US Dividend Miles Buy/Gift Miles 100% bonus - Cheap way for F/J *A Awards

[MEL_Traveller]

I have never been overseas so I can't comment but i thought you would need at least a ticket to show . The booking stage is fine if your prepared but I'm referring afterwards once it's paid. You will receive an email I haven't received nothing . I Was told $349 for fees and $150 for taxes I got charged the fees no taxes .

From reading if things aren't correct they can come along and cancell your booking.So now I have to keep checking/calling they havent cancelled it .


I will wait a few days and see if they charge me again but why can't they charge it altogether ? A good thing is I used my citibank plat and didn't receive any further chargers

I know it can be frustrating... not having the email with the ticket number... but aside from a couple of lucky people, the rest of us don't get anything!!

even my parents just turned up at the airport without tickets. they asked at checkin for a copy of the itinerary. theynwere fine with that.

the $150 will bill separately. could be a few days away. qantas can take weeks to bill for charges. US are not alone.

all you need to make sure is that there is a ticket number. it will begin with 037.

nothing else to worry about. you have record locators, your parents have the same surname, and your call to the airline was fine.

 

[casanovawa]

Ok, its not leaping out at me on US Airways site, but i am now thinking of buying miles to send my dad to NZ in either economy or business in October, will they allow a stop over on this award redemption and if south pacific to south pacific, what other locations would they consider?

On the AA partner award chart they show Easter Island as being part of the South Pacific area, just wondering if US Airways or star alliance have something to indicate what stopovers in the South Pacific/Australia area they might allow?

 

[casanovawa]

Oh and how do you get $119 per person to fly to NZ, or are they only going one way?

From the partner awards chart I get a return award to NZ looking like 25,000 miles which will cost over $412 or $550 for 30,000 miles (in J) with the bonuses or am i looking at it wrong?

 

[serfty]

I have never been overseas so I can't comment but i thought you would need at least a ticket to show ...

Tip - always have a printed copy of the itinerary with the ticket number to show when checking in. Do not present it unless asked - your passport/photo Id should be adequate.

Now, here's how to get a printed copy if their emails to you don't work:

• www.usair.com
• Click "Manage Reservations" Tab
• Enter USair Booking reference and date
• Scroll down and select:
  
  Print trip details.
• A print-view tab/pop should appear - most importantly, under the "passenger details" area should be the ticket number.
• Print this both to paper and a .PDF or use the MS Document Writer (or Apple Equivalent), take both the hard copy and the electronic version with you as well.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ok, its not leaping out at me on US Airways site, but i am now thinking of buying miles to send my dad to NZ in either economy or business in October, will they allow a stop over on this award redemption and if south pacific to south pacific, what other locations would they consider?

On the AA partner award chart they show Easter Island as being part of the South Pacific area, just wondering if US Airways or star alliance have something to indicate what stopovers in the South Pacific/Australia area they might allow?

stop overs are only allowed at star alliance hubs. you can check out star alliance hub cities on the star alliance main website. but I think between Australian and new Zealand and south pacific the only stop overs are going to be in Auckland.

additionally, there is no stop-over supposed to be allowed when travel is within one award region. so you might even be out of luck to get a stop in akl if flying to say Tahiti or the cook islands...

the AA partner award is of no relevance to us airways I'm afraid.

Oh and how do you get $119 per person to fly to NZ, or are they only going one way?

From the partner awards chart I get a return award to NZ looking like 25,000 miles which will cost over $412 or $550 for 30,000 miles (in J) with the bonuses or am i looking at it wrong?

you have to factor in the current double miles promotion, then the 7.5% federal excise tax, then divide by the aud exchange rate.

the base cost of miles would therefore be 15,000 x 0.0275 x 1.075 x 1.061. that will give you the cost of a business class ticket.

note the difference in cost between economy and busnienss is about $68. a no brainer to go business.

be aware however that not all air new Zealand flights offer proper business class, especially short trans Tasman. you might just end up with an economy seat (with a free meal) unless selecting the 747 or 767.

taxes are on top of the amount, as is a booking fee. both are minimal. as shayne2233 pointed out, about $165 all up per ticket ( which come to think of it does sound rather high... )

 

[Shanye2233]

I have the tickets with the 37 so I have printed that out . The $119 plus $50 is the taxes and fees not the price for the seat. It's not worth buying Y seats from Sydney anyway it's only $200-$300 one way .

I brought J from PER-ZQN and return AKL-PER if you look at air nz website you'll see what the tickets per person are worth compared to the miles and taxes. It's not as good as a SYD-EUROPE-US savings but it's worth it .

