TAM Fidelidade members, help me please!
Nov 26, 2015, 5:21 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2015
Programs: KLM FB Gold
Posts: 49
TAM Fidelidade members, help me please!
Before I throw away my BAEC Silver card and join TAM Fidelidade, I need to know that I am doing the right thing...
I joined British Airways executive club last year about 3 months before they made major changes to their avios and tier earnings criteria's. For those of you already a member of BAEC you already know what changes I am talking about that took place after April 1st 2015. I am currently a Silver member and fly mostly economy/economy plus, 7-8 times a year with TAM or BA to/from Europe/Brazil. With BA maintaining Silver or Saphire status is easy, however the jump from Silver to Gold is 900 TP's!!! This year I managed 1150 TP's flying 9 times with BA, TAM and American Airlines.
I've recently been studying TAM Fidelidades program and to my surprise, it seems I would have been a OW Emerald or Vermelho Plus member already had I joined TAM instead of BAEC. On TAM's own website it claims you need 100k points to aquire Vermelho Plus status. On their earnings table, it seems that you earn fixed points for every leg flown, 1000 points domestic + 6000 points to Europe on economy class. So a return trip to Fortaleza via Sao Paulo would earn me 14000 points return flight, correct? If I fly 8 times a year to Brazil I would then earn 112000 points and I would earn my Vermelho Plus/Emerald status, right?
It seems like a no brainer, with BA I'm 350 TP's away from Emerald status and with Fidelidade I'll be 12000 points OVER the threshold for Emerald with roughly the same flying pattern.
Can any existing TAM Fidelidade members please confirm my calculations before I sign up. Also, with Vermelho plus, you get a complimentary upgrade to business class based on availability. Can anybody confirm if this is actually the case? How likely is an upgrade to business class with this status?
Lot's of questions I know, however I'd appreciate any feedback.
Thanks and happy flying!
Andreas B.
I joined British Airways executive club last year about 3 months before they made major changes to their avios and tier earnings criteria's. For those of you already a member of BAEC you already know what changes I am talking about that took place after April 1st 2015. I am currently a Silver member and fly mostly economy/economy plus, 7-8 times a year with TAM or BA to/from Europe/Brazil. With BA maintaining Silver or Saphire status is easy, however the jump from Silver to Gold is 900 TP's!!! This year I managed 1150 TP's flying 9 times with BA, TAM and American Airlines.
I've recently been studying TAM Fidelidades program and to my surprise, it seems I would have been a OW Emerald or Vermelho Plus member already had I joined TAM instead of BAEC. On TAM's own website it claims you need 100k points to aquire Vermelho Plus status. On their earnings table, it seems that you earn fixed points for every leg flown, 1000 points domestic + 6000 points to Europe on economy class. So a return trip to Fortaleza via Sao Paulo would earn me 14000 points return flight, correct? If I fly 8 times a year to Brazil I would then earn 112000 points and I would earn my Vermelho Plus/Emerald status, right?
It seems like a no brainer, with BA I'm 350 TP's away from Emerald status and with Fidelidade I'll be 12000 points OVER the threshold for Emerald with roughly the same flying pattern.
Can any existing TAM Fidelidade members please confirm my calculations before I sign up. Also, with Vermelho plus, you get a complimentary upgrade to business class based on availability. Can anybody confirm if this is actually the case? How likely is an upgrade to business class with this status?
Lot's of questions I know, however I'd appreciate any feedback.
Thanks and happy flying!
Andreas B.
Nov 27, 2015, 3:25 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: GIG
Programs: JJ OW Emerald, TK*G, O6*G, Smiles Diamond, IC Amb, Le Club Platinum, former LH SEN (miss it!)
Posts: 291
Before I throw away my BAEC Silver card and join TAM Fidelidade, I need to know that I am doing the right thing...
I joined British Airways executive club last year about 3 months before they made major changes to their avios and tier earnings criteria's. For those of you already a member of BAEC you already know what changes I am talking about that took place after April 1st 2015. I am currently a Silver member and fly mostly economy/economy plus, 7-8 times a year with TAM or BA to/from Europe/Brazil. With BA maintaining Silver or Saphire status is easy, however the jump from Silver to Gold is 900 TP's!!! This year I managed 1150 TP's flying 9 times with BA, TAM and American Airlines.
I've recently been studying TAM Fidelidades program and to my surprise, it seems I would have been a OW Emerald or Vermelho Plus member already had I joined TAM instead of BAEC. On TAM's own website it claims you need 100k points to aquire Vermelho Plus status. On their earnings table, it seems that you earn fixed points for every leg flown, 1000 points domestic + 6000 points to Europe on economy class. So a return trip to Fortaleza via Sao Paulo would earn me 14000 points return flight, correct? If I fly 8 times a year to Brazil I would then earn 112000 points and I would earn my Vermelho Plus/Emerald status, right?
It seems like a no brainer, with BA I'm 350 TP's away from Emerald status and with Fidelidade I'll be 12000 points OVER the threshold for Emerald with roughly the same flying pattern.
