milfweed20

Hi guys, don't know if you've already noticed but TAP have seriously increased the amount of miles needed to get award flights on TAP.

For instance, flying from Portugal to Europe1 in J used to be 30k miles RT and now is 65k miles, They are basically charging the same number of miles if you are redeeming your miles to fly on TAP or any other Star Alliance partner, which does not make a lot of sense to me.

Well, I'm not here only to rant about this, I'm looking for help on where should I start crediting my miles to avoid this ridiculous award chart. Let me give you some context about my situation so you can make a more educated suggestion, I'm Star Alliance Gold and would like to remain, because I'm based in Terceira (Azores Islands) and it is useful to be able to use the lounge in Lisbon when I'm flying TER-LIS-TER because even if I'm flying J but had no status I would have to use the Blue Lounge in Lisbon which is a dump. Usually when I'm flying long-haul I pay J, would be nice to belong to a program where I could redeem a F ticket sometimes without having to pay an eye for it, but mainly I like to buy J tickets intra-Europe with miles since they tend to be really expensive for what they offer, so a program that charges less for intra-europe flights would be a good bet for me. Also the TAP program has the option of nominating another *G member, which is good for me because I give it to my father and he really uses it, so something similar in another program would be a huge plus.

Basically I'm always flying TER-LIS-TER in paid J so that is taken care of, I just need a program that offers good value in intra-Europe flights, that is not to tough to reach (around 50k miles is fine for me), possibility of nominating another *G, decent F award chart redemption for the occasional indulgence and finally one where miles do not expire too fast.

I know I'm asking a lot and don't want anyone feeling like "they are working for me", I've been checking a lot of Star Alliance programs but still I'm not sure which could be the best choice, I'm just asking for some advice on what I should choose from someone who have been in similar spots.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

mrt88

Yeah I saw this too, insane devaluation! The program had always been a bit sucky for *A redemptions (phone only and no one-ways), but now it is awful across the board. I like the UA program, but unless you do 4 segments a year with them you'd never get status. Their redemptions on *A are easy and don't have fuel surcharges. Maybe M&M could be an option for you instead? As to benefit for another family member, M&M only does this for HON, and UA only for million milers.

Perhaps TP simply decided frequent flyers don't interest them and the occasional tourist makes more sense?

Tafflyer

I think TAP have decided that lots of things don't interest them any more. The Victoria program was always a bit of a dud and it has now effectively become obsolete, but I could make the same argument for the airline. I frequently travel to and from one of my bases in Faro and on top of being consistently delayed, TAP have also become ludicrously expensive. Colleagues joke that that is to cover the huge EU261 payments they must be making. I've personally had €2,400 out of them this year, almost a 100% hit rate during a time I was doing FRA-LIS-FAO on Thursday evenings.

I use Aegean for my Star Alliance Gold and once you have achieved it, retaining it only takes half the number of miles, 24,000 p.a or 12,000 including 4 A3 metal flights. TAP cheapest business fares (J) still credit at 200% to A3 and that will give you your Gold quickly enough. Flights in deeply discounted buckets or on Lufthansa, which do not credit very highly to A3, I credit to UA. If it were not for the 4 flights rule, I would already have UA status this year, but I am not too worried about that as long as I have the A3 status. Redemptions on UA are good as is credit from the nasty subsidiery airlines that Lufthansa, Swiss and SAS have set up to avoid crediting other Star schemes. UA has special agreements to get credit from Eurowings, Edelweiss etc.

So, I would recommend you start crediting to A3 while still using your TP*G for lounge access until you have A3 status. Flights that don't give good value to A3, credit to UA. You will then have the option for redemptions as both these programs have different sweet spots.

Times are currently good for airlines and these constant devaluations will help them all the while cabins are full but the next downturn is always just around the corner and they should well remember that you reap what you sow.

justatourist

Yes, there was a huge increase in the required miles, especially for the upgrades. The upgrades to Business now require a ridiculous amount of miles.

This is nothing more than a dirty tactic by TAP. They are receiving brand new long haul planes, with a brand new business class, and getting rid of the old planes with the old and terrible business class, so they don't want the huge amounts of people that have a significant amount of miles with them to occupy their new business class, they want it for the wealthy Americans, Brazilians and other connecting passengers.

milfweed20

milfweed20

Palal

A3 award bookings can now be done online, though in some cases you still have to call in (see the thread in the A3 forum).

No credit card outside of greece that you can use.

TP is getting worse and worse by the minute. I usually avoid them now (but couldn't this SUN for a TATL). For you, living in TER it's doubly hard.