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

[kamchatsky]

Not sure if this is already reported here. Please merge if it is already been reported. But US Airways (*A) Dividend Miles is offering 100% bonus for purchasing of miles up to 50000 miles bonus. It finishes on 31 March 2010.

Buy Miles:
US Airways | Fly with US

US *A Awards
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/Resources/_downloads/dividendmiles/partnerawardtravel.pdf

Given that, South Pacific - South Pacific *A J award is 30K (on NZ), you can get yourself a cheap redemption by spending 412.5USD or 463AUD (+ taxes/surcharges). This is almost the same price as buying return SYD-AKL Y ticket!!!!

Or you can try South Pacific - North Asia *A J Award (90K) for 1237.5USD or 1390AUD!! (You spend that much just on Y ticket alone!)

Also apparently the surcharges is very low for USA airlines. So it looks like a very cheap way to get yourself a F/J ticket to anywhere. However from FT, it mentioned that the US Airways account must be live for at least 11 days before you can start buying miles. So if you don't have an account now you must open it ASAP and before March 20/21 .....

Please also see *A Award thread in FT:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-a...-us-airways-miles-faq-help-thread-merged.html

Of course, you are not going to get any points from these flights. But heck given it is so cheap who cares about it!

Good luck to all.

 

[futaris]

peachy3333 did this last year. See this thread. NB, US Airways has given a 250% bonus in the past, as per this thread.

Double bonus for purchased miles (Another round: Feb-March 2010) - FlyerTalk Forums

30% bonus for transferred miles (from SPG, etc), according to this thread.

Also consider buying miles from AA, if you want to fly on Oneworld. 55k AA for 1000 USD, which is also 5.5% of Lifetime Gold (OW Sapphire).

Oh, and the reason that these airlines are doing this, is that they need more cash:
S&P's Most Likely to Default in 2010 List - DailyFinance

That means well-known U.S. corporations such as ... airlines AMR (AMR), US Airways Group (LCC) and UAL (UAUA) are all at high risk of defaulting in 2010

AMR = American Airlines
LCC = US Airways
UAL = United Airlines

 

[kamchatsky]

peachy3333 did this last year. See this thread. NB, US Airways has given a 250% bonus in the past, as per this thread.

Double bonus for purchased miles (Another round: Feb-March 2010) - FlyerTalk Forums

30% bonus for transferred miles (from SPG, etc), according to this thread.

Also consider buying miles from AA, if you want to fly on Oneworld. 55k AA for 1000 USD, which is also 5.5% of Lifetime Gold (OW Sapphire).

I had a look at the AA site, but it looks like US deal is much better value at the moment. especially with the amount you can get with it. It really is the easiest way to get J awards, especially if you have ZERO points to start with.

 

[futaris]

I had a look at the AA site, but it looks like US deal is much better value at the moment. especially with the amount you can get with it. It really is the easiest way to get J awards, especially if you have ZERO points to start with.

It depends on the route and class you want to fly.

e.g. MLE-LHR on BA is only 30k AA miles in J oneway.

The US buy miles offer is a bit better (extra 25% for gifting) if you know someone who is a preferred member (silver or higher). I had preferred status through a promo from Sept Last Year. You could buy status or status match, otherwise.

 

[tuppaware]

I can purchase points to upgrade to business on a jfk-lax flight with AA cheaper then paying for the business class flight in the first place.

 

[jcb12]

I'm considering investing in some points through this offer, but can't find any information regarding infants. Does anyone know how infant fares work on *A redemptions through US Airways?

 

[futaris]

AFAIK 10% of the full fare.

Only BMI and LH M&M allow infant ff redemptions, in *A.

 

[peachy3333]

Hey guys!

As per last year's post, I ended up buying and sharing miles.

Altogether it cost me around $2100 for 150,000 miles

My partner and I both have 150,000 miles which we will be using for a South Pacific - USA middle of this year in First Class.

That is probably around what I would pay each for a full fare Y ticket!

Regards,

 

[clifford]

Hey guys!

As per last year's post, I ended up buying and sharing miles.

Altogether it cost me around $2100 for 150,000 miles

My partner and I both have 150,000 miles which we will be using for a South Pacific - USA middle of this year in First Class.

That is probably around what I would pay each for a full fare Y ticket!

Regards,

Hope there's availability.

 

[peachy3333]

We're using the ANA tool for availability.

There will be definitely a trip report so I'll let everyone know how it goes!

 

[jcb12]

Thanks for answering my question about the infant fares, one more question that I can't seem to find an answer for...

Is it possible to create an award booking from 2 different accounts? In order to get enough points, I'll have to create 2 accounts, one for me and one for my wife. Can we then create a booking for both of us to travel using points from both accounts?

Thanks again,

James.

 

[auriga]

Thanks for answering my question about the infant fares, one more question that I can't seem to find an answer for...

Is it possible to create an award booking from 2 different accounts? In order to get enough points, I'll have to create 2 accounts, one for me and one for my wife. Can we then create a booking for both of us to travel using points from both accounts?

Thanks again,

James.

No problems -- use your points for your trip, and use your wife's for hers. I ended up with two booking references, but that is hardly an issue.

 

[jcb12]

No problems -- use your points for your trip, and use your wife's for hers. I ended up with two booking references, but that is hardly an issue.

Thanks auriga, no problems with being seated together etc.?

 

[auriga]

Thanks auriga, no problems with being seated together etc.?

With most airlines, you can ring up and allocate your seats in advance.

 

[jcb12]

Thanks again auriga, I'm a bit new to having to think about how to get the best deals from airlines, but this is great information

 

[jcb12]

Thanks again for all the help guys. Got my F flight from Sydney to London on TG on hold - buying the points on Monday

 

[yohy?!]

This looks like great value for the burn rate too.

Anyone have an idea if I was to book SYD to PPT via AKL (no stopoever) would it still be 30k points for J.

Thanks!

 

[kamchatsky]

This looks like great value for the burn rate too.

Anyone have an idea if I was to book SYD to PPT via AKL (no stopoever) would it still be 30k points for J.

Thanks!

Yes it is. All on NZ J. one stopover is allowed in NZ if you select your flights correctly.

If you use Singapore Airlines Krisflyer points reward then it would be 35K, so you don't have to buy the points.

 

[yohy?!]

Thanks for that.

Have been studying availability with the ANA tool today and Expertflyer.

Looks like there's nil availability AKL-PPT Must be cos there's so little competition the route.

Also I noticed that the burn rate alters depending on the season. May-Aug in J SYD-AKL is 43,000 points plus surcharges.

 

[kamchatsky]

Thanks for that.

Have been studying availability with the ANA tool today and Expertflyer.

Looks like there's nil availability AKL-PPT Must be cos there's so little competition the route.

Also I noticed that the burn rate alters depending on the season. May-Aug in J SYD-AKL is 43,000 points plus surcharges.

AKL-PPT on NZ40/41 only occurs twice per week so you need to be flexible here, unless of course you are doing this as part of your honeymoon/anniversary etc. usually they only have 2 J seats available per flight, so they are like hotcakes given they are the only *A metal flying to PPT.

Strange. I never knew that the US Airways program actually have "peak season" redemption. SQ definitely do not have this problem and I have been redeeming J to PPT on SQ award without any issues, even though I did plan out early (even redeemed for Xmas last year).