I’m a little behind on emails this week, so my apologies if this has been blogged about by others. But anytime I see words like win 100,000 miles, I feel like it’s worth mentioning here just in case I’m not the only one that missed the email. US Airways has launched a gift registry, and to celebrate they are running a contest. Enter the US Airways Miles Gift Registry Sweepstakes and you could win 100,000 Dividend Miles and $2,000 dollars cash. Enter between now and June 30, 2012.

Contest Registration Link.

Contest Rules.

I received an email from US Airways this afternoon offering a 90 percent bonus on purchased Dividend Miles. The email states “We’ve specially selected you to receive a 90% bonus. All you have to do is buy miles May 1 – 15, 2012, and you’ll automatically receive your bonus. This offer is exclusively for you and is non-transferrable.”

I’m not a fan of buying miles historically, but certainly would consider doing so if I had a specific award in mind and needed the miles to top off my account. Since this offer appears to be highly targeted, this post is more of an FYI, check your inbox and spam filter thing than a run and register for this asap deal. Nonetheless, the registration link is here if you wish to check it out. Again, YMMV.

Just prior to posting, I did a quick scan of Boardingarea to see if anyone else had posted about this. I see Points, Miles, and Martinis was targeted for the same offer. Good comments there too. Seems some others may be targeted for an 80 percent bonus. Feel free to share your experiences here.

It’s a really quiet Sunday afternoon at the US Airways B/C Club in Philadelphia. I’m sure things are busier over at the A terminal with the upcoming wave of international outbounds, but wow, it’s almost serene here. I arrived at Newark Liberty (EWR) a little earlier than I’d planned. Wandered through security and down to my gate. Found the earlier flight to Philadelphia (PHL) boarding and figured what the heck. I just asked if I could take the earlier flight, and sure enough, the agent moved me right onto the flight.

I arrived in PHL in time to take an earlier flight to Washington (DCA), but I decided to camp out here, relax, and explore the US Club. Not to mention, my choice was taking an earlier CRJ flight, or waiting for my A319 flight where I have exit row seating. The Airbus won! After a quick stop at Vino Volo, my favorite airport hangout , I wandered up to the B/C club. Life is good. I also had a chance to check out US Airways version of “heartier” snacks in the afternoon for the European departures, a change they’ve put in place in Charlotte and Philadelphia. I didn’t bother with the fire roasted vegetable soup (which looked great), but did go for the olives, chips & salsa, cheese, and crackers. Here’s an example of my domestic airline lounge smorgasbord!

I’m a fan of olives, what can I say? And no, the Mi-Fi was not included. A fitting wind down to a fantastic Frequent Traveler University weekend. I’ll have a few words about this weekend’s FTU event coming up early this week. Stay tuned.

Look, I like US Airways. Yes, I realize that places me a little behind everyone else, but they really are running a reasonably reliable airline. They also sent me an email tonight that details something useful they are offering to some flyers. US Airways is calling it PreferredAccess. Here’s the scoop according to them.

Soon we will extend the PreferredAccess program to allow non-Preferred customers to add priority check-in, security and boarding to their trip during Web Check-in for a fee. This new program will not change your Preferred benefits. You’ll still enjoy complimentary priority check-in and security as you do now. In addition, you and your traveling companions will still board with the same priority – right after First Class and Envoy passengers. Customers who pay for PreferredAccess will board after you. And, you’ll continue to enjoy all the rewards of being a Preferred member, including unlimited complimentary upgrades, waived baggage fees, Preferred seating and more.

This is nothing that the other airlines aren’t doing. Offering certain “preferred” services in exchange for a fee. One thing I will say. This adds fuel to the fire of those who say that entry level elite status is no longer worth pursuing. I mean seriously, most of the airlines are offering the benefits of entry level status to all flyers, either through a credit card or these fee-added offers. Yes, I still get an upgrade to first class from time to time that these benefits don’t offer, but I have to acknowledge that most of the benefits of entry level elite status are now matched by carrying a particular credit card of your preferred airline or by paying a small fee. What do you think?

Well, this morning’s news about deals in the works between US Airways and the unions representing the majority of employees of American Airlines surely turned a lazy Friday on its head. I don’t comment on the viability of mergers, airline business plans, or anything else semi-controversial as a matter of practice. Not that I can’t, just that I don’t…and I have my reasons. That said, watch this one closely. I’ve predicted it for at least 3 years in private conversations. Could a three-way deal between US, BA and the money people known as TPG be in the offing, only time will tell. And no, I don’t know anything. Just speculating.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think a business combination between US and AA is the end of the world as we know it. In fact, I’ve often wondered what a bunch of outside the box thinkers might be able to accomplish with just such a franchise. I think I’ll pour myself another glass of cab, light a cigar, and watch with great interest. This could be an enlightening adventure for all of us.

Petfooddirect.com and US Airways Dividend Miles have a semi-decent deal going. You can earn up to 10,000 bonus miles for purchasing your everyday pet needs through Petfooddirect.com. MrsMJonTravel and I have a large herd of orange cats that really like to eat. We’ve started ordering all of their food, liter, and other stuff through Petfooddirect.com. You can even order your pet prescription diet needs through their online store. I wouldn’t call this “lucrative,” but if you are ordering pet food, why not earning a few miles for it?

Mister Kitty loves flying First Class with his MacBook Air too.

