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It’s Back! 100% Bonus on US Airways Miles Purchases

by on August 8, 2011 · 100 comments

in star alliance, US Airways

US Airways is known for selling their miles at firesale prices and they just announced yet another 100% buy miles promotion until September 15, 2011.

The great thing about this is that you don’t have to redeem those miles on US Airways - you can use them for flights on all 27 Star Alliance airlines: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Blue1, BMI, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, Swiss International Air Lines, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways International, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.
and other US Airways partners are: Bahamasair, Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Jet, Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian.

100% bonus.. music to my ears!

The maximum amount of bonus miles per account is 50,000, so 100,000 miles will cost $1,478. 100,000 miles will get you from North America to Europe in business class roundtrip (60,000 for coach). 60,000 miles will get you to Europe in business class roundtrip, off-peak (Jan/Feb). 90,000 miles will get you from North America to North Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Mongolia, S. Korea, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and 110,000 is North America to Africa in business class (60,000 for coach).

$1,478 for 100,000 miles when all is said and done

For full details of their award levels check out their award/upgrade charts on my master list page and read my post on maximizing US Airways awards. See also my last post when this deal ran in June.

Overall, this is a great deal but do the math and check Star Alliance award availability (Continental.com, Aeroplan.com or using the ANA tool) for those flights you want before you buy. The bonus does post immediately, but you need to have had a Dividend Miles account for at least 12 days. If you don’t have a Dividend Miles account, you can open one here for free.

I bought $1,478 worth of US Airways miles in June, so I’ll probably sit this one out, though I’ll probably help a bunch of clients and family/friends take advantage of it. As always, feel free to ask any questions in the comments section.

Hat tip TPG reader Larry!

T&C
Offer available for purchases made between August 8 and September 15, 2011, 11:59 MT. All purchases are non-refundable. Bonus mile amounts will be awarded upon completion of the transaction. The maximum number of Buy Bonus miles that can be received by one member for this offer is 50,000 bonus miles. All miles purchased beyond this limit will not be eligible for a bonus. Offer is subject to change. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Only purchases made online are eligible for the bonus. Miles purchased through Buy, Share or Gift Miles do not count towards Dividend Miles Preferred status. All other Dividend Miles Terms and Conditions apply. Please note that Dividend Miles accounts less than 12 days old are not permitted to Buy, Share or Gift miles. Award seats are capacity controlled and may not be available for the requested dates or mileage amounts.

Miles are sold for $0.0275 per mile plus a tax recovery charge of 7.5%. GST/HST will be charged to Canadian residents. Miles purchased through Buy, Share or Gift Miles do not count towards Dividend Miles Preferred status. All other Dividend Miles Terms and Conditions apply. Please note that Dividend Miles accounts less than 12 days old are not permitted to Buy, Share or Gift Miles. All purchases are non-refundable.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

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  • http://www.euanross.com Euan

    Never collected miles with a US based airline before but might look at US Airways given I can use them for Europe to North Asia for 100,000 miles return in First class.

    If not for this offer then the next one… they seem to sell miles like they are going out of fashion.

  • Outs

    How long before these miles expire?

  • Outs

    How long before these miles expire?

  • http://www.euanross.com Euan

    According to this page (http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/memberguide.html ) “Miles are subject to forfeiture if no miles have been earned or redeemed within a consecutive 18-month period” but as I am no US Airways expert I’m sure someone will tell me if I’m wrong.

  • Flyer

    I have been thinking about adding the US Air search bar to one of my browsers. I believe you earn points for searches. This would keep my purchased US Air points alive.

  • Newby

    I am not at all familiar with US airways. I have a Newby question. My standard route is Boston to Vienna. I just booked a Business class ticket on Continental.com using Lufthansa metal. Cost was 105K miles and around 150 dollars tax and fees. Pretty easy and no brainer set up. Exactly the way i like it. How easy or difficult it is to do something similar using US airways miles?

  • Anonymous

    You’d do the same exact search and find the Star Alliance award availability using Continental.com but instead of buying it there- just write down the flight numbers and then call US Airways to use your US Airways miles to book those flights. US Air and Continental pull from the same pool of Star Alliance availability. US does block some flights, so I recommend identifying the award space, putting it on hold with US Airways (which they will do for 3 days) and then buying the miles.

