US Airways 3,000 Mile Avis Rental Bonus Posting

I posted here, about the great US Airways 3,000 mile promotion with every 3 day Avis rental. While there are a few other rental car promotions out there that get you airline miles, this is my preferred promotion given my rental style.

The miles are beginning to post and I'm starting to rack up the US Airways miles:

Bottom Line

YTD I've earned 6,349 US Airways miles without even taking a single flight. Keep an eye out for the Delta 5,000 mile per Avis rental promotion that usually comes out towards the end of February.

3,000 USAirways Dividend Miles with Every Avis Rental

As I mentioned in my last post the rental car promotions for 2010 are being announced. So far we have a few Delta promotions for 1,500 and 2,010 miles.

Now USAirways is getting in on the game. They are offering 3,000 Dividend miles for every qualifying rental of 3 days or more through March 31, 2011!

Just book using the link below and enter promotion code: MUAA044


Details

Earn more miles when you rent with Avis!

• From January 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011, Dividend Miles Preferred Members can earn 3000 bonus miles on qualifying rentals at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S. and Canada.
• Rent for 3 days or more and receive 3000 bonus miles when you use Coupon # MUAA044.
• Provide your Dividend Miles number when making your reservation. This offer is in addition to your everyday savings of up to 25% when you use Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD) # K024300.

Terms and Conditions

• 3000 bonus miles on all car groups is valid from January 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011, on a qualifying rental at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S. and Canada.
• Please mention coupon MUAA044 to take advantage of this offer.
• Dividend Miles Number must be mentioned at the time of reservation or at the rental counter to receive bonus miles.
• Bonus miles are in addition to the base miles you receive each time you rent with Avis.
• Offer valid on daily, weekly, weekend and monthly rates with a 3 day minimum length of rental.
• An advance reservation is required.
• Offer may not be used with any other coupon, promotion or offer except your AWD discount.
• Offer subject to vehicle availability at the time of rental and may not be available on some rates at some times.
• The savings of up to 25% applies to Avis leisure weekly and weekend rates and is applicable only to the time and mileage charges of the rental.
• Taxes, concession recovery fees, vehicle license recovery fee, customer facility charges ($10/contract in CA) and fuel charges are extra.
• Optional items such as LDW ($35.99/day or less) and other surcharges may apply and are extra.
• Car rental return restrictions may apply.
• Offer subject to change without notice.
• Renter must meet Avis age, driver and credit requirements.
• Minimum rental age may vary by location. An additional daily surcharge may apply for renters under 25 years old.
• Frequent Flyer surcharge of up to U.S. $0.75 per day may apply.
• Mileage accrual structure subject to change.
• Rental must begin by March 31, 2011.

25,000 US Airways Dividend Miles with Sign Up

If you sign up for a US Airways account and fly 8 segments within 90 days, they are offering up to 25,000 miles. Register here. Hurry, you have to sign up by January 15th, 2010.


Details

Join now and you could get 25,000 miles.
Now's the time to join Dividend Miles. Every time you fly in your first 90 days, you're one step closer to award travel. All you have to do is join.

Fly at least one segment and you'll get an extra 500 miles in your Dividend Miles account. If you fly 8, we'll fast forward you to 25,000 miles, and that equals an award ticket.

Take 2 roundtrip flights, each with a connection, and you'll have 8 segments – it's that easy.

• Join Dividend Miles between October 19, 2009 and January 15, 2010.
• Fly between 1 and 7 segments during your first 90 days and you’ll get 500 bonus miles.
• Fly 8 or more segments during your first 90 days and we'll ‘round-up your miles' to 25,000 miles, enough for a domestic roundtrip award ticket.

Bottom Line

The 8 segments could be an easy goal to hit. Trying adding a few extra stops on your next flight using multi-city search functionality on ITA Software.

Terms and Conditions

500 miles will be awarded to each member's account if the member flies US Airways within 90 days of enrolling in the Dividend Miles program. The 25,000 mile bonus is calculated as flight mileage plus a dynamic amount that when added together equal 25,000 miles. If a member travels 8 or more segments and 24,000 miles or more on US Airways within 90 days of enrolling in the Dividend Miles program they will receive 5,000 bonus miles in lieu of the 25,000 bonus mile 'round-up.' Travel must be credited to the member's Dividend Miles account. The offer is only valid for new Dividend Miles members who enroll online at usairways.com or via TextUS. Miles will be posted once, after the 90 day period following enrollment. Miles do not count towards Preferred status. Activity must take place during the first 90 days post enrollment - retroactive flight credits do not qualify. Activity must be on US Airways, US Airways Shuttle, or US Airways Express (airline partner activity does not qualify) and only flight miles count towards the calculation of bonus miles. 25,000 bonus miles is enough to qualify for a capacity-controlled domestic US award roundtrip ticket. Please see the terms & conditions of the Dividend Miles program to learn more about redeeming miles for travel. All terms & conditions of the Dividend Miles program apply. Mileage credit will be calculated based upon the distance from origin to final destination, regardless of the number of stops on nonstop and direct flights.