Can any existing TAM Fidelidade members please confirm my calculations before I sign up. Also, with Vermelho plus, you get a complimentary upgrade to business class based on availability. Can anybody confirm if this is actually the case? How likely is an upgrade to business class with this status?
Lot's of questions I know, however I'd appreciate any feedback.
Thanks and happy flying!
Andreas B.
I joined British Airways executive club last year about 3 months before they made major changes to their avios and tier earnings criteria's. For those of you already a member of BAEC you already know what changes I am talking about that took place after April 1st 2015. I am currently a Silver member and fly mostly economy/economy plus, 7-8 times a year with TAM or BA to/from Europe/Brazil. With BA maintaining Silver or Saphire status is easy, however the jump from Silver to Gold is 900 TP's!!! This year I managed 1150 TP's flying 9 times with BA, TAM and American Airlines.
I've recently been studying TAM Fidelidades program and to my surprise, it seems I would have been a OW Emerald or Vermelho Plus member already had I joined TAM instead of BAEC. On TAM's own website it claims you need 100k points to aquire Vermelho Plus status. On their earnings table, it seems that you earn fixed points for every leg flown, 1000 points domestic + 6000 points to Europe on economy class. So a return trip to Fortaleza via Sao Paulo would earn me 14000 points return flight, correct? If I fly 8 times a year to Brazil I would then earn 112000 points and I would earn my Vermelho Plus/Emerald status, right?
It seems like a no brainer, with BA I'm 350 TP's away from Emerald status and with Fidelidade I'll be 12000 points OVER the threshold for Emerald with roughly the same flying pattern.
Can any existing TAM Fidelidade members please confirm my calculations before I sign up. Also, with Vermelho plus, you get a complimentary upgrade to business class based on availability. Can anybody confirm if this is actually the case? How likely is an upgrade to business class with this status?
Lot's of questions I know, however I'd appreciate any feedback.
Thanks and happy flying!
Andreas B.
First of all, there will be huge changes in the program from april/16. I tried to find this link in english, but it seems they still didn't translate it into other languages. Anyway:
www.tam.com.br/tudoparareconhecervoce
Your calculations for FORTALEZA - SAO PAULO - LONDON are not accurate too. Per actual rules, there is a fixed amount of points i.e. from South America to Europe (6.000 per leg in Y) no matter how many connetions you make anywhere (GIG LHR in Y = 6.000 points, FOR GIG LHR MAN in Y = 6.000 points too).
By the new rules points will be accrued based on distance and a calculation over the fares paid. Connections will be calculated and considered for milage accrual, what is very positive.
There is no explanation yet about the milage accrual on partners. I'd guess they will be based on distance plus class of service.
A key point to be aware are the redemption rates. Tam charges reasonable values for redemptions in Y on partners and can have good promotions for their own metal from time to time also in Y, but they are utterly expensive for premium cabins. A F leg on BA from LHR to GRU costs 200.000 points.
As per upgrades for Vermelho Plus and Blacks, they are quite easy today from GRU, mostly on JJ 77W that has 54 business seats. Tam's 767 and the new 350, on the other hand, only have 30 business class seats, so I'd expect upgrades to turn a bit more hard for Vermelho Plus in the long term.
Please let me know if you have other questions.
Alex
Nov 30, 2015, 2:53 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2015
Programs: KLM FB Gold
Posts: 49
Hi Alex and thank you for your answer. That was exactly the reason that I asked because their program is a bit confusing in regards to calculating the exact points accured per flight/ticket. I find it odd that you will only accure 6000 points regardless if you start in Fortaleza or Sao Paulo, however when I do a search on a ticket from Fortaleza to Norway via GRU and LHR you are 100% correct that I will only accure 6000 points on their cheapest ACCESS fare. In this case I would be on the very limit of accuring 100k points/year. However, I frequently find cheaper fares with TAM, even with their FLEX fares compared to BA, and with these fares I earn even more points according to their site. Last I searched, I would earn 7500 miles on a FLEX fare from Fortaleza to Norway. So, it might still pay off to change.
I wasn't able to open up your link provided. I just arrive in an empty page on TAM's website. I'll certainly wait and do some research about their changes on the 16th of April just to be sure. Service wise BA beats TAM out of their socks, however TAM wins on travel/connection time and price and on redemption fares in Y class for sure. No fuel surcharge either which is great.
Currently I'm praying that Fortaleza will win the position for the newly announced HUB for LATAM in the northeast of Brazil. In this case I'll switch anyways since I'll be flying with TAM 90% of the time anyhow.
Thank again for the help!
Andreas B.
I wasn't able to open up your link provided. I just arrive in an empty page on TAM's website. I'll certainly wait and do some research about their changes on the 16th of April just to be sure. Service wise BA beats TAM out of their socks, however TAM wins on travel/connection time and price and on redemption fares in Y class for sure. No fuel surcharge either which is great.