  • Benchshirt

    Will this effect the grand slam promotion?

  • Mooper

    If you hold the Barclays US-branded credit card and book via the US website, you get another 5K miles off… so that off-peak Europe biz-class award can be 55,000 miles if you time it right. That amounts to just a few hundred dollars!

    @Euan – Yes, the miles expire if not touched for 18 months, but there are many ways to refresh that date. For example, download their toolbar, make a couple of clicks, then uninstall it. Alternatively, order a bar off soap from Drugstore.com or another cheap purchase from a shopping partner. Make yourself a note a couple of months before expiration to be sure you renew the date if needed.

  • Guest

    Do you also get 2 points per dollar spent with US Air card?

  • Kakakhel

    I am interested in flying to Singapore. Does anyone know how many miles do you require to fly business class to Singapore on Singapore airlines?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718014894 Jeff Broman

    It looks like they changed the program this time compared to the past. You only get a 100% bonus if you buy at the 10K, 20K, 30K, 40K and 50K levels. If you buy mileage in between those increments you do not get a 100% bonus. Example: If you buy between 20K-29K miles you would only get 20K mile bonus.

  • HikerT

    Nope, it posts as a points.com purchase not US Airways.

  • HikerT

    Too bad it didn’t come back before the tax holiday ended.

  • Victoria

    Newbie question, but I’m new at the mileage game, so it’s appropriate I hope. :D I am looking at joining in on this offer, but I would prefer to use the miles on a Continental flight (my hometown is Houston, so the direct flights there are great from AMS, preferable to routing through Philly.) Looking at continental.com, the SaverPass BusinessFirst cost for Feb 2012 is 100,000 miles, while on US airways the Envoy cost for Feb 2012 is 60,000. Does anyone know if it’s possible to get the US price on the CO flights? thanks a million!

  • PJ

    if this is a good deal then Sapphire Preferred is a true top deal: 50K to spend 3000 dollars on something :Amex Gift cards Amazon Gift cards or even pay fee added tproperty tax let alone some other legitimate expenses if you can get approved. Am I correct ?
    Wonder why Citi and Amex classify Amex Gift card as IN eligible item

  • Anonymous

    Unfortunately the offpeak rate is only good for us airways operated flights

  • Anonymous

    Sapphire preferred is indeed a great deal as well. It’s actually 53,500 points when you factor in the annual 7% bonus on points earned!

  • Victoria

    Curses! Well, it was worth a shot. I am curious why there’s a difference between the ANA search results for Continental (85k) vs continental.com (100k) for the exact same dates- have you ever seen this before?

    Thanks by the way for an awesome site, it’s first on my list of daily sites to check now!

  • Anonymous

    Each airline has their own individual award chart. For example ANA is based on the distance of the flight. It only costs 63,000 miles for virgin Atlantic business class JFK-LHR vs 100k using continental miles!

  • Victoria

    Ah, ok- thanks for the info! I’m waiting for the 12 days to pass on my shiny new Dividend Miles account and then will be taking advantage of this offer- thanks again for the superfast responses and all the great info!

  • NYQ

    Question! Can I buy a ticket through Asiana for my friend not for me???

  • NYQ

    of course using this US-Airways miles… I meant. :) )

  • PJ

    thanks Brian I got my younger daughter 50K+50K bump with me as authorized user since I was working on the BA 2500/3month spend THE OLDFASHIONED WAY ( no coin purchase no gift cards labor intensive isnt it ? ) My older daughter alreay replied to the invitation to Sapphire Regular which i think can be ezily talked up to Prefered. how is the chance to get approved on Sapphire Preferred while i am waiting on Southwest and Hyatt cards ? now I have only 2 very aged Freedom cards from Chase.

  • Anonymous

    Yep- us airways doesn’t care who the ticket is for.

  • Vishal

    Is there a way to go from JFK/EWR to MEL using only 100K miles? I found availability with Continental.com albeit for 160K miles in Coach.

  • Michael Acevedo

    Wow, I’m going to go into debt if US Air keeps this up.