Just in from US Airways:

Buy an annual membership in the US Airways club and get 2 free months. Additionally, you will receive 2,500 Preferred Qualifying Miles as a bonus.

Enroll online at usairways.com

Enter promotion code CLB14

Here are the Terms and Condtions

“Offer valid March 28 – April 3, 2012. Offer available to new US Airways Club annual memberships and US Airways Club memberships that are eligible for renewal. Promotion code ‘CLB14’ must be mentioned or entered when enrolling or renewing the membership in the US Airways Club to receive the bonus miles. New club members and club members renewing that use promotion code ‘CLB14′ will receive a 14 month membership and 2,500 bonus Preferred-qualifying miles. For new club member enrollments, the $50 initiation fee will be waived. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Purchase must be made online. Please allow up to 7 days for processing. All US Airways Club and Dividend Miles terms and conditions apply.”

I would only take advantage of this offer if I were thinking about joining the club anyway. 2500 PQMs are icing on the cake. I access the US Airways Club with my Amex Platinum so a club membership would not be worth it for me at this point in time. Of course, if they offered this late in the year, and I was 2,500 PQMs short of status…..well, you know.

Is it me, or is US Airways starting to put itself together? I’ve blogged previously about my positive experiences with the airline over the past several months, and today, things got even better. First, US Airways announced that it will begin nonstop service from my home airport, Washington National (DCA) to San Diego, California (SAN) in June. And then I learned the news I’ve really been waiting for, US Airways will finally move forward with inflight wi-fi across most of its mainline (A319/A320/A321) fleet AND Embraer 170/175/190 fleet. That’s awesome!

US Airways currently offers wi-fi on its A321 fleet. With the latest announcement, US will add wi-fi capabilities to its other Airbus narrow body aircraft and add GoGoVision capabilities which will offer customers access to movies, TV shows, games and other great content. This is good news for US Airways customers. I only wish the timeline for rollout to the mainline fleet was a little more aggressive than a fall 2012 start with completion in 2013. Guess I’ll take what I can get.

These are very positive moves by US Airways, and go a long way in making up for its paltry inflight entertainment offerings on domestic flights.

Now that about 2.4 million bloggers have weighed in with what a great deal the US Airways Dividend Miles hotel transfer bonus was or wasn’t, I thought I’d throw in my 2 cents. Like all things in the traveling life, this is a YMMV situation. Ric has one of the best analyses of anything miles/points related I’ve ever read. That said, I moved some Starpoints over to Dividend Miles. Why? I have a specific reward in mind, and I’ve been concentrating on pumping up my Dividend Miles account. For me, 37,500 Dividend Miles for 20,000 Starpoints seems like a swell deal. For you? Well, not to sound cliche’, but your mileage may vary. Spend those miles wisely.

All that said, this is just one more reason why I think the Starwood Preferred Guest program is evolving into one of the better values out there for travelers. Look for a post in the near future as to why I feel that way.

Just catching up on a few things. As the absolute last person on earth to blog about AA Elite Rewards 2012, AA’s Double EQM offer for folks from certain states, and who knows what else, I thought a “catch up” post was in order. Hat tip to Gary and MommyPoints.

As Gary notes, AA’s Elite Rewards 2012 has been announced. It’s nice that they announced early this year as opposed to late summer last year. Note that the rewards are based on elite qualifying points (EQPs), and not miles. If you can fly this much, the rewards are quite nice, especially for Executive Platinums who can choose 2 rewards ranging from 35,000 bonus miles, 2 EVIP certificates (systemwide upgrades), Admirals Club membership, or gifting Gold status to a friend. Notice I said you can choose 2….so you could theoretically get 4 EVIP certs for hitting the rewards threshold which in the case of Executive Platinums is 125,000 EQPs. Of course, 70,000 miles might be more valuable to you in some cases…… but I really like those 4 EVIP certs….. too bad I can only day dream of being Executive Platinum for the time being. Click here, and then register with code ELTA2.

MommyPoints shares good news on double elite qualifying miles (EQMs) from American for residents in certain states. American had previously announced a promotion for residents of California, Illinois, and Texas to earn double EQMs for flights between Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO). Better yet, flights between ORD and Orange County, CA (SNA) have now been added to the promotion. From Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), flights to LAX and SFO qualify. Click here to register.

As for me, I’m off to Atlanta tomorrow morning for a quick 2-night business trip. The whole world knows I prefer any of the three Atlanta area W Hotels to most anything else, but unfortunately, none of them are within walking distance of my job site in the A-T-L. And this week, that trumps everything since I’m packing a week’s worth of work into 2.5 days. So it’s back to my old standby, the Embassy Suites. Hey, at least I’ll be collecting triple Dividend Miles. My Delta Medallion upgrade has cleared, and life is good.

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself with the post title. Hey, don’t knock it. If you need to fly to Jackson, why not try US Airways’ new nonstop service between Washington, DC (DCA) and Jackson (JAN)? Book and fly by April 22, 2012.

The terms and conditions according to the email I received: “You must book by April 22, 2012 for travel March 5 – April 22, 2012 to earn double Preferred-qualifying miles on base miles flown. Miles count towards Preferred status and are earned on the DCA-JAN or JAN-DCA segments only. US Airways will award miles 1 – 2 weeks after travel has been completed. All Dividend Miles terms and conditions apply.”