Back on April 21 I noted that US Airways is offering new Dividend Miles members 1500 miles for signing up by July 31 by using promo code NM15.
The offer is here.
I figured that a post noting the offer by Points, Miles, and Martinis is a good reason to mention it again in case anyone comes across this blog that isn’t already a US Airways frequent flyer member. 1500 free miles makes it worth signing up.
While I don’t love the airline, I’ve certainly found the frequent flyer program to be lucrative — lots of great promotions for earning large number of miles at low cost, and amazing redemption possibilities using Star Alliance partner airlines with a reasonable award chart, no blocking of partner award seats (as United unfortunately does), and very few routing rules.
Some of the assessments about different airlines are based on the travel habits of the writers. While many travelers might be evaluating different airlines based on the value of miles and availability of seats only to the far East, others like me would look at them mostly from the point of view of their usefulness for Europe and South Asia travel. I have used Delta points for FC tickets to DEL with stopover in Paris, used NW miles (100K each) for trip to Athens with a stopover in Paris, used UA miles to DEL on Lufthansa FC and got the ROYAL treatment in Luft’s FC lounge at Frankfurt that FF’s rave about; and taken many other similar trips. With Air Canada you need 120K for FC travel to Asia, But 240K for travel to South Asia. What might appear like the best airline for mileage usage to one person might look like overpriced to somebody else. The assessment by individuals made solely on the basis of “the things I care about” is hardly rational. We always make reservations 8-10 months ahead of the travel date and try to be a bit flexible about the travel days of the week. That seems to do the trick. So, even the so-called sky-pesos come in handy for a well planned vacation with FC award travel on alliance partners.
@Ram Delta doesn’t even OFFER first class award redemption (now that Singapore is no longer a partner). And while Northwest was fine, that was long ago. Anything you can get with United (eg DEL) you can get with US Airways. There are only a few zones more expensive (eg US to Middle East) and US Airways doesn’t block awards as United does. Agree that Aeroplan is not a good option to India!
My apologies Gary, I was kinda listing all the international travel benefits I have derived from all kinds of airline miles in the past, some before the latest redemption restrictions; and why Aeroplan too has its limits. BTW, we used up most of the Delta/NW miles by making the reservations just before the NW/Delta miles merger last year, and were able to get 2 Biz tickets for 100K each on Air France to Athens. But boy were we lucky! We got there on April 13th night and the European airports started closing down soon after that. After 4 nights in Athens, we flew to Santorini, as scheduled, and when we came back to Athens, it was all clear and we had a smooth sailing to Paris, and after a 4 night stay there, to LAX.
I enjoy your blog and look forward to your posts every day. Keep up the good work.
Cheers!
Surely the fact that US Dividend Miles is a points.com partner means that you should sign up for this even if you have absolutely no intention of using the account??!!