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

[bcworld]

Per-Sing-Mla return is 34 thousand miles.

How do you work that out?

I cannot see the value in these points, or am I missing something?

Yes.

 

[hummel]

These best thing to do is read read and read. This thread and the main thread on FT.

If you only want to travel economy it's hardly worth it.. flying in J/F is where the value comes in. $2500AUD all in for myself to Europe in F.

 

[casanovawa]

You'd just about go blind trying to read the whole Flyer Talk thread on this, and so much cough in there... No harm giving a quick little summary...

 

[Smasher]

How do you work that out?



Yes.

By using milcalc dot com. It come to 34 thousand return, how many do you add it up to be?

Maybe the website added it up wrong:-|

 

[Alanslegal]

I cannot see the value in these points, or am I missing something?

No you're not missing anything. Perth to Asia awards are not that attractive, when compared to say for a little bit more points (ie money) one could fly Sydney to Europe .... some even go fly Sydney to the USA via Europe!

 

[Smasher]

Smasher, in terms of whether it works for you you really need to work out how you like to fly...

Flying form Perth to places in South and Central Asia and North Asia will cost you 70,000 miles in economy and 90,000 in business class... So just to buy the miles (in a 100% bonus offer like now) for the two options in US$ is $1316 and $1693... On top of that you will then have to pay a $50 admin/booking fee and taxes and charges of around $150-$250 to redeem the awards...

So if you are planning to fly economy class then no the figures may not stack up as you might be able to purchase a regular economy ticket for less than that and earn frequent flyer points and status credits if you chase status... I would imagine for business class the figures might stack up, or at least stack up enough to maybe try business class for the first time if you haven't before... The award also allows you to fly to a destination and then also have a stopover, so effectively allows you to fly to 2 locations (although there are rules) where a purchased direct flight will obviously restrict this...

So that is how i would do the sums myself personally to work out if it was better to use US Air or not, flights up to North Asia in economy might squeak in as comparable $ wise, flights to Singapore or Malaysia in economy quite obviously wouldn't... Me personally, I would see getting better value out of this scheme when flying off to either Europe or the US of A or preferably to both and there is a much bigger saving when redeeming for business or first class tickets (compared to what you would pay $ wise) than flying economy... But yes have more of a read up on it...

Edit: You don't buy miles for the distance you will fly, you need to look at the airline partner award chart and there different continental zones and they specify how many miles you need to redeem an award from one zone to another zone... Plus 34,000 miles sound an awful lot for the distance between Perth to Manila...

Hi, thanks for the well thought out reply. Yes it is 34 thousand from Perth via Singapore return. So it is worked out in zones and not miles, do you know how I can see these zones and work it out how much it would cost?

 

[travelislife]

By using milcalc dot com. It come to 34 thousand return, how many do you add it up to be?

Maybe the website added it up wrong:-|

You are looking in the wrong spot. This is all about US airways. Visit www.usairways.com

I suggest you read the very first post in the FT thread, it will provide you with the basic understanding before inundating everyone here with questions that can be easily answered. We are a helpful lot, so have a read of the very first couple of pages in both threads and then come back with any questions you have.

Redemptions are based on zones, so yes Perth to Manila is not very good value. Perth to Auckland on the other hand in business class is great value. But Europe and USA in premium classes is where these awards come into their own.

http://www.usairways.com/pv_obj_cac...D9614DE8B0000/filename/partnerawardtravel.pdf

The link above will show you how many miles are required to fly various places.

 

[casanovawa]

Using Great Circle Mapper i get 7788 miles Perth to Manila return via Singapore...

I flew all the way around the world earlier this year on a very indirect route and it came to less than 35,000 miles...

 

[Stephen65]

For these awards you do not use the actual mileage. Rather the cost in USAirways Dividend Miles is based on the originating and destination zone according to this chart:

http://www.usairways.com/pv_obj_cac...CF848DE8B0000/filename/partnerawardtravel.pdf

So for example, Australia (South Pacific) to Europe in J costs 120,000 DM. All costs are for return airfares and you cannot buy one ways. There are rules about segments, directions of travel and stopovers.

There are various ways to obtain DMs but the most common way is to buy them when USAirways has a double DM sale. During such sales the cost of DM works out at 1.88 US cents per DM. To which there are admin fees and
taxes typically totalling in the low hundreds added.

As others have said these awards give the best value when used for J and F travel. They also tend to come out best for Australians when we fly either to far away zones such as Europe and the US or to far away places inside our own zone.

You only need to be a member of USAirways Dividend Miles program to buy and use these points. They can then be used on any Star Alliance carrier subject to seat availability.

 

[Smasher]

Using Great Circle Mapper i get 7788 miles Perth to Manila return via Singapore...

I flew all the way around the world earlier this year on a very indirect route and it came to less than 35,000 miles...

haha, yeah I stuffed something up there.

 

[Smasher]

For these awards you do not use the actual mileage. Rather the cost in USAirways Dividend Miles is based on the originating and destination zone according to this chart:

http://www.usairways.com/pv_obj_cac...CF848DE8B0000/filename/partnerawardtravel.pdf

So for example, Australia (South Pacific) to Europe in J costs 120,000 DM. All costs are for return airfares and you cannot buy one ways. There are rules about segments, directions of travel and stopovers.