US Airways Flight 1549

Take a look at the Animation from US Airways Flight 1549.

New US Airways Envoy Suite Video

Last Friday I posted about US Airways rolling out the new Envoy Suites starting in December 2009.

Check out this video on Youtube about the new Envoy Suites.



Here is a link to a longer version on Youtube.

Mileage Specials offered by World Hotels on Partner Airlines

This one's a little different since many of us are loyal to a small number of hotel chains, but it's worth checking out. You may not associate independent hotels and local chains with frequent flyer programmes, but with WORLDHOTELS you can reap the benefits of a luxurious night’s sleep while still enjoying the service and individuality our members are known for.

As a frequent flyer, each time you stay at one of the participating member hotels worldwide at a qualifying rate, you can earn 500 miles (or equivalent) per stay through the mileage programs of their airline partners.

Just present your frequent flyer card at check-in and, if your rate qualifies, we will automatically credit your airline mileage account.

US Airways Special Promotions:

For Dividend Miles members:

5000 miles per night in a Suite!
500 miles per night
2000 miles per stay!
1000 miles: Miles, Fruit, Wine & More - Take to Italy!

For more details regarding our other airline partners click here.

US Airways Rolls Out New Envoy Suite

Today US Airways announced their new Envoy Suite and its pretty sweet.

The first of the Envoy suites will be rolled out on A330-200 aircraft's in December of 2009 with the rest of the A330 fleet being completed by mid 2012. This is a huge improvement to US Airways Envoy Class, by why so long to roll out to entire A330 fleet?

Check out the discussion on flyertalk in this thread.

Bottom Line

US Airways definitely needed to do something to keep in line with the competition for premium travel. I would still look to use my US Airways miles with a Luftansa or Swiss for premium award redemption, but this may be an option for you in Charlotte or Philadelphia.

US Airways Race to Preferred Status

Get ready for the fastest, easiest way ever to get (or keep) Preferred status. Just fly between October 1 and December 25, 2009 on any US Airways or US Airways Express flight, and you'll earn Preferred status faster than ever before. The more you fly, the more you'll earn. Think of it as an end-of-the-year shortcut.

Here’s how it works:
Fly 7,500 miles or 10 segments and earn Silver Preferred status
Fly 15,000 miles or 20 segments and earn Gold Preferred status
Fly 22,500 miles or 30 segments and earn Platinum Preferred status
Fly 30,000 miles or 40 segments and earn Chairman’s Preferred status

Don’t worry, the miles you fly will also count towards the total miles you flew for the year – you’ll be awarded the highest status between the two. So if you fly 55,000 Preferred miles for the year but only end up flying 8,000 Preferred miles during the promotion period, you’ll still earn Gold status for the year.

US Airways will determine and award your Preferred status on January 10, 2010. You don't need to register (we'll keep track of your flights). Hard to believe, but that's what it says.

Not a Dividend Miles member? Join now.

Terms & Conditions:

Only Preferred qualifying miles and segments earned on flights operated by US Airways and US Airways Express can be applied towards this promotion. Only base flight miles and segments, including Preferred segment minimums, count toward this promotion. Preferred-qualifying bonuses, e.g. class of service bonuses and miles earned on flights operated by US Airways’ partners, are not applied toward qualification criteria. Retroactive mileage credits will not count towards your status unless they are applied before December 29, 2009. Enter your Dividend Miles number at time of booking to receive your miles into your account. This promotion is subject to all Dividend Miles program terms and conditions.

Jumping Up Zones on Star Alliance

I know we all try to stay loyal to a couple airlines in order to maximize our miles and achieve the all mighty top echelon of status, but no matter how hard we try there are some instances where we just can't travel our preferred carrier. Which usually means last on the list as far as boarding goes equating to "give me the ticket so when you gate check my bag I have some way of locating it after the handler forgets to put it on the plane".

This doesn't necessarily always have to be the case. If you're flying on a Star Alliance carrier and at least Gold level status with one of the members, the others will let you board with their preferred/elite members. Giving you that precious head start on overhead bin space. I'm Gold with US Airways, but end up on United some of the time. I've used this process every time with no problems yet. The process is pretty simple.

