Smiles, the
miles program
of the Brazilian airline Gol, has become a great tool when looking for cheaper tickets, as stated by its users on social networks.
But the Smiles world can be a bit tricky at first.
Therefore, we leave a guide on
how to use it
and get the most out of it.
1. How it works and how much it costs
To use it, you have to
subscribe
.
You can choose between the
free
option or joining
Club Smiles
, a subscription that guarantees you earn a certain number of miles every 30 days, and at the same time gives you access to special rates and offers.
Plane of the Brazilian airline Gol.
There are 7 different plans.
The cheapest costs
$2,200
and earns 1,000 miles, an intermediate one costs $7,500 per month and gives 5,000 miles.
The most expensive costs
$23,500
for 20,000 miles.
These miles, which are by subscription, have a duration of 10 years.
2. How to earn miles
Apart from the ones mentioned above, one can accumulate in different ways.
This is the interface of the Smiles page.
One of the options is
to buy them
.
As explained by Sebastián Mariano García, @chicodlasmillas on Twitter and chicodelasmillas on Instagram -an expert on this topic-, the base value of the mile is
$4.4
but there are generally bonus promotions, so they end up cheaper.
For example, if there is a 280% bonus, if you buy 1,000 miles, you pay $4,400, but you receive 3,800 and the mile is, in this case, $1.16.
Another way to accumulate is with
discount vouchers
.
If they give a voucher with a 74% discount, the mile remains at $1.14.
You can also earn miles thanks to the
referral program
, Smiles gives miles for inviting people either to register or subscribe, or
by giving miles
from one account to another.
The maximum gift limit is 120,000 and miles cannot be self-gifted.
3. Key functions
Smiles has the
Easy Trip
option , a function that allows you to book a flight up to 11 months before traveling and issue tickets up to 60 days before departure.
When reserving, only the value of the service and fees and taxes are paid and the
price of the ticket is frozen
.
In addition, it can be canceled if a better option is found or an inconvenience arises.
In that case, the fees and taxes of the ticket that had been paid are returned.
Currently the cost of this service is
$6,000
($5,000 for clients subscribed to Club Smiles).
When confirming the ticket reservation, 1,000 bonus miles are given and for Club Smiles members, 2,000 bonus miles.
Viaje Fácil allows you to freeze the price of the ticket.
The Easy Trip function allows you to buy the ticket in
installments
in a non-traditional way, since it is not necessary to have all the miles to make the reservation and you can accumulate every month, while the seat is already reserved.
Another function to emphasize is that the ticket can be purchased entirely with miles or with miles and pesos.
4. How much are the tickets
Although prices vary, Smiles has published flights to Miami for 49,600 miles each way.
If it is taken into account that the mile was purchased at $1.16 and approximately $28,000 in fees are added, the flight costs
$85,536
per leg.
Aerial view of the beaches of Miami Beach.
Photo Chandan Khanna / AFP.
Another example is a flight to Los Angeles for 85,600 miles (exclusively for Club Smiles customers), which, with taxes, would be
$127,296
per leg.
Smiles customers can find the flight at 97,500 miles, plus fees and taxes per leg.
5. How to find the best promotions
Although it is not an official channel and Smiles is not responsible for the information that is shared, users recommend joining the Smiles
Telegram chat
: you must put where you want to travel, where you are leaving from and on what date you want to travel and the bot responds with the lowest prices.
On the other hand, García on his Twitter account (
@chicodlasmillas
) always shares the promotions that catch his attention.
Of course, to get good promotions, it is key to have
flexible
dates.
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