Currently I'm praying that Fortaleza will win the position for the newly announced HUB for LATAM in the northeast of Brazil. In this case I'll switch anyways since I'll be flying with TAM 90% of the time anyhow.
Thank again for the help!
Andreas B.
Dec 1, 2015, 4:29 am
#4
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: GIG
Programs: JJ OW Emerald, TK*G, O6*G, Smiles Diamond, IC Amb, Le Club Platinum, former LH SEN (miss it!)
Posts: 291
Hi Alex and thank you for your answer. That was exactly the reason that I asked because their program is a bit confusing in regards to calculating the exact points accured per flight/ticket. I find it odd that you will only accure 6000 points regardless if you start in Fortaleza or Sao Paulo, however when I do a search on a ticket from Fortaleza to Norway via GRU and LHR you are 100% correct that I will only accure 6000 points on their cheapest ACCESS fare. In this case I would be on the very limit of accuring 100k points/year. However, I frequently find cheaper fares with TAM, even with their FLEX fares compared to BA, and with these fares I earn even more points according to their site. Last I searched, I would earn 7500 miles on a FLEX fare from Fortaleza to Norway. So, it might still pay off to change.
I wasn't able to open up your link provided. I just arrive in an empty page on TAM's website. I'll certainly wait and do some research about their changes on the 16th of April just to be sure. Service wise BA beats TAM out of their socks, however TAM wins on travel/connection time and price and on redemption fares in Y class for sure. No fuel surcharge either which is great.
Currently I'm praying that Fortaleza will win the position for the newly announced HUB for LATAM in the northeast of Brazil. In this case I'll switch anyways since I'll be flying with TAM 90% of the time anyhow.
Thank again for the help!
Andreas B.
I wasn't able to open up your link provided. I just arrive in an empty page on TAM's website. I'll certainly wait and do some research about their changes on the 16th of April just to be sure. Service wise BA beats TAM out of their socks, however TAM wins on travel/connection time and price and on redemption fares in Y class for sure. No fuel surcharge either which is great.
Currently I'm praying that Fortaleza will win the position for the newly announced HUB for LATAM in the northeast of Brazil. In this case I'll switch anyways since I'll be flying with TAM 90% of the time anyhow.
Thank again for the help!
Andreas B.
http://passageirodeprimeira.com/tam-...cas-para-2016/
It seems Tam will have different rules for accrual on ACCESS and other fares also depending on your current location (100% miles accrual is valid for Brazilian address Tam Fidelidade's account only).
Account's location might also change (for better in most cases) the requirements for status.
As per the new HUB in FOR, I doubt this will come soon. Brazil is really struggling now and we expect it to keep like this for at least more one year now.
Not an easy decision! Good luck!
Alex
Dec 1, 2015, 8:05 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2015
Programs: KLM FB Gold
Posts: 49
Thanks again for the info Alex. After reading the blog, it doesn't seem like bad news. I'm a brazilian resident, so I will earn 100% points even on an ACCESS fare. The only difference here is national/domestic flights that are calculated solely on how much you spend.
For example if I buy a round trip Fortaleza - Sao Paulo for 500 reais I will earn 500 reais x 2 (multiplier for basic fare) = 1000 points. For flex fare it would be 500 reais x 3 (multiplier for flex fare) = 1500 points. And so on...
International flights are as before, however the only difference that I can see are the segments. Previously you'd get only 2 segments if you flew a return trip on a ticket from Fortaleza via GRU to London. Now you'll get 4 segments on a return trip. This won't help me anyways as I'll never manage 100 segments in a year with TAM alone.
According to the blog I will earn 6000 points minimum regardless of the fare when traveling to Europe, so this will give me 12000 points on every round trip. I think it might still be worth the change.
Regarding the new HUB for TAM, I'm pretty sure TAM wants this HUB to be in operation as soon as possible. With smaller more fuel efficient planes making a shorter flight and better connections, I think this will save TAM money in the long run. Also, TAP needs some serious competition soon! Their planes are always full and the fares are redicilous!!
Thanks again for the help
For example if I buy a round trip Fortaleza - Sao Paulo for 500 reais I will earn 500 reais x 2 (multiplier for basic fare) = 1000 points. For flex fare it would be 500 reais x 3 (multiplier for flex fare) = 1500 points. And so on...
International flights are as before, however the only difference that I can see are the segments. Previously you'd get only 2 segments if you flew a return trip on a ticket from Fortaleza via GRU to London. Now you'll get 4 segments on a return trip. This won't help me anyways as I'll never manage 100 segments in a year with TAM alone.
According to the blog I will earn 6000 points minimum regardless of the fare when traveling to Europe, so this will give me 12000 points on every round trip. I think it might still be worth the change.
Regarding the new HUB for TAM, I'm pretty sure TAM wants this HUB to be in operation as soon as possible. With smaller more fuel efficient planes making a shorter flight and better connections, I think this will save TAM money in the long run. Also, TAP needs some serious competition soon! Their planes are always full and the fares are redicilous!!
Thanks again for the help