A Nostalgic Look Back At US Airways Dividend Miles

Posted on March 28, 2015 by Tara

Today is the day the programs merge. It’s the 28th of March in Australia and now also in around half of the USA. Soon we will wake up with increased AAdvantage balances and the US Airways Dividend Miles (USDM) program will be history. I can’t help but think back fondly on all the opportunities we never would have had without it. USDM was the game-changer that put extravagant premium class awards within reach of the ordinary person who had little money but was willing to put in some time and effort.

I never was a big player in the miles and points games until 2008. It always seemed to me that the best benefits were always for those who traveled a lot – actual FREQUENT flyers and were elites. I booked our trips on the cheapest routes although trying to use Star Alliance programs as much as possible as we were collecting United Miles. If we managed a free trip from BNE to RAR or PPT every 2 or 3 years we were happy.

GAMING THE GAME-CHANGER

Then United started blocking partner awards – Starnet – and I had to look for an alternative. Right around this time, one of the best ways for people to earn miles without spending money was playing Live Search Club games. I was already playing for our AAdvantage accounts so it was a natural step to add a few more accounts and start playing for US Dividend Miles. Anyone remember Chicktionary?

LSC was a great little earner while it lasted. An anagram-solver and a desk in front of the tv was all I needed to rake in around 4000 miles in 4 accounts (mine & husbands – US & AA) roughly every 2 weeks. It was a pretty hot topic on FlyerTalk while it lasted. LSC later morphed into Club Bing and by using a never ending supply of new accounts I was able to keep the miles rolling in for around 18 months until they finally shut down in 2010. But the best was yet to come!

GRAND SLAM PROMO

I was too late for the 2008 Grand Slam but ready and waiting for the 2009 version. There was a whole thread in FlyerTalk dedicated to this killer promo where you could earn 50,000 miles by using USDM’s partners. The game was to use as many free hits as possible or to use purchases you were already making at certain hotels or car rentals to create hits. Then find the cheapest item to buy from partners such as Biscoff spread (yummy!), batteries from SkyMall, screen-wipes from some telephone company, sandwiches from dining partners, GAIAM trees from the mall, churned Netflix accounts and stickers from Track-it-Back. We opened brokerage accounts for $5 with Sharebuilder, bought the cheapest Lifelock packages, swapped miles for magazines. Since I live in Australia, my Mom in California was the lucky recipient for several bouquets of flowers and assorted junk.

In 2010, the Grand Slam upped their game to 100,000 miles and in 2011 they upped it again to 110,000 though the last 4 hits were too hard for me so I had to settle for 100,000.

In the latter years, I would prep for the upcoming Grand Slam by getting hotel points for free by doing Foursquare check-ins, Facebook promos and E-Rewards. The Daily Getaways promos which used to be so much better were also a source for cheap hotel points and Grand Slam hits. I estimate that I paid around $600 between both our accounts that I wouldn’t have spent otherwise to get 200,000 miles between us those last 2 years.

TRACK-IT-BACK TAKES IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Remember those Track-it-back (TIB) stickers I mentioned? They became another game-changer in the 2009 Holiday promo. You had to spend a certain amount with various shopping partners and there were tiers to multiplying the bonus.

In a nutshell, you made the cheapest possible purchases for the first 4 transactions, then the 5th you bought as many TIB stickers as possible and got 100 miles per $! I don’t remember how much I spent, I got as many as I could manage the cash flow for. Some people on FlyerTalk spent $1000’s and got LOTS of miles!

CHURNING THE CREDIT CARD

I only managed to do this twice – once in 2011 and once in 2013. Each time I got 40,000 miles and on the 2nd one it comes with a 10,000 miles anniversary bonus so I’ve kept it. Barclays Bank has since cracked down on churners.

BUY/SHARE MILES PROMOS – UP TO 100% SHARE

The last great way to get USDM relatively cheaply (although not as cheap as Grand Slam & TIB) was to share miles back and forth between two accounts. Obviously this works better for couples than single people unless they knew someone very trustworthy. When the Grand Slam promo didn’t return in 2012 much to everyone’s disappointment, this became the best way to get USDM and on the bright side it worked equally well for people all over the world. You shared miles to your partner, they got double, then they shared back to you and you got double. USDM kept this promo up until last year, then they scaled it back to 50% bonuses.

The best seat I ever got for free from USDM – Turkish Airline’s wetleased Jet Airways plane used the first class suites as business class so if you were clever with your seating assignments you could sit in a suite for the price of a J award!

SO WHAT DID I DO WITH ALL THOSE MILES?

USDM’s fantastic promos allowed us to go places we otherwise had no chance of affording – usually in business class (bolded)!

