Learn More About US Airways Dividend Miles

US Airways Dividend Miles Overview
US Airways Hubs and Routes
US Airways Earning and Using Miles
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status Matching

All Elite Status members get unlimited upgrades for themselves and for a companion, luggage and standby fees waved, and they will not face any blackout dates when booking rewards (though this does not mean that reward seats will necessarily be available on every flight on every day). Gold members also get upgrades that clear a bit earlier than Silver members, while the real rewards kick in at Platinum, as they also get upgraded to Envoy Sleeper seats on flights to Europe where they’re booked in Envoy (business) Class.

Chairman’s Preferred members previously received free lounge access, though that is not longer available unless you fly 150,000 miles a year. Chairman’s members do get 2 Envoy Class upgrades to Europe each year, a personal liaison at the airline, and upgrades to first class whenever they fly on a full coach ticket.

How to Get Elite Status without Flying: US Airways previously had a program where you could purchase Elite status. Like many US Airways programs aimed at business travelers, those days are gone. However, the US Airways Visa Signature card offers not only 25,000 bonus miles with your first purchase, but also Elite-like features such as priority check-in and priority boarding. In addition, you can purchase unlimited space available upgrades. Since the free upgrades are so rare anyway on US Airways, you’re basically getting the majority of the Elite benefits just by having the card. Yes, restrictions apply, and the card caries a $90 fee.

US Airways Secret: US Airways flies some 757s where they do not sell any first class seats. However, there are a handful of first class seats on each plane. Dividend Miles Preferred members can get these seats for free, while others can purchase for as little as $5 per segment. When booking your flight, be sure to ask if you’re on a 757 and if the first two rows are considered “Choice Seats” for purchase.

Mileage Expiration

Dividend Miles expire after 18 months without activity. As with other airlines, any activity – even if you don’t fly – will keep your account alive.

Learn More About US Airways Dividend Miles

US Airways Dividend Miles Overview
US Airways Hubs and Routes
US Airways Earning and Using Miles
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status Matching

US Airways eliminated its 500-mile minimum for short flights, which is especially rough since they fly so many short routes around the Northeast. (Updated November 20, 2008:  Preferred members now earn a 500 mile minimum on all flights, and all Dividend Miles members earn 500 miles for Shuttle flights).

They do offer plenty of accrual opportunities through their Star Alliance membership, which allows you to earn miles on Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, EgyptAir, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines, and United. They also have partnerships with Bahamasair, Air One, Qatar Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.

Using Miles on US Airways

US Airways has a reward chart that looks pretty similar to most other airlines, for the most part they offer regular rewards (capacity controlled) and, for twice the miles, rewards that have no capacity caps. There are, however, two notable areas where they differ from most carriers. First the bad news: most airlines charge 45,000 miles for a first class ticket in the US. US Airways charges 50,000 miles for the unremarkable first class service.

Now the good news: they do offer one of the best rewards to Europe: for flights between January 15 and February 28^th, you can pay just 35,000 miles for a coach ticket to Europe (other airlines charge 40,000 at a minimum). That’s a steal.

US Airways does have a rather robust set of fees for people looking to redeem miles. It will cost you up to $50 just to book an award seat, $30 to make a telephone reservation, up to $75 if you have to fly within 3 weeks, and up to $250 (the highest of any airline) to change a reward ticket.

US Airways Secret:

When redeeming miles, your best bet is to call the airline rather than use their web-based reward ticket tool. Many travelers have reported that they find inventory available at lower levels when they speak with an agent than when they look online.

Learn More About US Airways Dividend Miles

US Airways Dividend Miles Overview
US Airways Hubs and Routes
US Airways Earning and Using Miles
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status Matching

US Airways acquired its Phoenix hub when it took over the America West operation. The city offers nonstop service across the west, and is a connecting point for trans-con service to the East.

The Las Vegas operation was also acquired in the America West deal and until mid-2008 offered flights at all hours of the day and night across the country. US Airways eliminated much of the evening operation as a cost-cutting measure in 2008. Many airlines (including Southwest) have significant operations at Las Vegas, so you certainly have a choice when flying to the city.

