Credit card for miles?

Going on Millieneum March 07 and exploring airfares which are, pardon the expression, sky high. I thought we could use our USAir Dividend miles but our dates are premium so it's 50,000 miles per r.t. ticket and we are short 10,000 miles. USAirways is pushing a Signature Visa and says 25,000 miles bonus with first purchase. There's a $90.00 annual fee but I figure I could get the card, use it once or twice and cancel.

Has anyone done this? I am paranoid that there will be some sort of restriction on use of the miles or they won't deposit them in time for me to use ...I tried calling Visa who could not reassure me, gave me a Customer service number for US Air that of course, was disconnected!!!

We are trying to decide if we should try all efforts to use the USAIRways dividend miles OR sweat it out and hope Southwest has good fares from Prov to Fort Lauderdale.

what are other March cruisers to Florida doing for airfare?

Going on Millieneum March 07 and exploring airfares which are, pardon the expression, sky high. I thought we could use our USAir Dividend miles but our dates are premium so it's 50,000 miles per r.t. ticket and we are short 10,000 miles. USAirways is pushing a Signature Visa and says 25,000 miles bonus with first purchase. There's a $90.00 annual fee but I figure I could get the card, use it once or twice and cancel.

 

Has anyone done this? I am paranoid that there will be some sort of restriction on use of the miles or they won't deposit them in time for me to use ...I tried calling Visa who could not reassure me, gave me a Customer service number for US Air that of course, was disconnected!!!

 

We are trying to decide if we should try all efforts to use the USAIRways dividend miles OR sweat it out and hope Southwest has good fares from Prov to Fort Lauderdale.

 

what are other March cruisers to Florida doing for airfare?

If you need 10,000 miles, why don't you just purchase them? By my calculation, $60.00. Saves money over the credit card route, especially if you are going to cancel the account. And no possibility of a glitch if the miles don't post when needed via the credit card route. However, at the generally accepted value of $.02 per mile, unless you have no other use for the miles, those are pretty expensive airline tickets to Florida-$1000.00pp.

http://www.usairways.com/awa/content/dividendmiles/purchasemiles/buymiles.aspx

Prices for the entire month of March are running $325.00 to $360.00, with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday running $274.00. Probably won't get any better than that-high fuel prices, Easter and Spring Break. I doubt Southwest will have any bargains. They have been consistently higher than AA for all routes I fly-West/East coast, West Coast to Florida, West Coast to Kansas City.

Thanks for your response. I looked into buying the miles but USAir is charging 3.5 a mile so that's $350 plus 25 fee... so it seems to me like it the credit card route would cost less. As I said, I am reluctant to do it just yet because not sure it would work out ok with all there restrictions.

I agree that prices will probably not come down to what I consider "ok" but boy, psychologically, it's killing me not to be able to get a decent fare or use the Dividend Miles.

:rolleyes: Anyone else used this Visa promotion from USAir?

Thanks for your response. I looked into buying the miles but USAir is charging 3.5 a mile so that's $350 plus 25 fee... so it seems to me like it the credit card route would cost less. As I said, I am reluctant to do it just yet because not sure it would work out ok with all there restrictions.

 

I agree that prices will probably not come down to what I consider "ok" but boy, psychologically, it's killing me not to be able to get a decent fare or use the Dividend Miles.

 

:rolleyes: Anyone else used this Visa promotion from USAir?

Stupid me. Darn that calculator. You bet, $350.00, not $35.00 as I had figured. Senior moment!!!

Get the credit card. Or even better, check out this website. TONS of ways to get free miles. http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm

Enjoy!!!

You should go over to flyertalk.com and look into taking a mileage run to Singapore to get your needed miles LOL.

I would go for the credit card, too. Don't cancel it until the year is up though, in case they claw back the miles before you had a chance to use them. The fee is for the year anyway, and you don't get part of it back if you cancel, regardless, so just keep the card. Or use it to pay for the cruise and build up some more miles towards the next one.

Yeah, the flight to Sinagapore MIGHT give me enough miles... but then again with USAirways, they'll change the rules or add some more restrictions etc.

I am thinking of getting the card that has 10K bonus miles and only a $50 fee IF they will let hubby and I pool our miles... he has 65K and I have 25 K... If they are hard nose I don't think they let you pool the miles... he can buy my ticket but can't give me his miles...If this is true then I might have to use his miles for his ticket and book myself on the same flight paying.whatever the fare is.... :( .

Yeah, the flight to Sinagapore MIGHT give me enough miles... but then again with USAirways, they'll change the rules or add some more restrictions etc.

 

I am thinking of getting the card that has 10K bonus miles and only a $50 fee IF they will let hubby and I pool our miles... he has 65K and I have 25 K... If they are hard nose I don't think they let you pool the miles... he can buy my ticket but can't give me his miles...If this is true then I might have to use his miles for his ticket and book myself on the same flight paying.whatever the fare is.... :( .

No transferring miles between members on US Airways anymore. Looks like you still need 25K miles. Sorry.

No transferring miles between members on US Airways anymore. Looks like you still need 25K miles. Sorry.

Why can I run an entire department but I can't make up my mind about what to do about airfare!! LOL I think you're right and I can't pool miles so we either use Dividend miles for one ticket and buy the other OR I go for the $90 annual fee credit card and pray that there is not some catch with getting the miles deposited etc.