2011 – BNE-BKK-ICN-LAX-PHX-MEX /-LAX-ICN-BKK-BNE

2011 – BNE-SIN-KTM /-BOM-SIN-BNE

2012 – BNE-AKL-RAR-AKL-BNE

2013 – BNE-BKK-ICN-YVR-IAH-BZE /-HNL-ICN-BKK-BNE

2013 – BNE-BKK-BLR /- CMB-SIN-BNE

2014 – BNE-BKK-IST-TLV /-BCN-ZRH-FCO-PEK-SIN-BNE

And I still have some USDM left to transfer to AA!

In no alternate universe could someone of my economic level even dream of trips like those! USDM and their crazy promos made it all possible! We visited some of the world’s finest eco-tourism locations and saw some amazing birds that we could only dream about before.

So here’s to you, US Airways! It’s been a wild ride the past few years and I am sad that it’s over but really happy and grateful that it happened it all. From the bottom of my heart (and my champagne glass) thanks for the memories!

Lost Opportunity – 15,000 US Dividend Miles – Spend $500 Nov, Dec, Jan

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Tara

I waited ages for this one as I had seen so many people on Flyertalk get it but I never did.

In normal circumstances this would be an easy one to do – except the email came 2 days after we left for Africa and I didn’t bring this card with me. It’s not one I normally use on an overseas trip due to the forex fees, but I would have made the sacrifice for this type of promo.

After getting home I sent Barclays a secure message asking to postpone the promo to Dec, Jan & Feb since I had been traveling in Africa but no dice! Now I have to decide whether to keep or cancel. They did recently confirm that they would keep the 10,000 anniversary bonus even after the merger with AA so I am inclined to keep it.

September Buy Miles Promos

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Tara

As usual, each beginning of a month brings an assortment of “buy miles, get bonus” promos. If you live in the USA you probably won’t be interested as its cheaper to manufacture spend. If you live anywhere else, these promos may be a good idea to top up your miles accounts but ONLY if you plan to use them within the next few months. These promos aren’t good enough to buy miles on speculation. Whether it is worth it to buy miles vs just paying for a revenue ticket depends on where you are going and what class of service you would be booking in so you need to do the math for both before jumping in on these promos. Also be sure to click on the links and read all the T&Cs before buying.

US AIRWAYS

These will ultimately turn into AAdvantage miles when the programs combine next year. The tiered system is very annoying because if you just need a couple thousand to top up you don’t get the maximum bonus. You need to log into your account to actually see the tiers but most people seem to get this one. At top levels you would be buying miles for $18.80 per block of 1000 miles.

UNITED AIRLINES

This one is more unusual in that it is crowd-sourcing the actual bonus. Everyone gets a minimum of 35% extra but that could go up to 100% extra if over 4500 people buy the deal.

If the 4500 level is reached it would mean buying miles for $18.80 per block of 1000 miles.

AVIANCA-TACA LIFEMILES

Contrary to other bloggers out there, I use this program for bargain flights within Central and South America so no “tricks” needed for me! It’s a straightforward 100% promo (gotta love airlines who keep it simple) but it is also the last chance to buy miles for $15.00 per block of 1000 miles as the price increases 15 October to $16.00.

Stealth Devaluation – Both US Airways & American Airlines

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Tara

It’s not so much the devaluations themselves that bother me. The other major airlines United & Delta did their devaluations last year and United actually gave several months advance notice. It’s the fact that this time there was NO ADVANCE NOTICE!

The travel blogosphere is up in arms starting with Dan’s Deals reporting that stopovers (at North American international gateway cities) would be eliminated. Then Lucky posted on One Mile At A Time the further bad news that AAnytime AAwards were increasing with detailed charts. Travel Summary chimed in with the US Airways increase to the popular North America – North Asia award which went from 90k in business class to 110k.

Now those 3 changes had very little effect on most birders and eco-tourists. We tend to plan in advance and use Saver Awards (capacity controlled and best booked way in advance), not the more expensive AAnytime awards. The North America – North Asia route wouldn’t be on a typical eco-travel itinerary. The loss of the North American gateway stopover could affect Americans who want to visit Grandma in LAX enroute to Australia or Brazil.

But all of the above pales in contrast to the loss of the OneWorld Explorer award.

This gem of an award was perfect for anyone wanting to avoid American’s strict routing rules and hop around various destinations as they wished. As long as you used at least 2 OneWorld carriers, you were fine.

This would have allowed me to go from Brisbane to South America via the USA and have a few stop-overs and I was eyeing one for 2016. Ironically, I have the miles but not the cash to pay for the lodges and birding guides which is why I have to allow a couple years to save for it.

