Which alliance is GOL Airlines in?

GOL Airlines is not in an airline alliance. Instead, it has partnerships with many individual airlines, such as Emirates and Delta Air Lines.

Is GOL part of SkyTeam?

GOL is not a SkyTeam alliance member. It, however, is airline partners with many SkyTeam airlines, such as Delta, Air France, and KLM.

Is GOL a Delta partner?

GOL is partners with Delta Air Lines. Their partnership is very closely tied, as they offer codeshare flights, reciprocal mileage earning programs, and the ability to redeem miles for flights on the other airline.

What are Smiles miles?

GOL is a low-cost airline headquartered in Brazil. It has a frequent flyer program called Smiles. You can earn Smiles miles through a variety of spending activities, travel bookings, and partner activity. You can redeem miles for free flights, among many other things.

Which credit cards earn Smiles miles?

There are no credit cards in the U.S. that earn Smiles miles. There are also no credit cards in the U.S. that can transfer to Smiles. There are tons of foreign-issued credit cards and banks that offer the ability to earn Smiles miles directly and indirectly (through transfer partners). Refer to the information in this guide to learn more about all the foreign transfer partners.

What are Smiles miles worth?

Smiles miles are generally worth anywhere from 0.7 to 2.5 cents per point, depending on the exact redemption you’re making.

How do I transfer Smiles miles to a spouse?

You can transfer Smiles miles online. The transferred miles are valid for 12 months. You can transfer up to 40,000 miles every 12 months or 80,000 miles every 12 months if you’re a Diamond member.

Who are GOL's partners?

GOL has tons of airline partners. However, it’s not always possible to redeem and earn miles with these partners. Some of these airlines might simply offer codeshare revenue flights.

When do Smiles miles post in your account?

Smiles miles may take anywhere from 2 hours to 45 business days to post into your account, depending on the exact accrual activity you have.

Are Smiles miles refundable?

Yes. According to the “Cancellation of Mileage Reservations” section of GOL’s Optional Service Fees page, you will pay anywhere from R$80 to R$100 (~$40 to $50) to cancel an award reservation and credit the miles. Expired miles do not get re-credited back to the account.

When do Smiles miles expire?

Smiles miles expire after 36 months for ordinary Smiles members. If you’re a Diamond category member, you’ll have an extremely generous expiration policy of 20 years. Transferred miles from 1 account to another do not count towards this. Instead, they’ll expire after 12 months.

16 Best Ways To Earn Lots of GOL Smiles Miles [2023]

GOL, which is short for GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, is a low-cost carrier based in Brazil. GOL is known for offering dirt-cheap fares, even on point-to-point routes within the Western Hemisphere.

Without a doubt, GOL is one of the essential airlines in South America, capturing a whopping 35.7% of domestic and 9.6% of international market share in Brazil, according to the most recent statistics.

GOL’s frequent flyer program is called Smiles, and its frequent flyer miles are called Smiles miles. GOL has opted to strike up individual partnerships with various airlines instead of joining an established airline alliance like Star Alliance or Oneworld.

Let’s look into all the different ways you can earn Smiles miles quickly.

Sign up for a Smiles Account

Smiles is an independent entity that administers and operates GOL’s frequent flyer program. As a result, you will need to visit the Smiles website, not the GOL website, to create a frequent flyer account.

Unfortunately, this is further complicated by the fact that Smiles’ website will be in Portuguese.

Here are the steps you can follow to sign up for Smiles:

Visit Smiles’ homepage.
From your browser, you’ll be asked to translate the page. Unless you understand Portuguese, you’ll definitely want to have Google Translate assist you.
After the page is translated, navigate to the top ribbon next to the search bar and click Sign up.
You’ll be asked to “Enter your CPF.” Click on the button that says Registration without CPF (foreigners) just above the Continue button.
You’ll be asked to provide an identification document. Select Passport and enter your passport number.
Enter your personal information and contact information and create your account.
You may be prompted to confirm your account information via email.
Write down and use your Smiles account number whenever you try to earn miles.

Earn Smiles Miles With Credit Cards

One of the easiest ways to earn Smiles miles is to leverage the right credit cards for your existing spending. That way, you don’t need to plan crazy mileage runs or other unnecessary trips just to earn some miles.

Let’s look at the cards you can use to earn GOL miles.

1. Non-U.S.-based Credit Cards

GOL credit cards — There are various tiers of Smiles credit cards. Image Credit: Smiles

Unfortunately, while GOL was previously transfer partners with Marriott Bonvoy, this is no longer the case.