:cool:

Why can I run an entire department but I can't make up my mind about what to do about airfare!! LOL I think you're right and I can't pool miles so we either use Dividend miles for one ticket and buy the other OR I go for the $90 annual fee credit card and pray that there is not some catch with getting the miles deposited etc.

 

 

:cool:

Hi,

Book the flights. Doubt that the price will come down. What is the roundtriip Rhode Island to FLL fare?

IMO, 50K miles for a flight to Florida is a pretty big waste of FF miles. You can fly business class to Europe for 100K....using the metric of $0.02 per mile, that's a $1000 value for the ticket - AND you are 8+ months out.

I'd be looking at fares out of BOS, PVD, BDL, MHT and even JFK.

Are you sure they're going to charge you $90? Ours is free for a year and then it goes up to $90. The miles are immediately deposited and useable after your first purchase as shown on your the next month's statement. There is a difference between their MC & Visa. www.usairwaysmastercard.com We have both but use the MC because you get 1.5 miles per dollar for a year.

To see if you're over paying for a flight go to www.farecompare.com. This is a great site to give you an overall "average" of what a fare to your destination has run for the past year. Airfares are like stock purchases, you have to analyze them to know their price patterns and buying trends. Buy low and fly high!

Good luck...

You also get the $99 Companion tickets (2), which they send to you every December.

Hi,

Book the flights. Doubt that the price will come down. What is the roundtriip Rhode Island to FLL fare?

I'm seeing anything from $350-500 and more on USAir for my dates.

Are you sure they're going to charge you $90? Ours is free for a year and then it goes up to $90. The miles are immediately deposited and useable after your first purchase as shown on your the next month's statement. There is a difference between their MC & Visa. www.usairwaysmastercard.com We have both but use the MC because you get 1.5 miles per dollar for a year.

 

I am pretty sure the $90 is charged right away and yes, they show more than one offer for their cards.. both VISA and MC. I thought this was best cost it sounded like 25,000 miles for sure.. I know the other poster said 50K FF miles was alot for Florida and I don't disagree BUT I don't forsee flying to Europe any time soon AND with gas prices trending way up it seems like I should just use the miles if I can.

 

thanks to all you are replying... it does help me sort things out.:)

Update.. I bit the bullet and applied for the USAir Signature Visa.. First I checked with Dividend Miles to see if there would be any catches... USAIR is going to change the rule that you must have activity on your account in 18 months or loose your miles. RIght now they give you 3 years and since my last was 2005 I have to hurry up and use the miles anyway.

If you, or anyone, has miles that are going to expire, here are a few ways to keep them "alive".

1) Car rental - credit miles to the account that might expire

2) Hotel stay - ditto

3) Dining out - most all FF plans are tied into a dining plan, where you get miles when you eat at a variety of restaurants

4) Online shopping - you can get FF miles when you make purchases at a number of online retailers

5) Flowers - FTD and 1-800-Flowers both have tie-ins with almost all FF plans.

Andrew Cram has put together a GREAT website with info on how to get FF miles (and other benefits) for everyday activities. I suggest you look at the site at THIS LINK.

I got the USAir Bank of America Signature card, they did charge me $90 right up front but I knew that. I then made a purchase and had to keep checking to be sure the miles were posted into my Dividend Miles account on the 5th day after the billing cycle. I did have to spend 50 K miles for each of our r.t. tix to FLL but I figure it cost me about $120 bucks altogether. I don't plan on Europe or other trips soon.

Also, I did get the companion certificate to use and I guess we can go into the lounge once. They did issue a different Div Miles account number so I may have to staighten that out.

Anyway, I would say this wasn't a bad way to get our tickets without spending $300++ per ticket.

Just an FYI and it might be too late for this but here goes. Why not have the cruise transfered over to USAir Cruises you will get at least 5000 miles for the cruise and it won't cost you a thing. Just make sure that you have not made the final payment yet because they cannot take your booking if you have already paid in full for your cruise. Maybe those extra miles will help next time.

PS they post the miles 30 days after your cruise

Good thought but nothing is simple ever. I have a low rate on the card I have the cruise on so far ( only the deposit) and the USAir card is much higher interest. Since I can't pay it all at once not sure this make sense for the miles. I'm happy I got the FF tickets so I may leave it at that.

Not to beat the subject to death. But you can use ANY Credit card to book through US Air Cruises, I used Discover last time. Just takes a phone call and they transfer the booking if you want the extra miles.

Good thought but nothing is simple ever. I have a low rate on the card I have the cruise on so far ( only the deposit) and the USAir card is much higher interest. Since I can't pay it all at once not sure this make sense for the miles. I'm happy I got the FF tickets so I may leave it at that.

You could do a balance transfer to the lower-rate card after the fact. We put a swimming pool in, and I knew I couldn't pay cash for it, and would end up using a low interest line of credit. But first I charged the pool on my air miles credit card, then paid the card off with the line of credit.

things can change, but.....the last three years I have waited until mid January to book our airfare to Miami, and each year I was able to airfare for about $200 round trip. We have flown with a different airline each year. so we are thinking about waiting until January, I don't think priced will go up much more $400 now.

good luck!