TAP, a Portuguese flag carrier that has had great difficulty providing refunds for canceled flights to the extent that the airline’s bank accounts were seized by the court in Germany, has launched another offer to buy its miles.
If you sign up for their subscription club for 12 months (you get a set amount of miles monthly and buy miles from their miles store with a bonus, you will end up with 240,000 miles in 12 months for €1,418.
You can access this offer on TAP’s website here.
Note that this offer ends on June 30, 2021. The price of the Club and buying miles are dependent on where your account is based. The price has tended to be the lowest for members in Brazil.
TAP Club
You need to join TAP Club Platinum and pay €718 in a year. You get 23,00 miles at the signup and 8,000 miles monthly.
Buy Miles
You need to buy 20,000 miles (70,000 with the bonus) for €700.
Combined Bonus
If you sign up for the TAP Club Platinum and buy 20,000 miles, you get an additional 51,000 miles.
Award Options
I did few searches on what awards are available on TAP’s website and how much they cost in terms of miles and cash.
Frankfurt – Sao Paulo
Singapore – Tokyo
Jakarta – Taipei
Los Angeles – New York
Washington – Honolulu
Rio de Janeiro – Cancun
Conclusion
Some of the mileage requirements are relatively high, but you have to factor in how cheaply you can buy their miles compared to Avianca LifeMiles that sells them close to monthly with a bonus.
It is challenging to see TAP collapse because it is essentially backed up by the Portuguese government. The number of miles required for awards, however, can change with no advance notice.
If their award chart work for you and you can use the miles you get within a week or two for trips immediately, I could consider joining and paying for the miles.
I am close to drowning in airline miles right now and won’t buy any regardless of the price.