  • http://heerow.com/goheerow Heerow

    If I purchased a biz class ticket on ANA from LAX to HND for the end of the month, can I purchase US miles and apply that towards an upgrade to First?

  • Anonymous

    Depends on the fare class, but technically it should be possible. See more info here http://www.usairways.com/EN-US/DIVIDENDMILES/STAR-ALLIANCE-UPGRADE.HTML?C=01177

  • Newbie

    OK. I’m completely new to redeeming points for travel. I searched for flights from SEA-BNE and it returned itinerary for SEA-NRT-BKK-BNE. Does this still fall under the category of a flight from North America to South Pacific (110,000 points for business class)?

  • Nick

    I’m looking to do PIT -> HNL in summer of 2012. Right now, ticket prices are at least $1000 per person (trip is for my wife and I, so 2 tickets needed). This would be great if 100K miles would be enough for two people, but I doubt it is. I have 15K in my Dividend Miles acct. Any advice on this being possible or the cheapest time to buy the tickets (and when to go – it can be June, July or August). I often see people quote award prices for way less than I can find, but I assume it’s because I’m always looking at peak times.

  • Anonymous

    I’m sure you can make it happen- just do searches for Saver availability on continental.com and whatever comes up you can book using US miles.

  • Will

    Am I correct to understand the partner award list from US Air is written as one way award? It sure cost a lot more than AA’s partner awards in terms of miles required.

  • Mitch

    No, it’s done on a round-trip basis.

  • Ozaer N.

    Question on this deal: Is it possible to fly to Asia through Europe so I can experience F on TG using US miles? I know in the past, their routing rules were a bit lax…

  • RakSiam

    US’s chart has lower mileage requirements to Australia than UA/CO does. US-South Pacific which includes Australia is 110k in C and 140K in F

  • Will

    Oh it is? In that case it would be a good deal…thx for the info!

  • Greg

    Does Continental or United ever have offers like this?

  • Anonymous

    Nothing this generous. Continental is especially stingy about selling miles

  • Anonymous

    yes, you should be able to

  • Chada

    Sweet just bought 20 ooo+20,000. Added to the 50,000+50,000 July deal n new SPG Amx card 20,000 +5000 now have 165,000mls for $2230 ish. Going toThailand. http://www.baanyanuiseaview.com,YYZ-DUS-CDG-BKK-HKT. HKT BKK MUC YUL YTZ. Thank s to TPG.

  • Chada

    In. FIRST. on LH,TG, duh!

  • Vishal

    So you mean I should be able to book coach on Continental for only 110K US miles?

  • Anonymous

    North America to Africa is 70k in coach.

    I know because I specifically bought 70k miles last time to do that trip (with a stopover in Europe).

  • Anonymous

    North America to Africa is 70k in coach.

    I know because I specifically bought 70k miles last time to do that trip (with a stopover in Europe).

  • Anonymous

    It’s actually both. They don’t do one ways, so a roundtrip and a one way cost the same. But you do get one stopover or open jaw.

  • http://www.syalam.com/ Sheehan Alam

    How can I use US Airway Dividend Miles to book on Continental? Continental seems to have better options to LHR.

  • http://saiwing.myopenid.com/ That guy

    Newbie question: buying points qualifies as spend on credit cards (towards the sign on bonuses), right? Thanks!

  • Newby

    Thank You

  • Jason West

    Is this valid for non-US residents then? Last time the terms and conditions stated US only.

    Cheers

  • Yaswanth

    @TPG – I’ve got an award reservation on hold until the midnight of the 10th from DTW to FRA Business Class and FRA to BLR First Class and coming back BLR to FRA First Class and FRA to DTW Business Class. So really only half the itinerary is First Class and the other half is Business Class due to lack of availability. Since they will charge me 160K Miles anyway do you think this is worth it or should I do Business Class the entire way and save 40k miles? I only have 110k so I need to buy 10k or 50k miles so that’s why I ask. Want to make sure I’m making a smart decision. Thanks :)

  • EuroFlyer

    This sounds like an awesome deal.

    But before committing to it, I wanted to know how difficult it is to redeem those miles for flights on partner airlines. I tried a few sample searches and every time I am getting the following error:
    “We’re sorry. We are unable to price this itinerary online. Please try again. If you continue to receive this message, call 800-327-7810 for assistance in booking your trip.”