There are various ways to obtain DMs but the most common way is to buy them when USAirways has a double DM sale. During such sales the cost of DM works out at 1.88 US cents per DM. To which there are admin fees and
taxes typically totalling in the low hundreds added.

As others have said these awards give the best value when used for J and F travel. They also tend to come out best for Australians when we fly either to far away zones such as Europe and the US or to far away places inside our own zone.

You only need to be a member of USAirways Dividend Miles program to buy and use these points. They can then be used on any Star Alliance carrier subject to seat availability.

Thanks mate, fishing through yours and several other answers it appears it is definitely not worth it to travel to Manila via East or West coast but good value for long haul.
Appreciate the help, I may still buy some and put them away for a while and see what happens.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks mate, fishing through yours and several other answers it appears it is definitely not worth it to travel to Manila via East or West coast but good value for long haul.
Appreciate the help, I may still buy some and put them away for a while and see what happens.

I guess it depends... I don't know any other cheaper way than $1800 odd (all up, including taxes, fees and charges) to be able to fly Singapore airlines business class to Asia!

 

[Smasher]

I guess it depends... I don't know any other cheaper way than $1800 odd (all up, including taxes, fees and charges) to be able to fly Singapore airlines business class to Asia!

Not really chasing the business class side of things, after all they a just a big bus that is in the air. Its only 8 hours from Australia and if I fly via Jetstar via Darwin it is a 4 and 4.5 hour flight, don't need luxury for that. Would rather spend the money on a 5 star hotel when I get there, but to each their own I guess.

I can do that twice a year for 1800 dollars.

 

[casanovawa]

Just replying to a question in the successful redemptions thread about stop overs...

To be short no, not many long stop overs at all, i did this mainly as the places that I am stopping I have mostly visited before so not a lot new to see and I want to get to my destination to start enjoying it asap and spend as long there as possible before i skoot home arriving on the afternoon before i go back to work the next day...

First thing strangely the Thai flight out of Perth is either up to coughet only for 3 days of the week leaving in the morning or else to Bangkok only for 4 days a week and you leave in the afternoon and arrive in at 10.45pm, so rather than struggling to find a hotel and pay for not much of an experience i am jumping on a plane after about 2 hours... I doubt I will be able to get much of a massage unfortunately as the spa salon or whatever seems to close at 11.30pm and you can't reserve a spot so imagine i will miss out on that but will try to get to one of the business lounges which seem to stay open till 1am... I leave BKK at 12.30am then into ZRH at 7.25am, 1 hour 50 min stop then up to FRA for 1 hour 45 min stop before off to ATL...

The only longish stop will be when i leave ATL on 28 May to IAD where i will spend almost 23 hours 10 mins or so, so will see if i can leave bags at airport and go into Wash DC for a look around, might tour the Smithsonian museum at Dulles airport again (just did it in June)... Leaving FRA on 16th June I will arrive in Kolkata at 11.10pm for 2 hour 45 min stop before arriving in BKK at 5.50am and then jumping on a plane for Perth at 7.50am, so 2 hours and hopefully i do get a massage this time...

So not long stops and i hope there aren't any delayed flights or lightning storms trapping me on planes..

 

[neon_crossing]

I cannot see the value in these points, or am I missing something?

Yes.

Haha, Gold. Completely agree.

 

[skywalkerLAX]

The current school of thought is actually that LH is blocking F further out than ONE WEEK! A recent development.

Oh, and welcome!!

On certain routes (especially to/from Asia) it seems like there is availability up to February, but nothing beyond that!

Too bad as I usually book very extensive awards on US Miles... the last one was:

YVR-SEA-ORD-BRU-FRA-SIN-BKK // BKK-PEK-FRA-LAX-YVR for 120k in F

Thanks !!

 

[skywalkerLAX]

I guess it depends... I don't know any other cheaper way than $1800 odd (all up, including taxes, fees and charges) to be able to fly Singapore airlines business class to Asia!

I do. BMI Miles !

18.750 Miles + cash for one way in Business Class. You can even use A380 / 77W Metal.

If you buy the miles outright thats about 580 GBP all in for a oneway and you are allowed one Stopover.

 

[Flashback]

I do. BMI Miles !

18.750 Miles + cash for one way in Business Class. You can even use A380 / 77W Metal.

If you buy the miles outright thats about 580 GBP all in for a oneway and you are allowed one Stopover.

Maybe I should do something with the 70k odd BMI miles I have ....

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I do. BMI Miles !

18.750 Miles + cash for one way in Business Class. You can even use A380 / 77W Metal.

If you buy the miles outright thats about 580 GBP all in for a oneway and you are allowed one Stopover.

err yeah... but I'm talking about 1800 for a return

bmi is great for one way awards, especially when you can combine them with AA awards for the return. gives you one roundtrip per year!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Maybe I should do something with the 70k odd BMI miles I have ....

I would... before they get converted into BA avios... if they even get converted!!