Thursday, May 2, 2013

US Airways 100% bonus for purchasing miles

Right on the heels of Avianca's 100% bonus miles purchasing special, US Airways has followed suit with their own double miles purchasing offer:

Through May 31, 2013, when you buy or gift miles, you can get or give up to a 100% bonus – up to 50,000 miles.

  • Buy/gift 5,000 – 9,000 miles, get a 25% bonus
  • Buy/gift 10,000 – 19,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
  • Buy/gift 20,000 – 29,000 miles, get a 75% bonus
  • Buy/gift 30,000 – 50,000 miles, get a 100% bonus
Buying at least 30k miles (60k after bonus) is a no-brainer since your miles will be effectively doubled, thus coming out to 1.88 cents per mile.  This is more expensive than Avianca's 1.325 cents offer last month, but US Airways' promo can be a better deal for a number of popular routes since they have arguably the most lucrative award chart on the planet.  For example, an unparalleled gem of US Airways' award chart is the 90k miles for a roundtrip business class flight from North America to North Asia with a free stopover.  Free stopovers are normally limited to Star Alliance hubs, but this is often ignored by agents, who often allow flyers originating in North America to stopover in London or Paris en route to Hong Kong!  So the following around-the-world itinerary would cost you only $1,692 (90k x 1.88 cents) in business class:


Another gem of their award chart is travel within North Asia, which comes out to 25k miles for economy and a measly 30k miles for biz.  But remember that in order to maximize this offer, you'll want to buy at least 60k miles (after bonus) for $1,128.  That will top off 2 roundtrip biz flights from Sapporo to Hong Kong for only $564 each!

Keep in mind that when booking partner award flights with US Airways, you'll have to face incompetent phone agents and a $50 partner award booking fee.  Several calls may be required to book the actual flights that you want, but you still can't complain about an around-the-world business class flight for only $1,692.  If you're going to jump the gun, do it soon because US Airways is merging with American Airlines later this year with a consolidated frequent flyer program to go into effect next year.  Your miles will definitely be safe, but AA's award chart is not as lucrative for travel to and within Asia.

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