The obvious lesson here is don’t hoard your miles – spend them! Devaluations can come at any time, though ideally we would at least get some advance notice. I wish I could be redeeming my miles more often but as a birder, I can’t use miles to pay for the vast majority of my ground expenses so I am pretty well stuck. Cash is a lot harder for me to get than miles!

US Airways Share Miles Promo Back April 7 – 13

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Tara

Do you have your eye on one of the new OneWorld partner awards now that US Airways is on board? Are you short the miles you need for the trip of your dreams? For the next week, you have the chance to buy miles via the famous share miles promo!

You need to share your miles to a friend or family member, then they can share back to you for maximum effect.

Earn award travel faster

You can buy miles for yourself, gift miles to friends and family or share your miles. It’s the quick and easy way for you or someone else to reach award travel.

Watch out for the bonus thresholds. For example sharing 29,000 miles gains a bonus of 21,750 but simply adding another 1000 miles to your purchase gets a bonus of 30,000 miles!

TAM & US Airways Join OneWorld Alliance

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Tara

Although I am not sure what time in which time zone, sometime within the next couple of hours, TAM and US Airways will have officially left Star Alliance and joined OneWorld. If you are a member of American AAdvantage or British Airways Avios, this means you now have 2 new airlines to book awards on! If you are a member of US Airways Dividend Miles, this means you will now be booking your awards using the OneWorld alliance partners. You will find US Airways listed as an American Airlines affiliate since they are in the process of merging.

US Airways also plans to continue partnerships with some Star Alliance airlines on an individual basis – Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP and Turkish Airways. We still don’t know if you will be able to mix awards using OneWorld airlines and these individual partners. Some of the partners such as Air New Zealand & Singapore Airlines will end this agreement in June.

HEADS UP TO ECO-TOURISTS

With TAM in OneWorld, this creates a nice opportunity for cheap award flights around Brazil using Avios! I’ve highlighted a few destinations in yellow in the route map below that are of greatest interest to birders. Brazil is a very easy country to get around and it is very simple to book most of the best eco-lodges online so this will make it easy to create your own individualized birding itinerary!

US Airways has added more routes within the USA and to Europe and a few routes to the Caribbean which may be helpful.

In just one more month, Sri Lankan Airlines also joins OneWorld and opens up more possibilities to this gorgeous country with amazing birds that I was blogging about for a couple months!

US Airways Emails An Update On Alliances & Codeshares

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Tara

This is great news as it means you will still be able to book certain Star Alliance airlines after the merger with AA takes place. It’s also good news for people who have already made a booking for travel that will take place after the merger as US will still have access to award seats and a relationship with these airlines in case of irrops. Here is the full email. I bolded the most important facts you will want to remember.

An update on our alliances and codeshares

We’re excited to be a part of the new American and look forward to bringing you a stronger airline. In early 2014, we’ll be entering into a codeshare agreement with American, which means that you’ll be able to seamlessly book travel throughout the US Airways and American network.

On March 31, 2014, we plan to join the oneworld® alliance, so you can look forward to mileage earning and redemption opportunities, reciprocal elite benefits and lounge access on oneworld carriers. Some of these benefits will be phased in as we work toward full integration.

There are a few important changes to keep in mind for future travel:

We’ll be exiting Star Alliance on March 30, 2014. You’ll be able to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on Star Alliance carriers until that date. Any existing reservations for travel on a codeshare flight with a Star Alliance partner after March 30, 2014 are safe, however, you’ll be rebooked with a new flight number from the carrier operating the flight and you’ll no longer earn Dividend Miles or receive Star Alliance Gold or Silver benefits.

Since the legal close of our merger with American on December 9, 2013, we no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with United Airlines. When we exit Star Alliance on March 30, 2014, we will no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa or SWISS. Any existing reservations are safe, but you will not earn Dividend Miles for flights on these carriers after March 30, 2014.

We plan to continue relationships with the following airlines, so you can continue to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on these select partners even after we’ve exited Star Alliance: Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, Eva, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP and Turkish Airways.

US Airways customers with Star Alliance Gold status will no longer have access to Star Alliance lounges after March 30, 2014.

You can learn more and stay up-to-date by visiting usairways.com/arriving.

Reminder – Two Major Promos Ending Tomorrow

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Tara

Last week I blogged about the opportunities to buy airline miles with US Airways Dividend Miles and Avianca-Taca Lifemiles at greatly reduced costs through sharing them with someone else who shares them back to you. These two promos will be ending on 15 Oct so if you had it in mind to take advantage, then do it now! I didn’t partake this time as I have enough miles in these two programs to meet our needs for the next couple years. You shouldn’t buy miles unless you plan to redeem them within a year or so as they may depreciate. Here’s the details in case you missed it the first time.