I tried have PER-SYD-AKL AKL-PERTH but not a hub city and no stopovers allowed in the same region something like that

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have the tickets with the 37 so I have printed that out . The $119 plus $50 is the taxes and fees not the price for the seat. It's not worth buying Y seats from Sydney anyway it's only $200-$300 one way . I brought J from PER-ZQN and return AKL-PER if you look at air nz website you'll see what the tickets per person are worth compared to the miles and taxes. It's not as good as a SYD-EUROPE-US savings but it's worth it . I tried have PER-SYD-AKL AKL-PERTH but not a hub city and no stopovers allowed in the same region something like that

there is no star alliance carrier flying Perth to Sydney!!

 

[serfty]

I have the tickets with the 37 so I have printed that out ...

Good! The 037 is essential as it is the prefix for USair ticket numbers.

(For example, Qantas' are 081)

 

[casanovawa]

the base cost of miles would therefore be 15,000 x 0.0275 x 1.075 x 1.061. that will give you the cost of a business class ticket.

It only doubles at each 10,000, so to get up to 30,000 for business you actually have to buy 20,000 with a bonus of 20,000 and i assume you meant divide by 1.061 for the exchange rate...
20,000 x 0.0275 x 1.075 / 1.061 = $557 + another $160 or so adds up to $717 or so... so no, savings not as good as Europe etc, but i suppose still quite a bit under paying for business class flights...

And thanks for the tip of looking for the 767, i was thinking Business wasn't such a big deal if it was just going to be several A320 flights or smaller etc, but i see a 767 flight direct Perth to Aukland and even though they aren't lie flat beds they do seem a lot more comfortable for a 6 hour flight... now just to find out what availability there is for early October...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It only doubles at each 10,000, so to get up to 30,000 for business you actually have to buy 20,000 with a bonus of 20,000 and i assume you meant divide by 1.061 for the exchange rate...
20,000 x 0.0275 x 1.075 / 1.061 = $557 + another $160 or so adds up to $717 or so... so no, savings not as good as Europe etc, but i suppose still quite a bit under paying for business class flights...

And thanks for the tip of looking for the 767, i was thinking Business wasn't such a big deal if it was just going to be several A320 flights or smaller etc, but i see a 767 flight direct Perth to Aukland and even though they aren't lie flat beds they do seem a lot more comfortable for a 6 hour flight... now just to find out what availability there is for early October...

Agree with your calculations, but I don't count the additional miles... as you will still have those left over for use with another award! (or may already have exisiting miles from a previous promo).

In addition to the 767 to Perth, there are also 777s and 747s on selected flights ex MEL and SYD to AKL.

 

[sr81]

Just another booking to give people ideas.

MEL-BKK-DEL
BOM-BKK-MEL

All Thai in J.

Bought 100,000 points (note the booking was 90,000 miles) for usd1478 and taxes plus fees usd140. Total in aud is about 1540.

The best economy price was about aud1450. I sorted this flight out for a mate to go to a wedding and he is stoked about flying business as he only got back from Europe and that was his first long haul flight in economy.

So far this year I have redeemed about 1,000,000 miles through the bonus promos for about 20 flights in J to random parts of the world for about 10 people.

 

[arraitch]

We also have a wedding to attend in India next Feb/Mar and are planning a similar itinerary, although ex-PER. We're just waiting on the date to be fixed. Checking the TG schedule for random rates, I note that a 773 flies both BKK-DEL and BOM-BKK routes; I could've sworn that I'd seen reference to a 747 on the former. Either way, it's value indeed!

 

[k3nnis]

Hi All,

Is it too late to register an account with US dividend program now and purchase the miles? Does the account need to be live for 11 days before we can purchase miles? If so I guess it's too late!

 

[Flashback]

Hi All,

Is it too late to register an account with US dividend program now and purchase the miles? Does the account need to be live for 11 days before we can purchase miles? If so I guess it's too late!

12 days. Never too late, these promos run almost like clockwork so just wait for the next one...

 

[k3nnis]

Ok thanks. I think it expires septmber 15 2011. Does this 100% promo happen once a year consistently?

 

[Flashback]

Ok thanks. I think it expires septmber 15 2011. Does this 100% promo happen once a year consistently?

There's been 250% promos in the past...

 

[hummel]

It's happened 3-4 times in the last 12 month

 

[anat0l]

There's been 250% promos in the past...

Yeah hope those will be coming back some time soon. Not holding my breath, but it'd still be nice...



----------
This anat0l content, if it must be known,
Was sent via Aust Freq Fly app, but not from an iPhone.

 

[k3nnis]

Thanks guys.

One other question, can the bookings have stopovers? i.e. 5 days stopover and then fly again?

e.g. syd-bkk-nrt-sin-syd ?

 

[Shanye2233]

Just another booking to give people ideas.

MEL-BKK-DEL
BOM-BKK-MEL

The best economy price was about aud1450. I sorted this flight out for a mate to go to a wedding and he is stoked about flying business as he only got back from Europe and that was his first long haul flight in economy.

So far this year I have redeemed about 1,000,000 miles through the bonus promos for about 20 flights in J to random parts of the world for about 10 people.

Did u receive an email confirmation or e-ticket.