    Is there some kind of trick to actually get the available flights to show? I know there’s plenty of availability (Continental.com).

  • Phuucnguyen

    I want to redeem for F with itineries LAX-FRA-BKK// BKK-MUC (stopover)-LAX. How many miles are needed ? 160k or 120K (since many FT’ers said US agents don’t care if North Asia or South Asia). Thanks

  • http://www.facebook.com/Elchananpdx Elchanan van Herpen

    We just bought 40.000 more miles in addition to the 100.000 mile we bought in june, Most first class flight to asia via europe are 140.000 thats a 90% discount on or trip !! real price was $15.674

  • Mark

    Can you use both the buy and share promotions to get more than 50k bonus miles? I’m looking at a 120k award and I’d like to use the 50k buy miles and a 10k share miles promo to get 120k, but I hope I don’t have to pay for an additional 10k miles

  • Mark

    Can you use both the buy and share promotions to get more than 50k bonus miles? I’m looking at a 120k award and I’d like to use the 50k buy miles and a 10k share miles promo to get 120k, but I hope I don’t have to pay for an additional 10k miles

  • Jimgotkp

    Good luck with that. SQ has really poor availability in premium cabins on their “better” aircrafts (A380, 77W, etc).

  • Jimgotkp

    No. They had this promotion the past two years along with the GS promotion.

  • Jimgotkp

    A reason why people are calling them the “consolidator of Star Alliance awards”

  • Guest

    can they have the “tax recovery charge” when the tax expired and has yet to be renewed

  • Anonymous

    It was renewed as of Monday :-(

  • Ellylex

    Question: when I check availability on continental I see award flights available at EasyPass levels. Would those flights be available via USAir since StarAlliance award chart doesn’t have different award levels (only class ones – econ, business, first)? When I called them – I got a negative answer. Do those award seats have to be available as SaverPass in order for USAir to see/have them available? Thanks

  • Ellylex

    Question: when I check availability on continental I see award flights available at EasyPass levels. Would those flights be available via USAir since StarAlliance award chart doesn’t have different award levels (only class ones – econ, business, first)? When I called them – I got a negative answer. Do those award seats have to be available as SaverPass in order for USAir to see/have them available? Thanks

  • Anonymous

    Only Saverpass are bookable with US miles

  • Anonymous

    Find the Saverpass flights you want on continental.com and then call US Airways and give them the dates and flight numbers

  • Anonymous

    yep! It just looks like a purchase from points.com

  • Anonymous

    I think this is available for anyone..there was even mention on a special tax for Canadians

  • Anonymous

    I would just do biz the whole way, personally

  • Anonymous

    Anything that is available on continental.com as Saverpass will be bookable with US miles. You’ll just need to call US and give them the dates and flight numbers

  • Anonymous

    Yes- you can both buy and share

  • Ellylex

    Thank You. With your confirmation it makes it easier to search for an award seat.
    PS Also, does ANA and/or Aeroplan show same inventory that would be available through USAir?

  • Anonymous

    Yep ANA is probably the most accurate

  • Ellylex

    Last comment/question for today ))) – maybe you can explain. Continental didn’t show SaverPass, only EasyPass, but when I just called USAir I was told that seats are available for portion of the route (need DME-SFO) – 4 seats in business and 4 in economy on Oct 8 LH1451 DME-FRA. I was surprised.

    2nd: if USAir miles are redeemed for LH flight – is their fuel charge just that LH charges when using their own miles? (I just found out that they have this practice for many years now).

    Thank You

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  • Mike S.- Dayton

    Just a note: It might be worth waiting to make this purchase after hearing about a possible US Airways Grand Slam 2011 announcement, which traditionally has started on 9/1. So, you’d get a Grand Slam credit for “buying miles” along with the 100% bonus.

  • San Mateo

    Can I combine this with gifting miles? I want to transfer miles from my mom’s account (she passed away last year) to my brother, and am waiting for the 100% match promotion – I missed it last year.

  • j k

    I’m not sure ANA is the most accurate. It shows an SFO – ICN trip as 90k miles when on Continental the same trip shows up as 120k miles.

