Every loyalty program has some sort of system where you can miles.\u00a0\u00a0 Usually, they are a terrible option.<\/p>\n
Take US Airways for example, for reasons that will become clear shortly.\u00a0\u00a0 Their web site<\/a> even has a promotion for “double miles” when you purchase them.\u00a0\u00a0 Let’s see how this stacks up.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here is the offer:<\/p>\n 2.5 cents per mile So 50,000 miles multiplied by 2.5 cents a mile is $1250.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Add in the “processing fee” and you get $1280.\u00a0\u00a0 For that, they will give you a 50,000 miles plus another 50,000 mile bonus for a total of 100,000 Dividend miles.\u00a0 That works out to 1.28 cents per mile.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That may or may not be worth it, depending on how you read their new, revised (devalued) reward chart<\/a>, or their Star Alliance reward chart<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t forget to include all of their fees<\/a> in your value calculation.<\/p>\n Now, whatever you do, don’t their miles until you read this:<\/p>\n Their New Promotion<\/strong><\/p>\n Several bloggers including Gary Leff over at View From The Wing<\/a>, and Richard Ingersoll over at the Frugal Travel Guy<\/a> have done the math and found out that this new promotion<\/a> at US Airways\u00a0 allows you to accumulate miles at .7 cents per mile, almost half of what US Airways is selling them for.\u00a0\u00a0 Essentially, they are giving a 250% bonus for miles earned through their shopping portal. \u00a0\u00a0 One of their merchants in particular, TrackItBack,<\/a> gives a whopping 40 miles per dollar spent on their product, some kind of identification sticker that you put on your stuff in case it gets lost. \u00a0 \u00a0 40 miles plus the 250% bonus equals 140 miles per dollar, or .7 cents ($0.007) per mile. \u00a0 I will let you read their work on the subject to get all of the details, and the details are<\/strong><\/em> important.<\/p>\n Gary deduces that you can get a business class ticket\u00a0 to Europe for $570 on a Star Alliance partner.\u00a0 You could also get a business class ticket to central or southern Asia on most any of the Star Alliance partners<\/a> for $840.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At that rate, you might as well go first class for a mere $1120.<\/p>\n Of course there are a couple risks, albeit minor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First, US Airways could devalue their Star Alliance rewards by requiring more miles and limiting access to available rewards.\u00a0\u00a0 The real fear is that they might do that some time between now and March 1st, when they are supposed to credit the bonus miles.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I doubt they could devalue them so much that it would cost more to book that had you paid cash.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As with any airline reward, you must assume there are capacity restrictions on everything.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This strategy is for people who can plan travel far in advance and have some flexibility in their travel arrangements.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It also helps if you can get to your destination on US Airways, as their award chart for next year has already been disclosed.<\/p>\n My Addition<\/strong><\/p>\n There is another way to lower your cost on this promotionthat I don’t think I have seen other bloggers have mentioned yet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When you get your hundreds of TrackItBack stickers, put them on eBay.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They may not have a lot of value, but you should get something<\/em> in cash back from your miles.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, you should get a little cash back from your credit card as well.<\/p>\n An Example My friend Shawn and his mother wants to fly to Paris for the Tour de France next year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Currently, round trip tickets in coach are running about $1700 each from Denver to Paris in the middle of July.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let’s say that they follow all of the instructions for the promotion very carefully, and finish with an order of $1800 in TrackItBack stickers, but only after<\/strong> making five or six very small purchases from other partners as required by the rules<\/p>\n By March, they have now earned 250,000 dividend miles.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They have consulted the revised US Airways award chart <\/a> that will be in effect after January 6th and realized that the “High” award tickets to Europe are now a maximum of 125,000 miles in coach on US Airways.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This award should be available, so long as they do not have to travel on the blackout dates <\/a>July 18 and July 25.\u00a0\u00a0 If they are lucky, I suppose\u00a0 that there is some possibility that they might have a “medium” award available for 90,000 miles, leaving them with 35,000 extra miles each for future travel.\u00a0\u00a0 If they are both smart and lucky, they will consult the Star Alliance partner award chart<\/a>, and find out that the current price of award travel on a partner such as Lufthansa in First<\/strong><\/em> Class<\/strong><\/em> is also 125,000 miles.\u00a0\u00a0 Even business class is only 80,000 miles and that is a fantastic experience.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, they don’t even offer First Class on their daily flight out of Denver, but I would make an extra change of planes just to experience it, if it were available.<\/p>\n So with taxes and fees, they might end up paying only $2000 for both of their seats to Europe, instead of $3400.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is that oh so tempting chance that they might do the trip in business class or even first, but it is hard to say considering they will only be able to book their July trip in March. \u00a0 \u00a0 Only in the world of award travel is planning nearly five months ahead considered to be last minute travel.\u00a0 \u00a0 Who knows, perhaps part of the $1400 saved will be used to purchase a nice replica Yellow Jersey for yours truly.<\/p>\n Go Lance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every loyalty program has some sort of system where you can miles.\u00a0\u00a0 Usually, they are a terrible option. Take US Airways for example, for reasons that will become clear shortly.\u00a0\u00a0 Their web site even has a promotion for “double miles” when you purchase them.\u00a0\u00a0 Let’s see how this stacks up.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here is the offer: 2.5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n$30 processing fee
\n50,000 miles maximum per transaction<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n