Through May 31, US Airways is offering a 75% bonus on sharing miles (transferring miles from one account to another). They’ll award the bonus on the first 50,000 miles transferred, so a maximum bonus of 37,500 miles, and they’re limiting this to one transaction per member.
This allows you to combine miles in two different accounts belong to two different people, and effectively buy miles at about 1.4 cents apiece (for the bonus miles) in the process. The price is 1 cent per point transferred plus 7.5% tax and a $30 transaction fee.
Meanwhile, Webflyer also says that through May 14 US Airways is offering a 50% discount on miles purchased by US Airways co-branded credit card holders, up to 50,000 miles. A 50% discount on purchase price equates to a 100% bonus on miles received for the same price. But this time the offer is available only to US Airways credit card holders, and since I’m not one I haven’t seen additional details of the offer yet.
With these offers, US Airways continues their recent trend of targeting their buy and share offers, and tweaking the particulars, this allows them to determine what drives consumer behavior and optimizes the sort of purchases that they’re looking for. Seems to me that they’re probably having a whole bunch of fun with new analytic toys out there!
With taxes and fees the price for these miles is 1.50-1.55 cpm (or higher if you buy less than the maximum amount).
I have the US Airways Mastercard, and I do see the offer after I enter my info and proceed to the next page. It says:
“One time offer – save 50%
As a US Airways credit card holder, you are eligible for a 50% discount on your mileage purchase if made before May 14, 2011. This discount is for one transaction only. ”
And it only allows you to pay by US Airways Mastercard or Visa.
Assuming one shares the max, it still costs more per mile for the 37.5K bonus miles versus buying miles outright at half price (assuming you have the card). Depending on account balances, it’s a slightly better deal to buy miles at 1.47cpm than it is to share at 1.51cpm after taxes & fees. 🙂
Thanks, Erik. I do have a USAirways credit card from the recent promo, as does my wife. It sounds like the bonus on these two programs is essentially the same if you’re maxing them out. Is there anything that stops us from using both promos if we want to buy more than 50,000 miles?
@iaphx: As far as I’m aware, you can do a share and one buy/gift, but that’s it. But haven’t seen anyone take the plunge. Meaning I don’t know if A can gift to B and then B share that back to A. I suspect it will work but not sure.
You can’t share A-B and then B-A or even B-C. And if you buy, you can’t gift or vice versa.
Anyone know if you can get the discount with a US Airways debit card?
There are conflicting statements about debit cards according to there rules. First lists Visa debit card as eligilble, then specifically says debit cards are not eligible.
You are eligible for this offer because you are a US Airways branded credit card holder of one or more of the following US Airways branded credit cards: US Airways World Elite MasterCard, US Airways Premier World MasterCard, US Airways World MasterCard, US Airways Platinum MasterCard, US Airways Business MasterCard, US Airways Professional MasterCard, US Airways Visa Debit Card, US Airways Visa Credit Card, US Airways Small Business Visa. Please note that US Airways debit cards are not eligible for this offer. The 50% discount offer is non transferable and applies only for your first purchase made between April 4 and May 14, 2011, 23:59:59 PT. All purchases are non-refundable. The maximum number of Buy miles that can be purchased through this offer is 50,000 miles. Offer is subject to change. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Only purchases made online are eligible.
Webpage with rules: http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/purchasemiles/buymiles.html?PROMOCODE=USBGcopyCC50offApr11&CAMPAIGNCODE=USBuyCCLP&c=USBuyCCLP