How to change or cancel a TAP award

What can you change on a TAP Miles&Go award ticket?

TAP's program terms split award tickets into two groups, those flown on TAP Air Portugal and those on the Star Alliance network and other partner airlines, and the change rules are written separately for each. [1]

On TAP-operated awards, the terms say that after the award ticket has been issued it is not possible to change the itinerary of the original booking. [1] A change of date or flight number, meaning a change of travel time rather than of route, is allowed. [1] The structure of the ticket limits what a rebooking can look like: a round trip can carry at most four segments and a one-way at most two. [1]

On Star Alliance and other partner awards, the terms allow the date and time of flights to be changed once the ticket has been issued, but again no itinerary changes are allowed. [1] Around-the-world awards follow the same logic: schedules can be changed, but the route has to stay as ticketed. [1]

What does it cost to change a TAP award?

A date or flight change on a TAP-operated award does not put miles back into the account: the original mileage amount is maintained, and miles are debited only when the new date or flight sits in a higher fare or cabin. [1] The amount to be paid is the difference between the original ticket price in miles, already paid, and the price attached to the date or flight requested, and TAP presents it before the ticket is re-issued. [1]

For Star Alliance and other partner awards, a change of date and time is made on payment of an administrative fee and depends on award seats being open for the new date. [1] Where the terms allow an award ticket or benefit to be replaced, extended or otherwise altered, TAP may apply a processing fee that the customer bears. [1]

Missed flights carry their own charge: a supplementary fee applies for ticket processing after a no-show boarding, and TAP publishes the amount separately. [1] Airport, carrier surcharge, security and credit card fees on an award are the customer's responsibility. [1]

Can you cancel a TAP award ticket and get the miles back?

The starting point is restrictive: award tickets and the benefits attached to them may not be transferred, replaced, extended, changed or refunded unless the individual booking provision, the program terms or the applicable conditions of carriage say otherwise. [1]

The refund route the program terms describe explicitly is tied to a failed rebooking on a partner award: if no award seat is available for the new date within the ticket's validity, the customer can instead take a refund of the valid miles, again on payment of an administrative fee. [1] Once flying has begun on an around-the-world award, neither full nor partial refunds of segments are permitted. [1]

Account-level rules also decide what can come back. Miles are debited from the Miles&Go account at the moment of ticketing, so the state of that account governs the ticket. [1] Flights in award bookings can only be changed while the Miles&Go account is active. [1] If the account itself is deleted, the holder loses all earned miles and anything bought with them, and later replacement is not possible. [1]

How long do you have to make a change to a TAP award?

An award ticket expires one year after the date of issuance, except promotional awards, which are valid only during the promotion period. [1] TAP's own example shows how that interacts with a change: a ticket issued on 31 January 2025 is valid until 30 January 2026, so flights under a change requested on 4 March 2025 still have to be completed by 30 January 2026. [1] For promotional awards, the rules are published on the TAP website before and during the online booking process, or are available from TAP Miles&Go Customer Service. [1]

Two timing limits sit outside the one-year rule. An award on a partner airline that is not for the account holder can only be issued, and later changed, at least seven days before the travel date. [1] Around-the-world awards are valid for twelve months from issue, and the last flight has to begin on or before the final day of that validity. [1]

Exceptions and limits

• Cabin moves. An award ticket issued for Business cannot be altered to Economy. [1]
• Miles that have expired. If the miles used for ticketing have expired by the time of rebooking, only the miles that are valid at that point are used, and the account holder has to cover the mileage difference. [1] Miles are valid for three years from the date of the activity, some bonus miles for one year, and tracking the expiry date is the customer's responsibility. [1]
• Status-priced awards. TAP Miles&Go Gold and Navigator members get a special price on awards flown by TAP, but only on new tickets issued on or after 28 July 2026; changes to awards issued before that date follow the conditions of the original booking, may require miles and/or fees, and return no miles when the change comes to a lower amount. [1] If the booking is changed after the member has lost Gold or Navigator status, the mileage amount for members without that status applies. [1]
• Seat availability. TAP does not guarantee award seats for the date you want to move to, and without award seats the rebooking cannot happen. [1]
• Which text governs. The terms were written in Portuguese and translated into other languages; only the Portuguese version is binding. [1] [2]

Frequently asked questions

Can you change the date on a TAP Miles&Go award?

Yes. The date or flight number of an award ticket can be changed on both TAP-operated and partner awards, while the itinerary itself cannot be changed after issue. [1]

Do you get miles back when you change a TAP award?

No miles are refunded on a date or flight change; the original mileage amount is kept and extra miles are charged only if the new date is a higher fare or cabin. [1]

Is there a fee to change a TAP award?

Partner award changes carry an administrative fee, TAP may apply a processing fee where the terms allow an alteration, and a supplementary fee applies after a no-show boarding. [1] TAP publishes the amounts separately. [1]

Can you cancel a TAP award ticket and get the miles back?

Award tickets are not refunded unless the booking conditions or program terms say so; the explicit refund route in the terms is a partner award with no award seat available for a new date, where valid miles are returned after an administrative fee. [1]

How long is a TAP award ticket valid after a change?

The ticket keeps its original one-year validity from issue, and the changed flights have to be completed by that date. [1]

Related pages

To plan the redemption itself, see how to book TAP Miles&Go awards. For status pricing and Gold benefits, see TAP Miles&Go status, and for paid cabin moves on ticketed bookings see upgrading a TAP flight with miles. Definitions of the underlying terms are in the frequent flyer glossary.

Sources

Sources checked on 21 October 2026. This page reports no account test. Other programs, including Lufthansa Miles & More, United MileagePlus, Air France-KLM Flying Blue and The British Airways Club, are not covered here.

1. TAP Miles&Go Programme terms and conditions (English), checked 21 October 2026
2. Termos e Condições do Programa TAP Miles&Go (Portuguese, binding version), checked 5 October 2026