US Airways has a 100% bonus on shared miles October 1 – October 15, 2013, up to 50,000 miles for a total, with 100% bonus, of 100,000 Dividend Miles. Is it worth it?
First, the details:
- When you share miles with a friend or family member, the recipient receives a 100% bonus
- Maximum number of miles that may be shared is 50,000 miles, for a total of 100,000 miles including the 100% bonus
- Cost: $ 0.01 per mile + processing fee of $30 and a tax recovery charge of 7.5% (so, if you share 50K miles, for a total of 100K miles in the recipient's account, that costs $567.50. GST/HST charged to Canadian residents.
- Transaction is processed by points.com (so no benefit to using a credit card that earns bonus points for airline miles, since you will not earn those bonus miles on the transaction)
So, is this a good deal? It depends on your travel preferences and what you intend to do with the miles (or what your family member or friend that you share miles with plans to do). Here are some of the key reasons for and against taking advantage of the 100% share miles bonus
6 Reasons Not to Bother with the US Airways 100% Share Miles Bonus
1. No One Way Awards for 50% the Cost of Roundtrip
Unlike United, American and most other frequent flyer award programs, it's not possible to book a one way award using US Airways Dividend miles for half the price of a roundtrip–you'd pay the same amount as the roundtrip. At least for me, this is a real showstopper, particularly on longer trips when I want to be able to grab award seats when the calendar first opens.
2. No Changes to the Award After Travel Has Begun
This again is a real problem if you have a sudden change of plans. If you fall ill or have an emergency to attend to, you won't be able to change your award even for a fee after travel has begun.
3. No Lufthansa First Class
Lufthansa's first class is by no means the best first class product out there, but it's certainly better than Lufthansa business class or other business class products to Europe, and unfortunately you can't book Lufthansa First Class with US Airways miles, even last minute award space as you can with United miles. See US Airways Award Chart Confirms: No Lufthansa First Class Awards
4. No More Off Peak Envoy Awards to Europe
While I never took advantage of this, some folks loved being able to book US Airways Envoy seats between the U.S. (including Hawaii) and Europe for 60,000 miles roundtrip January 15-February 28, instead of the usual 100,000 miles. Well, RIP–there's no more off-peak discount for Envoy to Europe, although there still is the discount (to 35,000 miles instead of 60,000 miles) for coach awards during that time.
5. Officially, No Free One Ways Are Possible
With United and American awards it's possible to construct a free one way. See Use United Free One Ways to Maximize Your Award. This works because you're allowed both an open jaw and a stopover. With US Airways, however, you have to choose between a stopover and an open jaw. Now, given that awards aren't automated at US Airways the way they are at American, it may be possible to ticket an itinerary that gives you a free one way (since much stranger routings have been ticketed) but it's not a given and would violate US Airways award rules.
6. Expect Award Chart to Devalue with Little or No Notice
Given that there was no notice for the elimination of the off peak Envoy award between the U.S. and Europe, don't expect there to be much if any notice for other program “enhancements,” er, award chart devaluations.
3 Reasons To Take Advantage of the US Airways 100% Share Miles Bonus
1. Buy US Airways Dividend Miles at 1.1 Cents Per Mile
Taking into account the $0.01 per mile cost to share, the $30 processing fee and the 7.5% tax, when you share 50,000 miles and get 50,000 miles due to the 100% bonus, you're effectively buying Dividend Miles at 1.1 cents per mile. That's as good as it gets in terms of buying miles. The only way to get them cheaper is via credit card bonuses, naturally high spend, or manufactured spend.
2. Good Value Business Class Awards
There are some good value US Airways award redemptions, for example:
- 90K miles roundtrip U.S. to North Asia in Business Class (Update: Effective 4/8/14, US Air has increased the award price, with no notice, to 110K miles for Business Class to North Asia. See Bye Bye US Air 90K North Asia Business Class Awards)
- 110K miles roundtrip U.S. to Australia in Business Class
- 100K miles roundtrip South America to Europe in Business Class
- 30K miles roundtrip intra-South America in Business Class, e.g. Lima or Bogota to Buenos Aires
3. Off Peak Awards to the Caribbean and South America (and in Coach to Europe)
As noted above, there's no longer a discount for Envoy awards to Europe in the dead of winter, but there are still discounted coach awards to Europe, as well as discounted awards in both Envoy and Coach from the U.S. to the Caribbean and South America. The time frames are very limited, but if you can get it to work for you, these can be good deals.
Do you plan to share US Airways Dividend Miles with the 100% bonus?
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