do an unannounced stealth devaluation for their award chart too. The number of miles required for awards went up by 33% and airline had old award chart levels up on its website for days after they were no longer bookable.
Now, federal prosecutor has given GOL ten days to respond to an inquiry about how many passengers has paid higher than shown miles requirements and how much money was involved in this.
You can read more about this from Brazilian news website here.
Conclusion
One would hope that the consumer protection regarding these airline and hotel programs would be stronger in western countries as well. Airlines are not allowed to charge “fake” fuel surcharges on flights originating from Brazil and there is also a minimum checked in baggage allowance.