There are 4 co-branded credit cards that earn Smiles miles directly:

Smiles International Visa Credit Card
Smiles Visa Gold Credit Card
Smiles Visa Infinite Credit Card
Smiles Visa Platinum Credit Card

These credit cards are open only to Brazilian residents and are administered by 1 of 3 banks: Banco do Brasil, Banco Bradesco, and Santander.

2. Other Financial Partners

Smiles has a ton of transfer partners, but none of them are accessible for U.S. residents. This includes American Express Membership Rewards, which maintains unique transfer partners depending on which country your card is issued in.

Here are all the partners:

Smiles Transfer Partner	Transfer Ratio	Smiles Transfer Partner	Transfer Ratio
Ailos Sistema de Cooperativas de Credito	1:1 (minimum transfer is 10,000 points)	C6 Bank	1:1 (minimum transfer is 1,000 points)
American Express – Brazil	1:1 (minimum transfer is 10,000 points)	Caixa Econômica Federal	1:1 (minimum transfer is 4,000 points)
Banco do Nordeste	1:1 (minimum transfer is 5,000 points)	Credicard	1:1 (minimum transfer is 1 point)
Banco PAN Mais	1-2.5:1 (minimum transfer is 15,000 miles)	Esfera	1:1 (minimum transfer is 30,000 points)
Banco Safra	1:1 (minimum transfer is 20,000 points for Visa Platinum and Mastercard Black and 30,000 for Visa Infinite)	Itau Bank	1:1 (minimum transfer is 100 points)
Banestes SA – Banco do Estado do Espirito Santo	1:1 (minimum transfer is 6,000 points)	Livelo	1:1 (minimum transfer is 10,000 points)
Banpará	1:1	Nubank	4:1
Banrisul	1:1 (minimum transfer is 5,000 points)	Sonda Supermarkets	2:1 (minimum transfer is 10,000 points)
Bradesco Cartões	1:1 (minimum transfer is 10,000 points)	Unicred Pontue Mais	1:1 (minimum transfer is 5,000 points)
BRB Card	1:1 (minimum transfer is 10,000 points)	Zaffari/Bourbon Card	1:30 (minimum transfer is 150 points)
BV	1:1 (minimum transfer is 2500 points)

Earn Miles Through Travel

There are countless different ways to earn Smiles miles from travel spending. Traveling makes up a significant portion of your overall spending, so you’re going to want to extract as much value as you possibly can.

3. Airfare and Airline Purchases

GOL Premium Economy seats — Image Credit: GOL

GOL has 3 sets of accrual structures governing GOL-operated or codeshare flights. These are split up into:

National flights (domestic)
International flights
Codeshare flights marketed by GOL but operated by select partners

GOL’s domestic flights have 4 classes as follows:

Promotional — Earns 1 mile per R$1 spent
Light — Earns 1 mile per R$1 spent
Plus — Earns 2 miles per R$1 spent
Max — Earns 3 miles per R$1 spent

For example, if you purchase a flight from Rio de Janeiro (GIG) to Brasilia (BSB) on a Max fare for $80, excluding taxes and fees, you’ll earn a total of 240 Smiles miles.

For international flights, you’ll earn based on the following structure:

Promotional — 50% of distance flown
Light — 100% of distance flown
Plus — 150% of distance flown
GOL Premium – –200% of distance flown

For example, if you purchased a Plus fare round-trip between Miami (MIA) and Brasilia (BSB), you’d earn a total of 10,797 miles, which is 150% of the total distance flown (7,198 miles).

Additionally, the minimum miles you’ll accrue are:

North America — 5,000 Smiles miles
Central America/Caribbean — 3,000 Smiles miles
South America — 1,000 Smiles miles

The last portion is codeshare flights. These are flights that are sold by GOL but are operated by other airlines, such as Air France. GOL currently has codeshare agreements with these airlines:

Aerolineas Argentinas
Air France
Copa Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Etihad Airways
KLM

Depending on your booking class, you’ll earn bonus miles for flights operated by these airlines with a GOL flight number.

4. Crediting Partner Airlines to Smiles

GOL, although not in any airline alliance, is partners with tons of different airlines. At the moment, you can earn Smiles miles when you fly on any of these airlines:

These are notably distinct from codeshare flights because GOL codeshare flights are usually more expensive than flights purchased directly from the operating carrier.

As a result, you might find discrepancies in the accrual rates for codeshare flights versus the accrual rates for flights sold directly by the operating airline.

To learn more about the accrual structure for specific fare classes on each airline, click the desired airline link above.