Philadelphia remains a major hub city for US Airways, even if Southwest has eaten into their fortress on the back of what was, US Airways execs admit, a terribly run hub. . Philadelphia has improved their operations, and now offers flights up and down the East Coast, as well as a handful of services to Europe, including soon-to-launch Tel Aviv flights.

Charlotte is still a strong hub and if you live in the area (or have business there) you’ll probably be flying US Airways. And you should be prepared to pay for that privilege because, like Delta’s presence in Cincinnati, you don’t have too many other choices.

US Airways has a hub-like operation as LaGuardia (though it’s primarily point-to-point traffic), including lots of service to small towns in upstate New York, New England and Pennsylvania, as well as the popular shuttle to Boston and Washington, DC (the author highly recommends skipping flying to DC altogether and taking the far-more-comfortable Amtrak Acela train and earning Continental OnePass Elite points). Delta and American offer similar services from LaGuardia as well.

Learn More About US Airways Dividend Miles

US Airways Dividend Miles Overview
US Airways Hubs and Routes
US Airways Earning and Using Miles
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status
US Airways Dividend Miles Elite Status Matching

Learn More About United Airlines Mileage Plus

United Airlines Mileage Plus Overview
United Airlines Hubs and Routes
United Airlines Earning and Using Miles
United Airlines MileagePlus Elite Status
United Airlines Mileage Plus Elite Status Matching

In lieu of the Continental unlimited free upgrade model United offers four 500-mile E-Upgrades for every 10,000 miles flown. While this may seem like a downgraded perk, many travelers report that you can actually use those upgrades, where Continental’s unlimited program means you’ll likely find yourself sitting in the back.

Elite members also have mileage-earning caps waived on their Mileage Plus Visa card, and (like other airlines) they do not need to pay bag check fees (United raised their second bag fee to $50, so that benefit can add up.)

On less-restricted fares, all Elite members have access to free upgrades to Economy Plus, a nice benefit considering it offers almost as much legroom as Northwest’s Business Class service on its DC-9s.

1K members will also find additional reward seat inventory available to them, though note that Northwest and Continental offer this perk to all Elite members.

How to Get Elite Status without Flying: On United, your best bet is to become friends with someone who flies 30,000 miles a year with United. Anyone who flies 30k miles can nominate someone to Premier Associate status – essentially the lowest level of Elite. Let your friend do all the work, and you get to enjoy the benefits!

Mileage Expiration

United miles do not expire as long as there is account activity once every 18 months. As with all carriers, you need only to have any activity – not just taking a flight – to keep that account active.

Learn More About United Airlines Mileage Plus

United Airlines Mileage Plus Overview
United Airlines Hubs and Routes
United Airlines Earning and Using Miles
United Airlines MileagePlus Elite Status
United Airlines Mileage Plus Elite Status Matching

United offers a 500 mile minimum on short flights, a 25% bonus for business class, and a 50% bonus for first class. Northwest and Continental, it’s worth nothing, offer a 50% bonus for business class as well.

United offers significant earning opportunities on Star Alliance partners around the world. These airlines include Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, bmi, EgyptAir, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, SAS, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore, South African Airways, Spanair, Swiss, Tap Air Portugal, Thai, Turkish Airlines and US Airways. Non-Star partners include Air One, Aloha Airlines, Emirates, Island Air, Qatar, TACA Airlines and TAM. Mileage Plus members can also earn at the usual array of hotel, car and shopping partners.

United offers a generous sign-up bonus for its credit card, often giving more than 20,000 miles for signing up for their co-branded credit cards. Mileage Plus Visa holders can also use their points to pay for trips where award seats aren’t available. In this case, a traveler would use 20,000 miles to pay for a $200 ticket.

Using Miles on United

United’s award chart is basically in-line with all of the other carriers, offering few surprises, pleasant or otherwise. The most pleasant surprise, though, is that given the large number of partner airlines, you will have a good chance of actually redeeming miles for an award if you’re a bit flexible with your dates and routing.

For the past few years, United has offered a special 15,000 mile award for flights under 750 miles. While this may not seem like a particularly impressive bargain, it can be, especially on monopoly routes around the Midwest. This offer disappears from time-to-time, so be sure to ask for it if you need a short-haul reward ticket.

United Airlines Secret:

United quietly offers one of the best award ticket values in the sky: For just 5,000 miles, you can get a round trip ticket on Island Air between any islands in Hawaii. Every other airline charges 10,000 miles for this same ticket.

