Hi all
A bit of a newbie question here.
I want to go away for my 30th with my partner in late Jan/early Feb 2014 (I know its a long way away). Was thinking probably West Coast USA (Im MEL based). I would love to travel J somewhere for once in my life (or even possibly F!!). Its something I would never pay full price for.
By that stage I may just have enough VA FF points for 2 x J MEL-LAX one-way seats. So that leaves the return trip. This US Air idea sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. I know its more than 18 months away so I would be doing nothing more than monitoring this for the rest of the year but would be interested in if you think:
1 - this 100% bonus points deal will come around again? (is it still on now?)
2 - what would be a likely points cost of 2 x J OR F MEL-LAX/SFO or vice-versa and what carriers they might be on. Absolutely any routing is welcome (going via Europe is completely acceptable, especially if its F).
3 - what availability would be like in late Jan/early Feb 2014.
4 - when I should be planning to buy the points and make the booking.
5 - are there any other logical ways to earn decent US Air Miles for a Aus citizen who doesnt travel to the US (other than buying the points).
6 - is there a limit to how many points you can buy (there would be 2 accounts) and do they expire?
Would appreciate any guidance on whether this is a good idea to seriously investigate -I'm trying to wade through the 188 pages here but its a lot of info!
Thanks
US airways rewards are on a return basis. no discount if you book one way.
availability on direct services to the states from Australia will be limited, and very hard on united. your other option is air new Zealand, also hard, and air Canada, also hard.
flying via Asia is generally ok, via Europe too, but F availability is almost non existent on both lufthansa and Swiss these days. business should be ok as lots of options.
the key to booking is to grab seats as soon as they are made available, which is about 330 days prior to departure (but that includes the return, so you need to book exactly 330 days before your return flight).
us has been selling points for the last few years. no guarantees how often or if they will ever have another offer.
max mileage buy is generally 100k per promotion, including any bonuses. you'll need 110k for business and 140 for first.
you can always buy miles for the non bonus price if you need to top up and they don't have a promotion.
there is a promo on now, but your account must be open for 12 days before you can buy. two accounts (that is, one account per passenger)
as for availability in 2014, who knows. it could well be that first class is restricted to each airlines frequent flyer program, leaving business class as the highest available for partners.
I would sign up now. wait for the next promo. buy miles, then buy more miles at the next promo. then look to book in 2013.
there are no other ways to easily earn US miles other than buying them, unless you take part in the annual grand slam offer. you get bonus points, often in the 10s of thousands, by buying products from multiple US partners. this is much easier if you are based in the USA. non USA residents have used the grand slam, but it takes a lot of work. up to you whether or not you'd spend the time.
but a friend of mine booked a ticket and has a name issue.