When you book your flight, make sure that your membership number with the carrier holding your elite status is included instead of the membership number at the lesser carrier. You can't always do this through the website. I usually hit up the gate agent and he/she will exchange my ticket. One time I was running late and just showed the agent my card on the way through the line and away I went.

Give it a shot. It works.

Hit a Grand Slam with US Airways

Earn hits with our partners and score bonus miles. It's that easy. You can earn up to 50,000 miles, 4,000 of which are Preferred-qualifying, so step up to the plate! It’s time to join the big leagues with some big league miles. Earn as many hits as you can between September 1 and November 15, 2009.

Here's how it works:
Register online
Earn miles with our partners

US Airways Credit Cards (earn 1 hit per card type – max of 5 hits)
Hotels (earn 1 hit for every stay – max of 6 hits)
Hotel transfers (earn 1 hit for every transfer – max of 6 hits)
Cars (earn 1 hit for every rental – max of 6 hits)
Other partners (earn 1 hit – max of 1 hit per partner)
Watch your miles add up

Not a Dividend Miles member? Join now.

Check out the link below to view the terms and conditions.

http://www.usairways.com/awa/content/help/promotions/GS09terms.aspx

1000 US Airways Miles with each Starwood Stay

For all you US Airways and Starwood fanatics out there (I know there must be more than just me), check out the latest joint promotion awarding 1,000 Dividend Miles per a stay at select Starwood properties. This offer is valid on stays through December 31, 2009. To reserve, book online or call 866-716-8137 and ask for rate plan FDAILY0.

Terms and Conditions

The fine print is a little too much to list out here, so I’m just hitting the key points. The see the entire terms and conditions check them out here.

• Offer valid for Airline Direct DepositSM participants for stays at participating hotels & resorts in Arizona, California and Nevada consumed by December 31, 2009 using rate plan FDAILY0.
• To receive the bonus miles, guest must be a member of Starwood Preferred Guest®, and have selected UA Airways Dividend Miles as their currency of choice in advance at MoreMiles. With Airline Direct Deposit, the Starpoints® earned from only hotel stays and select bonus offers will be converted automatically to the member's airline account and may not be transferred back to Starwood Preferred Guest.
• Please allow 6-8 weeks for US Airways Dividend Miles to be posted to your airline account.

How I Redeemed US Airways Miles for 2 First Class Lufthansa Tickets

This past weekend I used a total of 250,000 (125,000 x2) US Airways miles for two round trip First class tickets to Europe on Lufthansa airlines. I'll explain how I found availability, and transferred & bought miles to get enough to redeem for the First class tickets.

Finding Availability on Star Alliance

Since US Airways doesn't have an online way to check Star Alliance partner availability, I signed up for a free ANA frequent flier account. Once I had an account I logged in and navigated to their partner award availability tool to search for the flights I was hoping to find.

I was looking for 2 first class tickets to Europe on the following itinerary for next summer.

Orlando to Frankfurt on flight in First (O)
Frankfurt to Madrid on flight in Business (I)
Barcelona to Frankfurt on flight in Business (I)
Frankfurt to Orlando on flight in First (O)

On my first set of dates I was able to find direct flights from Orlando on an Airbus A330 or through Dulles on a 747. I selected the flight with 1 less connection point departing from Orlando.

Transferring & Purchasing Miles to Get to Award Level

To begin with I had 80,000 US Airways miles, barely enough for 1 business class trip to Europe. So I was deficient 170,000 miles (250,000 - 80,000 = 170,000).

First I transferred 60,000 Starwood points over in batches of 20,000. When you transfer over 20,000 starwood points you earn a 5,000 bonus from Starwood. So that allowed me to transfer and get 60,000 miles + a 15,000 miles bonus, then using the US Airways 50% transfer promotion that expired in July I got an extra 37,500. Now I had a total of 192,500 miles (80,000 + 112,500), but still needed another 57,500 miles.

Next I used the US Airways purchase miles 100% bonus promotion to buy 29,000 and get a bonus of 29,000 for a total of an additional 58,000 miles. These miles cost a total of $755 (.025 per mile + $30 processing fee). Now I had my total of 250,000 US Airways miles.

Bottom Line

Finally when I found my flights and had enough miles I picked up the phone and called US Airways International Awards desk at 800.622.1015 to make the award reservation. In the end I got two international First Class awards for a total of $755 + 60,000 SPG points + 80,000 US Airways miles. I think its a pretty good deal for tickets to Spain in First Class that are selling on the market for about $9,000.

