My least favourite flag carrier in Europe is offering a status match for those holding status with a number of different airline frequent flyer programmes. The real advantage to this is if you’re matched to Gold, you’ll also be entitled to Star Alliance Gold benefits whenever you fly with a member airline.

The TAP status match isn’t free as such, instead you’ll need to spend a minimum of €70 to buy at least 2,000 Miles&Go points. This said, if you have plans to use a Star Alliance airline over the next 12 months in economy, it could be worth the cost. We’ve previously written about the benefits of airline alliances here.

The list of airline frequent flyer programmes eligible for a match is fairly extensive. It includes AA, Air Europa, Etihad, BA, Air France/KLM, Iberia, Delta and Emirates. You can check which level you’d be matched to based on your current frequent flyer status before applying. If it happens to be that you’d only be matched to Silver, there is very little reason to bother with this match. This is because you won’t gain benefits such as lounge access.

Conditions

In order to be eligible you must have opened your TAP Miles&Go account after the 1st January 2020. You must also never have benefited from a status match with the company before. There appears to be no closing date for the offer on TAP’s website. This means it’s anyone’s guess when this promotion will end.

TAP states that any status acquired will be valid for at least 12 months. You’ll also be able to re-qualify for status at a reduced threshold:

  • 25,000 Status Miles and 4 flights with TAP Air Portugal for Gold.
  • 10,000 Status Miles and 2 flights with TAP Air Portugal for Silver

This is an interesting offer and does have some potential advantages.Β  However, since it does require some expense on your side (albeit fairly minimal) you’d need to consider to what extent you’d be able to benefit before committing.

It’s also important you’re aware that the benefits when travelling in economy with TAP itself can be minimal. Even for their Gold members, TAP has no lounge provision at major airports such as Madrid and Barcelona. You’ll only be able to gain access if you’re flying in Business.

As ever, we also don’t know to what extent travel and flying will normalise over the next 12 months. As a general rule though, status matches, or cheap challenges such as this, are usually worth considering.

You can find more information and sign-up on TAP’s website.