Just a reminder that this week is your last opportunity to buy US Airways miles with a 100% bonus, as the promotion ends on Sunday May 25, 2014. The bonus amounts are as follows:
- Purchase 10,000-19,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
- Purchase 20,000-29,000 miles, get a 75% bonus
- Purchase 30,000-50,000 miles, get a 100% bonus
You can purchase a maximum of 50,000 miles. This is an excellent opportunity, especially if you choose to purchase all 50,000 miles, as the cost is lowered to about 1.88 cents per mile. Miles normally cost cost 3.5 cents each, plus a 7.5% tax.
With the 100% bonus on 50,000 miles, you could fly business class to Europe on Turkish Airlines.
Rules and Limitations
1. You must be a Dividend Miles member for at least 12 days.
2. If you Gift Miles the 100% bonus goes to the person who receives the miles – not the one transferring them.
3. The maximum number of Buy and Gift Bonus miles that can be received by one member for this offer is 50,000 bonus miles (so 100,000 total including the bonus miles).
4. Share transactions are not eligible for this bonus.
5. Miles are purchased at $0.35 plus 7.5% tax recovery charge, and GST/HST will be charged to Canadian residents.
6. This transaction is processed by points.com, so it won’t count towards airfare multiplier categories like the 3x on the Amex Premier Rewards Gold or 2x on Chase Sapphire Preferred and the no-fee Barclaycard Arrival.
7. Bonus amounts will be awarded upon completion of the transaction.
8. Miles purchased through Buy, Share or Gift Miles do not count towards Dividend Miles Preferred status.
Should You Buy?
Of course, if you were already planning to buy US Airways miles, now would clearly be the time to do so. If you’re unsure, consider your own travel needs and what awards you’re most likely to redeem the miles for.
US Airways recently exited Star Alliance and joined Oneworld, though it retained some Star Alliance partners including EVA, Singapore Airlines and South African Airways. That means great award redemptions with your Dividend Miles are available both on certain Star Alliance carriers and new Oneworld partners like Cathay Pacific and Qantas. Read my list of the Top 11 Awards To Book With US Airways Miles Now That It Is A Member of Oneworld for some ideas.
Purchasing miles may also make sense if you plan on flying long haul, especially in business class. Consider that if you buy the full 50,000 miles (generating 100,000 miles) you are technically spending $1,881.25 ($1,750 pre-tax) for 100,000 miles. You could easily use those miles to fly on partner airline Turkish Air to Istanbul for 100,000 miles roundtrip in business class.
However, if you only plan on flying short haul around the US, this deal may not be worth it, so it depends on your personal travel agenda. Economy redemptions generally offer less value, but US Airways does have some flexible routing options that might make domestic award flights worthwhile. Using the purchased miles for economy redemptions to Europe during peak times (like in the summer) might also end up being cheaper than paying for a ticket. Also, note that you get 5,000 miles off US Airways awards if you have the US Airways MasterCard, though this benefit is set to expire in 2015.
I will definitely take advantage of this promotion by buying the full 50,000 miles to get 100,000 miles; you have another few days left to decide if you will as well.