US Airways is at it again, selling points at a discount and making loung-haul, premium cabin award travel quite affordable. For the month of October there are two different buy miles promotions available. Combining them can lead to some great deals.
First up, there is a 100% bonus on purchases up to 50,000 points. For purchased miles the price tag comes out to around 1.88 cents each, up to 100,000 total points purchased. NOTE: Apparently this is targeted and I got lucky; go figure.
The second 100% bonus being offered this month is for mileage transfers to a second account. This promo is also capped at 50,000 points but the price point is rather cheaper – only 1 cent per mile, plus $30 per transaction and 7.5% excise tax. But you have to get the points in your account first.
If your end goal is 100,000 total points the best approach is to buy 25,000 points using the 100% buy bonus. That should cost $900ish ~$470. Then transfer those points to a second account (spouse, child, pet, etc.) using the transfer bonus. The second transaction will run you about $570. Total cost for 100,000 points is only ~$1470. And that’s enough points for some very attractive rewards. For less than $1400 in spend you can have enough to fly business class pretty much anywhere in the world from the USA. North Asia, South America or Europe can be had in first class around $1400 as well.
Note that accounts less than 12 days old cannot participate in these promotions. If you are even considering it and do not yet have an account open one NOW! You can still think about it and get the transaction done later in the month once you realize that is is a good idea.
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Any idea why it says a purchase of 25K would be $875?
Because I’m an idiot and did the math wrong, David. I used the post-bonus per mile cost rather than the pre-bonus cost when doing the 25K calculation. Sorry about that. Still a very solid deal.
SEABrad I do not expect the Grand Slam promo this year.
Opened my account a few days ago after listening to the PointsHoarder podcast :).
Will likely sign up for Barclays 40K card too. Have you heard anything about 2012 Grand Slam?
There is no 100% bonus on purchases this month…
I also think the buy miles offer was valid until September 30.
Thanks for the heads-up! First on BoardingArea to post about it, nice!
The buy promo is targeted this month. It’s always targeted when it prompts you for your membership number before loading the page.
Sorry all…didn’t realize it was targeted on the buy side. Still great value on the transfer side and I’ll update the post.