5. Use Elite Status To Earn More Miles

If you have Smiles elite status, you’ll be able to earn even more bonus miles. Here are the key attributes of each Smiles elite status:

Benefit	Smiles	Smiles Silver	Smiles Gold	Smiles Diamond
Bonus Miles	0%	25%	50%	100%
Expiration of Miles	6 years for miles via GOL flights, 3 years otherwise		8 years for miles via GOL flights, 4 years otherwise	20 years for miles via GOL flights, 10 years otherwise
Minimum Accrual on Domestic GOL Flights	None		500 miles	1,000 miles

Let’s take the example flight above: a round-trip ticket between Miami (MIA) and Brasilia (BSB) on a Plus fare, which earns 150% of the total distance flown.

We calculated above that the total return for base-level Smiles members would be 10,797 miles. However, if you are a Smiles Diamond member, that number would double, netting you a whopping 21,594 miles for a single flight!

There are several different benefits associated with having each elite status tier that we did not illuminate above.

6. Create a Family Account To Consolidate Miles

By combining miles for up to 6 people into 1 account (known as Conta Familia, or Family Account), you’ll be able to rack up miles up to 6 times faster than normally possible!

Keep in mind that this is only possible for Smiles Club members and Diamond elite members, so you’ll need to qualify through that threshold.

Smiles Club subscribers must have had their subscription active for 30 days before attempting to set up a family account. Once you’re ready to go, follow these steps:

Create a Family Account.
Nominate/invite up to 5 people.
Each guest must accept the invitation within 3 business days.
All miles will be transferred to the host account.

7. Make Hotel Reservations Through Smiles

Ocean Lagoon suite balcony at the Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro — Earn Smiles miles at the Grand Hyatt Rio De Janeiro. Image Credit: Chris Hassan

Smiles partnered with Booking.com to offer a hotel search engine directly on Smiles’ website.

To access bonus miles, follow these steps:

Visit Smiles hotel booking page.
Enter the destination city, dates of travel, number of rooms, number of guests, and select Pay cash and earn miles.
Click Search hotels.
After the search results are populated, select the hotel that you wish to book.
When you get to the reservation page, you’ll see the number of miles you’ll earn. It may show as “+15.000 milhas,” for example. You’ll also notice that Smiles Club members earn bonus points.
Complete the booking and the miles should be credited to your account within 45 days of completing your stay.

The accumulation rate will depend on the actual hotel, rate type, and duration of your stay.

8. Book Car Rentals Through Hertz

Smiles’ exclusive car rental partner is Hertz, known locally as Localiza Hertz. You’ll earn miles depending on the exact rental details.

Here are the steps you can follow to book your rental car and earn Smiles miles:

Visit Smiles’ car rental page.
Enter your booking information.
Make sure that the toggle button is switched to Earn miles instead of Use miles.
Click Search car.
Book your reservation and earn miles!

Hot Tip: If you find that your car rental is significantly more expensive than the cheapest available rate, it might not be worth it to book directly through Smiles. Check out our complete guide on how to save money on car rentals.

9. Earn Miles Riding With Uber

Uber Upgraded Points LLC — Purchase prepaid Uber credit to earn Smiles miles. Image Credit: Upgraded Points

Uber has become the generic trademark for rideshare services. While some airlines allow you to earn miles directly on rideshare services, such as Delta with Lyft, Smiles doesn’t have this agreement.

The way it works is:

Purchase prepaid credits on Uber while providing your Smiles number.
Activate the prepaid credits on the Uber app.
Use the prepaid credits on Uber to book rideshare services.

As you can see, there are a few more steps than it would normally take; however, it’s still a lucrative partnership, which will enable you to earn miles as follows:

Uber Credit Amount	Smiles Member	Smiles Club/Diamond Member
R$50 Uber credit	100 miles	150 miles
R$80 Uber credit	160 miles	240 miles
R$120 Uber credit	240 miles	360 miles

The best-case scenario is you’ll earn 3 miles per R$1 spent, which is equivalent to earning 13 miles per $1 spent! This is a fantastic deal, and it’s extraordinarily useful if you plan on using Uber’s rideshare services.

10. Book a Cruise

Yet another great way to top off your Smiles balance is to book cruises through the Smiles booking engine.

If you’re booking a cruise soon and want to earn Smiles miles, follow these steps:

Visit Smiles’ cruise portal.
Enter your cruise travel information.
Click Search.
The cruise results will be displayed. You’ll also see the mileage accrual amount under each cruise option.
You’ll get your miles deposited into your Smiles account up to 45 days after the completion of the cruise.

11. Add Gas at Shell

If you’re in Brazil and want to earn miles, you can even do so when filling up your gas tank. Specifically, you’ll want to fill up using the Shell Box app.

You’ll earn 1 Shell point per liter of common fuel, which can then be transferred at a 1:1 ratio. You’ll earn 2 Shell points per liter of V-Power fuel, which is equivalent to 2 miles per liter.