US Airways Fastbreak to Silver Status

Budget has teamed up with US Airways to offer a quick and easy way to obtain US Airways Silver Status. Simply register via this link and you'll be Silver Status on US Airways in 14 days. It gives you status for a 90 day trial period.

Try Preferred status on for size. See how you like it. At the end of your 90-day trial, you may want to keep it! Once you register, you’ll be Preferred within 14 days. And, if you qualify during your 90-day trial, you’ll keep your Silver Preferred status for the program year.

All you have to do is register and we’ll give you Silver Preferred status for 90 days (a $200 value!). You’ll travel Preferred and enjoy the best upgrades in the industry, waived baggage fees, bonus miles and more!

Just register between May 15 and August 31, 2009. Then, check your Dividend Miles profile to make sure we have your contact information so we can send you an email with your new status

Terms and Conditions

• Offer valid from May 15 through August 31, 2009
• Cannot be combined with any other offer or promotion
• Registration required to qualify and only one registration per customer permitted
• Offer valid for base level Dividend Miles members only.
• Members who have participated in the Trial Preferred program since May 1, 2007 are not eligible to participate
• Please allow up to 14 days for Silver Preferred status to take effect
• Silver Preferred status will be valid for 90 days following the effective date
• We will attempt to notify you of your account status via email during your Trial Preferred period.

Please visit usairways.com to ensure we have your up-to-date email address Dividend Miles member must fly minimum amount of miles or segments to keep Preferred status for remainder of program year. Members may enroll in the Trial Preferred program only once in any consecutive 24 month period. Members who have been granted Preferred status as a result of having elite status in another airline's program in the last 24 months or did not re-qualify for the same Preferred status in 2009 are not eligible to participate in the Trial Preferred program. Only elite qualifying flights earned on flights operated by US Airways and US Airways Express can be applied toward the Trial Preferred program. Only bookings made after member's status has been upgraded reflect member's new status.

U.S. Airways: Fun Promotion

U.S. Airways has a fun promotion that will challenge your geography I.Q. The promotion is to increase awareness of their MasterCard but the fun is trying to make it through the all five rounds of the geographic location game. The game, I mean promotion, is available until August 31 and has daily and weekly prizes in addition to a grand prize of a $10,000 MasterCard gift cad and 100,000 Dividend Miles. Your chances of winning increases with additional entries so be sure to explore the options listed below.

The Details

Prizes:

• (180) Daily Prizes – 20,000 Dividend Miles
• (5) Weekly Prize – iPod Nano (3rd Generation)
• (1) Grand Prize – One (1) Ten Thousand Dollar ($10,000) MasterCard gift card and 100,000 Dividend Miles

At the conclusion of each day during the Promotion Period there will be Five (5) Daily Prize Winners selected in a random drawing of all valid entries received. At the conclusion of each week during the Promotion Period there will be one (1) Weekly Prize Winner selected in a random drawing of all valid entries received. At the conclusion of the Promotion Period there will be one (1) Grand Prize Winner selected in a random drawing of all valid entries received. The entrant will be contacted using the email address provided with the entry and may be awarded the prize (subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with the terms of these rules.) Administrator’s decisions as to the administration and operation of the Promotion and the selection of potential winners are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion.

How to Earn Entries:

• 1 for completing all levels of the game
• 5 for entering your US Airways Dividend Miles Number
• 5 for signing up for Earn More Miles email newsletter
• 5 for posting a tweet on the Twitter page
• 5 for each friend to sign up for the promotion and play via Facebook, Twitter, or email. One hundred friends, the maximum, will earn you 500 entries for the contest.

Terms and Conditions can be found on the promotion's site.

My Prescription

Somebody has to win so why not you? I am not a big fan of lotteries or contests where my chances of winning is slim to none but the geography contest is fun so why not play and take a chance on winning some miles, iPod, or the $10,000 MasterCard gift card.

Wyndham: An Easy 10,000 Airline Miles

Wyndham Hotels currently have a promotion where 10,000 airline miles can be earned for stays at three different hotel brands. The promotion is currently active and you must register by September 10. Stays must be completed by October 10. Amtrak and the following airlines are taking part: Air Canada, American, Continental , Delta, Midwest, Northwest, Spirit, United, and US Airways. Sun Country is offering 100 UFly points.

Sign up for Wyndham Rewards and set your account to earn miles instead of points.

My Prescription

If you are hungry for airline miles then you could have 10,000 in just three days by staying at just three of the hotels 11 brands: Days Inn, Super 8, Ramada, Travelodge, Howard Johnson, Knights Inn, Baymont Inn, Hawthorn Suites, Microtel Inn, and Wingate Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. Here are the participanting hotels. Worth investigating.

