Air tickets usually take a good part of the expense on vacations, especially if you travel abroad. To alleviate it, an effective tactic is to take advantage throughout the year of the possibility that all our daily expenses, little by little, generate miles.
Through loyalty programs and alliances with airlines and travel agencies, there are several banks that today allow their customers to earn points with each use of credit cards and even debit cards.
The more you pay with them during the month, the more points will be collected. And then, when you reach the necessary amount, they can be exchanged for the desired tickets. Or at least for a good discount when it comes to acquiring them.
In this way, for example, each supermarket purchase, each load of gasoline or the monthly payment of electricity and gas bills begin to help make the next trips cheaper (if they are paid with the indicated plastics).
Numerous banks, in particular, allow them to load miles on Aerolíneas Plus or Smiles, the mileage programs most widespread today locally (after the country's departure from LATAM). But other proposals have also been added recently. Below, in detail, what each entity offers now and how to take advantage of it.
Miles can be used to travel around the country and anywhere on the planet. Photo: Shutterstock.
Airlines Plus Miles: which banks allow you to add them
Aerolineas Plus is the mileage program of Aerolineas Argentinas. Those who register -for free- can collect miles to exchange for tickets of that company, of all those that make up the SkyTeam alliance and of other partners.
The banks and cards that currently allow you to earn Aerolíneas Plus miles are:
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Macro. Redeeming points from the Macro Premia program, which are generated with each credit card consumption.
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Santander. Redeeming Superclub+ points, which are earned by using plastics and other bank services.
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Nation. Adhering to Aerolíneas Plus Native credit cards, whether Mastercard or Visa.
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Mortgage. It adds the miles as the customer makes consumptions with their credit cards.
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Credicoop. Adhering to the benefit Cabal, Visa and MasterCard credit cards.
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American Express. Redeeming Membership Rewards points and also spending with The Platinum Airlines Plus card.
The flag line has agreements in place with several banks. Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi.
Smiles Miles: which banks allow them to be added
Smiles is the mileage program of Gol, Brazil's largest airline. It arrived in Argentina in 2019 and since then had a rapid advance, enhanced by the multiple alliances it managed to sign with the main banks.
Smiles Miles allow those who register – for free – to get tickets for free or with more convenient fares on more than 50 airlines around the world, including Aerolineas Argentinas, to more than 1,200 destinations.
Among the banks and cards that allow you to add these miles today are:
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Province. Using Mesumo points, which are earned when shopping with Bapro credit and debit cards.
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Santander. By redeeming Superclub+ points.
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Galicia. Redeeming the points accumulated in Quiero!.
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Comafi. Changing the Tevabien Suma points, which are earned using credit and debit cards.
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Patagonia. Through the Club Patagonia program.
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Itaú. Changing the Iupp points, which are acquired when using the credit and debit cards of that bank.
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Ualá. Redeeming points from the Ualá+ benefits program, which also gives access to AAdvantage (American Airlines) miles.
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American Express. With Membership Rewards points.
Smiles, by Gol, allows you to redeem miles for tickets from more than 50 airlines. Photo: Reuters.
The "Despegar Passport" points and the card that allows you to add them daily
"Passport", Despegar's rewards program, allows those who have registered to accumulate points – in addition to miles – with each purchase made at that agency. And then convert them into airfare, hotel nights, packages and other services.
In this case, so that the user's points also grow as they make their daily purchases, the key is to use the new Despegar ICBC Card, emerged from an alliance between the company, the Chinese bank and Mastercard.
This credit plastic, which is delivered with up to 20,000 gift points and subsidized costs for one year, also allows special discounts in Despegar. And it credits, depending on the category, between 1.5 and 2 Passport Points for every dollar spent on any business.
Other outstanding programs from banks to accumulate points and fly for free
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City Bank. Every time they use their credit cards, the bank's customers earn Megusta points and can redeem them online for flights to the main destinations, both national and international.
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Macro. In addition to Aerolíneas Plus miles, Macro Premia points redemptions now allow access to flights, packages and other Despegar proposals, as well as savings of up to 50% in Tourism.
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Galicia. From June 30, customers will stop accumulating Quiero! points, but they will still be able to redeem those they have for Smiles and Avios miles (from Iberia), as well as in Avantrip. From now on the entity will concentrate its benefits to travel on a new platform launched in partnership with the Almundo agency.
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BBVA. In the new BBVA Points program, all credit card purchases earn points redeemable for flights and other tourist services on a special platform "powered by Despegar".
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Comafi. In addition to miles on Smiles, customers can also purchase flights and hotels from the Atrápalo portal by redeeming points.
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HSBC. Each consumption with the bank's credit cards adds Rewards Points, redeemable for air tickets to hundreds of destinations and hotel nights.
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Itaú. In addition to miles on Smiles, customers can also purchase – redeeming points – Atrápalo flights and hotels.
By "squeezing" banks' rewards programs, travel can become more accessible. Photo: Shutterstock.
How to Make the Most of Mileage Programs: The 4 Key Tips
-Add in multiple ways. Register in several mileage programs at the same time and take advantage of all possible chances of obtaining miles by using current consumption with a card and in participating stores.
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Be alert to offers. From time to time there are opportunities to buy discounted miles, make points from banking programs perform better or issue tickets at a lower price in miles. Keeping an eye on these developments helps to save.
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When flying, load the miles. During the purchase of each ticket or afterwards, do not forget to link the ticket to the mileage program membership number. Otherwise, the miles generated may be lost.
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Schedule deadlines. In most programs, points and miles have a validity period. Sometimes there are also ways to extend its duration, making new purchases. Studying the "fine print" of each plan and keeping track of the deadlines is key to not losing what has been achieved and getting faster to the dream passage.
MDG
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