Follow these steps to earn miles on Shell gas:

Download the Shell Box app.
Find participating service stations through the app and pay with the app.
Earn Smiles miles.

For more information, visit the Smiles Shell Box page or the Shell Box app page.

12. Buy Tickets for Events, Attractions, and Theme Parks

Smiles has partnered with 2 key companies to offer tickets to various shows, attractions, and theme parks. These are:

Ingresso Rápido for shows and events
Seu Ingressos for attractions and parks

When you book through Ingresso Rapido, you’ll only see the mileage accrual after logging in and on the check-out page.

On the other hand, Seu Ingressos shows your mileage accrual in a user-friendly fashion, and you can see the various accrual standards while browsing for different events.

As usual, you’ll earn 50% more miles when you’re a Smiles Club or Diamond member.

13. Book Tours

Gray Line has a massive library of tour packages throughout the world. They operate tours on 6 continents in more than 700 destinations, so they are pretty much going to have any tour experience you can think of.

To get started earning miles from booking tours, follow these instructions:

Visit the Smiles Tours website.
Ensure that the slider is toggled to Earn miles.
Type in your destination and click Search.
Select and book your tour package to earn miles.

Earn Miles Through Shopping

If you’re looking to earn bonus miles by taking advantage of shopping deals or you’re just making some ordinary but necessary purchases, there are lots of ways to maximize your Smiles miles balance.

14. Shopping Smiles Partners

Smiles has an internal shopping portal called Shopping Smiles. The products offered in Shopping Smiles range from iPhones to shoes to televisions. With such a diverse offering of consumer goods, you’ll definitely have tons of opportunities to accumulate Smiles miles.

Here are all of Smiles’ shopping partners:

Hot Tip: Once you’ve got a boatload of GOL Smiles Miles, you’ll want to check out these great ways to redeem them.

Other Ways To Earn Miles

15. Join Smiles Club

Smiles Club is a monthly membership service that gives you bonus miles every month, along with discount tickets, products at Shopping Smiles, and much more. There are 6 plans available, paid in monthly or annual installments or in cash.

Plan Name (and Miles Earned per Month)	Monthly Price	Annual Installment Price	Annual Cash Price
Plan 1,000	R$42 (~$10)	R$478.80 (~$110)	R$453.60 (~$104)
Plan 2,000	R$78 (~$18)	R$889.20 (~$205)	R$842.40 (~$194)
Plan 5,000	R$162 (~$37)	R$1,846.80 (~$425)	R$1,749.60 (~$402)
Plan 7,000	R$219 (~$50)	R$2,496.60 (~$574)	R$2,365.20 (~$544)
Plan 10,000	R$299 (~$69)	R$3,408.60 (~$784)	R$3,229.20 (~$743)
Plan 20,000	N/A	R$9,336 (~$2147)	R$8,845 (~$2034)

When you join Smiles Club, you’ll pay as little as 0.69 to 0.92 cents per mile, depending on which plan you subscribe to. Plan 20,000 is one of the most expensive on a per-mile basis because you also get Smiles Diamond status when you subscribe to Plan 20,000. So, you’re getting extra benefits in addition to the miles.

The most cost-effective way to subscribe is to opt for Plan 10,000 and pay monthly. That way, you’ll get miles for 0.69 cents per mile.

In addition to the miles you get, the validity period is extended to 10 years. There are several other benefits you’ll reap.

16. Buy Miles

One other way to earn lots of Smiles miles is to buy miles directly — generally a bad idea because the purchase price is R$0.07 (~1.6 cents) per mile. You can buy anywhere between 1,000 to 40,000 miles per transaction with a yearly maximum of 40,000 miles per year.

Once the miles are purchased, they will be made available to your Smiles account within 3 business days after the payment. Furthermore, purchased Smiles miles are valid for 12 months from the date in which they were credited to the loyalty account.

Smiles has offered a mileage bonus sale of up to 200% bonus miles in the past, which brings down your total cost to R$0.023 (~0.53 cents) per mile, which is a fantastic deal, assuming you know how to redeem them.

Final Thoughts

There are a surprising number of fantastic ways you can earn Smiles miles very quickly. These range from non-U.S. co-branded Smiles credit cards to booking hotel rooms and even buying event tickets through Smiles.

While there is no obvious way for U.S. residents to earn Smiles miles from credit card spending alone, you’ll definitely still have tons of options you can leverage to earn Smiles miles.

The information regarding the Smiles International Visa Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Smiles Visa Gold Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Smiles Visa Infinite Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Smiles Visa Platinum Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.