US Dividend Miles

Avianca-Taca Lifemiles

Promos Galore From US Airways Dividend Miles

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Tara

It’s just one promo after another this month with US Airways Dividend Miles! Some of them are targeted and some are open to all. Let’s start with the one that has the best value to members world wide.

SHARE MILES 100% BONUS

Your account must be more than 12 days old. If you don’t have a USDM account get one now!
You can share from your account to someone else’s and then that person can share back to you. Example You share 50,000 to your spouse. They get 100,000 miles for $567.50. Then they share 50,000 miles back to you. Spouse now has 50,000 miles and you have 100,000 miles.
You can share between 3 accounts to even up the bonus. Example: You share 50,000 miles to your child’s account. You now have 0 miles, child has 100,000 miles. Child shares 50,000 back to you and 50,000 to your spouse. Child now has 0 miles and you & spouse will have 100,000 miles.
Remember, each time a sharing transaction takes place, it costs $567.50 to generate a new batch of 50,000 miles.
Transactions are processed by points.com so you don’t get category bonuses based on airline purchases.

Get up to a 100% bonus on all your fall flights

This one will appeal to genuine frequent fliers as you earn bonus points on flights. Interestingly enough, they carried over the sports theme from our dearly departed Grand Slam promo which got a lot of us lots of cheap miles between 2008-2011! If you are interested in this promo, be sure to register first.

The first one is tempting to me, the second one didn’t interest me at all. But the 3rd one is what I found irresistible to the point where I am scrambling to bring forward a trip to India and Sri Lanka.

REBATE ON AWARDS FOR US AIRWAYS MASTERCARD HOLDERS

If you have the Barclay’s US Airways Dividend Miles Mastercard, you may have an offer in your email. According to reports on FlyerTalk, they vary from 10-50% but no one knows the criteria for who gets what. A 30,000 discount off an award is basically a free ticket from Brisbane to one of the Pacific Islands in business class (if you can find it) or at least economy which costs 25,000 miles and easier to get.

T&C’s

¹ Offer is valid for select US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard cardmembers and is not transferable. You will receive 25% of all miles redeemed during the promotional period back in your Dividend Miles account, for a maximum bonus of 30,000 bonus miles. You must redeem a minimum of 20,000 miles for award travel between October 1, 2013 and November 30, 2013 for travel completed before March 31, 2014. Award travel on US Airways, US Airways Express and any other partner airlines qualify for bonus. Miles used for mileage upgrades also qualify. If you do not redeem at least 20,000 miles you will not be eligible for this offer. Miles must be redeemed from eligible primary cardmember’s Dividend Miles account in order to receive bonus. Your US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard account must be in good standing. Miles used during periods when your account is delinquent, your balance exceeds your credit line or your account is otherwise not in good standing as defined in your Credit Card Cardmember Agreement do not qualify for this offer. Your 25% miles back award will appear on your Dividend Miles account 3-4 weeks after travel has been completed. Offer expires November 30, 2013. Travel must be completed before March 31, 2014. Bonus miles do not count towards Preferred status.

MasterCard is a registered trademark of MasterCard Incorporated.

Are you planning to take advantage of these promos? Have a question? Ask in the comments!

The Thai Airways Business Class Experience

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Tara

I am not a person who would normally ever aspire to travel in business class. I’ve always considered myself lucky to even have the chance to travel the world in economy, something that very few people in the world get to do. Although I would never spend cash to buy a business class ticket or upgrade a paid economy when I have enough miles for a free ticket, sometimes the airlines dish up promos that are so generous that we can earn a large amount of miles quickly and cheaply. This is what happened in 2008-2011 when US Airways was running their Grand Slam promo. I was able to max out the 100k bonuses on both my account and my husband’s, topping mine off with the 2009 shopping promo and a few credit card bonuses.

I like to ensure that we have enough miles for the next 3 years’ planned trips in economy, then if we get extra miles we can redeem for business class tickets. This is the situation we have been in for the last couple years! So this award was booked using US Airways miles.

It was our first time using Thai Airways’ product and we loved it! The seats were very comfortable, the service was excellent and we enjoyed the big screen entertainment. The seats were angled lie flat but with the help of my Somidem (Ambien) prescription, I slept very well!

The ground experience at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport was amazing! Our business class tickets entitled us to a free half hour massage in the spa which we really enjoyed. It was more a relaxing massage than a deep tissue muscle massage.

The airport is massive and it can be close to a kilometre walk to get from terminal E to C past the lengthy terminal D.