TAP Air Portugal launches good Americas sale

TAP Air Portugal has launched a new sale. Whilst the example fares shown on the website are only for Economy, there are some good Business Class deals out there.

Importantly, all of these offers are available for UK departures from either:

• London Heathrow
• London Gatwick or
• Manchester

….. so you don’t need to start your trip outside the UK to get a good deal. Of course, if you are willing to head to Dublin, Amsterdam etc then you will save even more.

You need to book by 2nd October for travel by June 2023. There are blackout periods over Christmas and Easter and minimum stay periods apply. You can have a free stopover in Lisbon if you want – this can be selected during the booking process.

The best deals are:

• Sao Paulo
• Rio de Janeiro
• Boston
• Cancun

…. all of which can be found for around £1,300 return.

If you start outside the UK you may find similar deals to other major US cities and Canada.

The fares direct from Lisbon are pretty decent and cover more cities than the UK sale. If you want a deal to – say – Miami then getting a standalone flight to Lisbon to pick up your TAP flight would work. Remember, however, that unless you book the connection on TAP you won’t be able to check through luggage and will have little protection if your inbound flight is delayed.

What can you do with the miles you earn?

TAP is part of Star Alliance. You cannot credit your flights to British Airways Executive Club or Virgin Atlantic, neither of whom are in Star Alliance.  However, you can credit the miles to Lufthansa Miles & More or any other Star Alliance frequent flyer programme.

Our core article on ‘what is best Star Alliance frequent flyer scheme for you?’ is here.

How to pay

For UK departures, your best option to maximise your miles when paying is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold.  This offers double Membership Rewards points – 2 per £1 – when you when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.  Our review of Amex Gold is here.

For non-UK departures, you should use a card without any foreign exchange fees irrespective of its miles-earning potential.

Remember that you need to book by 2nd October. You can find details on the TAP website here.