There has been several posts with speculation on when the two programs will be merged, and the general consensus is that US Airways Dividend Miles will be ported over to American AAdvantage miles on March 28, 2015.
In the meantime, you can logon to either the US Airways or American Airlines site, where you'll have the option to link your accounts to make the transition easier, once the programs merge.
I've reached out to American Airlines in regards to an official date, but they haven't given an official date yet.
Here are some helpful tips when redeeming your US Airways Dividend Miles:
Avoid Long Wait Times: One suggestion is to call American Airlines [1-800-433-7300] and have them transfer you to a Dividend Miles agent, which may result in a lesser wait time. Another strategy is to call the Spanish-speaking phone line to get an agent more quickly. The agents are generally bilingual and will help you in English as well.
Utilize Routing Rules to Book Amazing Itineraries: The US Airways partner award chart has some great bargains. You can fly from the US and Canada to Southeast Asia in First Class for 160,000 miles round-trip, and you can leverage it into an even longer trip.
Searching for Award Space: To find Oneworld award space, I recommend using the British Airways Avios search function on BA.com. It shows most Oneworld partner flights. You can search leg by leg for award space and write down exactly the flights you want. When you get an US Airways agent on the phone, feed them the segments one by one. If your itinerary is complex, they’ll have to put you on hold and go to the rate desk to figure out taxes and fees, and tell you if your itinerary is a valid routing.
Do you have any suggestions for booking US Airways awards? Feel free to share your tips below![card card-name='Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® MasterCard®' card-id='22144516' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']