Hyatt: Earn 3,000 Airline Miles Per Two-Day Stay‏

Although this promotion that has been available for several weeks this one is worth mentioning in case you were not aware of it: Hyatt is offering 6x the airline miles per 2-day stay. The total amount of miles awarded per stay is 3,000 miles for a majority of the airlines. The offer is valid until August 31, 2009. Click on your airline program of choice from the list below to enroll:

Airlines

Air Canada (Aeroplan) - 3,000 Miles
Alaska Airlines - 3,000 Miles
American Airlines (AAdvantage) - 3,000 Miles
Continental (OnePass) - 3,000 Miles
Delta (SkyMiles) - 3,000 Miles
Midwest (Midwest Miles) - 3,000 Miles
Southwest (Rapid Rewards) - 3 Rapid Rewards Credits
United (Mileage Plus) - 3,000 Miles
US Airways (Dividend Miles) - 3,000 Miles
Virgin Atlantic (Flying Club) - 4,500 Miles

Rail

Amtrak (Amtrak Guest Rewards) - 3,000 points

The Terms and Condition of the American Airlines Offer (although they are all similar):

Stay 2 Nights and Earn 3,000 Miles! You can now earn 6 times the miles, for a total of 3,000 American Airlines AAdvantage(R) miles, on every Hyatt stay through August 31, 2009. To earn six times the miles:

• Enroll in Hyatt's Gold Passport program if you are not already a member.
• Stay at any Hyatt worldwide through August 31, 2009.
• Provide your Hyatt Gold Passport and AAdvantage(R) account number upon reservation and check-in.
• Request AAdvantage(R) miles at check-in for each of your eligible stays.

My Prescription

As stated in my review of Hyatt Gold Passport Program last week, Hyatt usually offers a conversion of points to miles at a 2.5 points to 1 mile ratio. To really leverage your Hyatt stays be sure to utilize the G code offer and the MasterCard promotion. With these promotions you will be able to earn over 3,500 points per stay in addition to the 3,000 airline miles. The 3,000 miles being offered per stay is equalivent to 7,500 points which, along with these promotions, is equalivent to getting 3+ one-day stays in a two-day stay.

Special Series - Earning Miles & Points Without Travelling

We've received a lot of emails from our readers about this subject so we thought we'd start a series of posts to highlight the reward earning options that don't require you to travel. Earning Miles and Points without traveling is easier than you think, continue reading to find out how.

Airline Dining Programs
Airline dining programs work by allowing you to earn airline miles for every dollar you spend using a credit card or debit card that is registered with their program. First you enroll in a program, provide your credit or debit card details, select the restaurant where you'd like to dine, then start earning miles by using your registered credit or debit card.

Why Should You Sign up for an Airline Dining Program?
This is especially beneficial for our readers who aren't road warriors but like to travel by redeeming Airline award tickets. For you road warriors it can be a great way to top off an account or keep miles from expiring. But we all have something in common, you gotta eat!

So Many Choices
There are many airline dining programs to choose from. You have your traditional mainline carriers such as American Airlines, Delta, United, and then low cost carriers like Southwest. The key to selecting the right dining program is personal preference.

A good choice when selecting a program is to choose an airline program where you are near an award level and have the extra miles from the dining program put you over the top. Another option is to a choose program for an airline that you don't fly often but have miles in their program. This option will renew your airline miles expiration date and reduce the risk of your miles expiring. The most obvious reason to choose a dining program is if you are hub captive. Hub captive means that you live in a city where one airline has significant market share. For you Charlotte residents, your choice will pretty much be US Airways. The mile maximizing option is to find the program which you place the highest point value as an earning option. For example if I value a Delta airline mile at $.01 cents and an American Airline mile at $.014 cents the better option is to choose the American Airlines program since both programs earn airlines miles at the same rates.

Most Programs Earn Miles at the Same Rate

1 mile per dollar - General Member

3 mile per dollar - Online Member

5 mile per dollar - VIP Member

Enrolling in an Airline Dining Program
If you are not already a member its easy to enroll, simply click on the link, enter your information, and begin dining.

Alaska Airlines - Mileage Plan Dining Partner
American Airlines - AAdvantage Dining
Continental - Sorry Continental fans its the only major US based airline without a program
Delta Airlines - Skymiles Dining
Southwest - Rapid Rewards Dining
United Airlines - United Mileage Plus Dining
US Airways - Dividend Miles Dining

Bottom Line
Using an Airlines Dining program to earn extra miles is a quick and easy way to earn awards without traveling, keep miles from expiring, or build up your point balance.