United does not charge a fee to book an award ticket, but they do charge $25 for booking on the phone, up to $100 for booking a flight within 21 days of departure, and $150 to change an award flight.

United Airlines Secret: United doesn’t display all partnership availability when you do a reward search on its website. To find out if Star Alliance partners have seats available (both in coach and premium cabins), sign up for ANA’s frequent flyer program. You’ll be granted access to their online tool that allows you to search for reward travel, both by cabin and by leg – a very useful tool if you’re trying to build an itinerary to Asia, where you have many, many options for how to get to your destination city. The online tool will likely save you hours of phone time with a United agent.

Learn More About United Airlines Mileage Plus

United Airlines Mileage Plus Overview
United Airlines Hubs and Routes
United Airlines Earning and Using Miles
United Airlines MileagePlus Elite Status
United Airlines Mileage Plus Elite Status Matching

Denver serves as United’s next largest hub, offering service around the country and many regional routes around Colorado and the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states. United had a comfortable near-monopoly position at Denver until Southwest came in once Frontier started to falter, and United is now losing market share to the low-fare carrier as service differences between the two airlines disappear.

Los Angeles and San Francisco are both smaller hubs offering extensive service up and down the West Coast (often competing with Southwest and Alaska), as well as a large number of flights to Asia and Australia. When combined with Star Alliance partners ANA, Asiana and Air China, United offers an unparalleled array of access to cities across Asia.

Their fifth domestic hub is at Washington-Dulles, where they offer flights to cities in the Northeast, as well as a small number of flights to Europe. Notably, United has limited service to Florida, and has essentially ceded Florida service to the myriad competitors in the market.

Learn More About United Airlines Mileage Plus

United Airlines Mileage Plus Overview
United Airlines Hubs and Routes
United Airlines Earning and Using Miles
United Airlines MileagePlus Elite Status
United Airlines Mileage Plus Elite Status Matching

Northwest will generally match to the Gold (mid-tier) level, though not if you’re coming from Continental or Delta. That said, they seem to take status matching on a case-by-case basis, sometimes granting status and sometimes denying the match. As always, sending a letter with your past travel history and upcoming high-fare travel will help make your case, as will any discussion of why Northwest will be perfect for your upcoming travel. Northwest also has an affinity for customers outside of their hub cities, as they feel (correctly) that if you live in Detroit or Minneapolis, you’ll probably be flying them anyway.

And while most airlines will give you 20 months of status if you match on July 1^st, Northwest will only give you 8.

To get the status match, send the letter and your two most recent elite statements to:

WorldPerks Operations

601 Oak Street

Chisholm, MN 55719-1995

Or Fax:

218-254-7567

Learn More About Northwest Airlines Worldperks

Northwest Airlines Worldperks Overview
Northwest Airlines Hubs and Routes
Northwest Airlines Earning and Using Miles
Northwest Airlines Worldperks Elite Status
Northwest Airlines Worldperks Elite Status Matching

An added bonus at Northwest is their ExtraPerks program where people who fly more than 60,000 miles a year earn a steadily increasing set of bonuses (you get to choose, but it’s generally something like a choice of bonus miles, upgrades, partner discounts, and Elite membership to give to a friend.) It’s not quite Alaska’s generous 50,000 mile bonus for hitting 75,000 miles, but it’s something.

Other Elite benefits include bonus miles (50% for Silver, 100% for Gold, 125% for Platinum, on par with what Continental used to offer but no longer does), special reservations lines and waiving WorldClub initiation fees.

How to Get Elite Status without Flying: You should become friends with someone who flies Northwest quite a bit. If you hit 90,000 miles flown in a year, you can give Silver status to a friend. Be nice to your co-workers – you can be that friend flying Elite!

Mileage Expiration

WorldPerks miles don’t expire, but you must have activity in your account once every 3 years (quite generous compared with other airlines).

Learn More About Northwest Airlines Worldperks

Northwest Airlines Worldperks Overview
Northwest Airlines Hubs and Routes
Northwest Airlines Earning and Using Miles
Northwest Airlines Worldperks Elite Status
Northwest Airlines Worldperks Elite Status Matching