  • Anonymous

    Each program has a different amount they charge for each award. ANA isn’t for figuring out how many miles a trip is- but whether the award availability is there or not

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  • Funkdrr

    can i buy these miles and transfer them to continental or united?
    Thanks

  • DUTCH GUY

    The best ticket we ever booked!!

    SEA-FRA LUFTHANSA IN FIRST (STOPOVER IN EUROPE FOR 30 DAYS)
    FRA-HGK THAI IN FIRST (STOPOVER 5 DAYS HONGKONG)
    HGK-BKK THAI IN BUSINESS (7 DAY STOPOVER)
    BKK-DPS THAI IN BUSINESS (8DAY STOPOVER
    DPS-SIN-HGK ON SINGAPORE IN BUSINESS
    HGK-FRA ON THAI FIRST
    FRA-SEA ON LUFTHANSA FIRST (SO IN CAN SEE THE FIRST CLASS TERMINAL IN FRANKFURT)

    STAR ALLIANCE!!
    120.000 USA TO HGK IN FIRST
    60.000 HGK TO DPS IN BUSINESS
    WE WILL BE FLYING WITH 4 GAY GUY’S
    I WAS ON THE PHONE 6 TIMES 4 HOURS TOTAL
    AND 10 HOURS PREP WORK

    Thanks Point guys you rock!!

  • Yaswanth

    Dutch guy,

    Congrats on the awesome itinerary! How were you able to get seats in First on Lufthansa going across the Atlantic? They are supposed to be very hard to impossible to get with US Air miles b/c of their blocking. I am trying from DTW-FRA and I cannot find any First there or back. How soon or later is this trip of yours?

  • Anonymous

    No- you can’t physically transfer them, but you could redeem for United/Continental travel using them

  • Anonymous

    Yes- gifting and buying and transferring are all different things

  • Anonymous

    Nice- enjoy the first class lounge at Frankfurt! You’ll get picked up from the plane in a Mercedes or Porsche Cayenne and taken directly to the First Class Terminal. Sounds like an amazing trip indeed!

  • Lemur

    Hello! Just trying to work out the time differences for the last day to buy/gift miles because I’m in Australia (Perth) and my pay day coincides with 15 Sept !!!

    “T&C
    Offer available for purchases made between August 8 and September 15, 2011, 11:59 MT. ”

    What timezone is this please??? I can’t find any abbreviation for timezone MT, only MST which is Mountain Standard Time. Does this sound right?

  • Vupadhayay

    That was R/T, right?

  • Rglidew77

    Question for the Points Guy: I think I’ll take advantage of the offer, will fit my Spring travel plans with partner airlines–I am assuming I should wait until Sept. 15 to buy for the Grand Slam, but is there a more adventatious way to buy the 100,00 miles other than just a card with airlines points for each dollar you spend?
    Thanks

  • Anonymous

    Correct- Grand Slam starts 9/14 and the buy miles promo ends 9/15 so you have 2 days to overlap

  • Anonymous

    Mountain Time which is Eastern Time -2

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  • Wilson

    Hi TPG, found your blog by “accident” and i’m glad i did – amazing, amazing blog! so much info.
    Question: I;m a CO plat and have almost never used US air. Looking to get in on the action cause but i find something puzzling – DUTCH GUY mentioned he booked a ticket from SEA to HKG through FRA for 120,000 in First. Is it valid to go America – Europe -North Asia for the same miles amount as America -North Asia????
    CO for sure won’t let me do something like that……………..
    And if so, does this mean i can do TLV-FRA – SFO (STOPOVER)- HKG for the miles amount needed for travel from Middle East to North Asia? I’m assuming not but am i wrong??

    And one more question if i may – someone here stated that US air agents “dont care if it’s North Asia or South Asia”. Is this true? bacause it would be a big deal for me.

    Thanks!!!

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  • Dutchguypdx

    Yes It is R/T

  • Dutchguypdx

    And we were just upgraded to the Thai airline 77W suite !

  • Dutchguypdx

    sorry for the very late responds,
    We are both teacher and have a lot of flexibility , using Ana tool and talking to more the 5 us-airways call center reps

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  • Ginaperrig

    can i enter my old continental one pass member miles to us airways when i book my next flight

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