Update: 03/24: Points 1, 2, and 3 have been updated with the program end dates.
Originally posted on 03/13:
1. The USAirways Dividend Miles Program will be combined with the American AAdvantage program on 03/28.
2. Tomorrow, 03/25, will be the final day to book USAirways awards.
3. You can use Points.com to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to USAirways via Air Canada Aeroplan. You will get 84,011 USAirways miles for trading in 100,000 Aeroplan miles. This option will be going away shortly.
USAirways has been removed from Points.com as of 03/24!
4. American requires that Starwood point transfers must have the same name on the Starwood account as on the AA account in order to transfer Starpoints to miles.
USAirways does not require that the names match, you can transfer points to anyone.
Both offer 25,000 miles for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred.
So if you do want to transfer points to a friend go ahead and transfer Starpoints to their USAirways account now.
5. USAirways allows for a free stopover on award tickets. American does not. Stopovers effectively allow you to travel to 2 places for as long as you want for the price of 1.
6. USAirways has incredibly generous routing rules. American generally doesn’t allow you to transit a 3rd region when redeeming miles.
In other words if you wanted to fly from Tel Aviv to Hong Kong via Dusseldorf in Cathay Pacific first class you would need to redeem 2 separate AAdvantage awards. USAirways on the other hand would allow that routing on one award. At least for the next few weeks.
People have redeemed awards from the US to Asia with a stopover in Tel Aviv in business class for just 110K USAirways miles round-trip. No chance of that happening with American.
Same goes for awards between North America and Australia. USAirways allows you to fly via Asia to Australia for 110K miles in business class with a free stopover. On American you can’t fly to Australia via Asia unless you book 2 awards.
USAirways awards are also manually priced, and DDF members have been able to fly to Brazil with a connection in Mexico for just the price of a ticket to Mexico. Others have flown to South Africa with a connection in Tel Aviv for 40K miles round-trip…
7. The USAirways credit card will be no longer be available to apply for once the program combine.
8. The 5,000 mile per award ticket discount for being a USAirways cardholder will be going away.
9. It’s still unknown if AAdvantage will launch a new award chart with the program merger.
10. USAirways sweet spots like off-peak coach awards to the Caribbean for 25,000 miles round-trip (20K for cardholders) and to Europe or South America for 35,000 miles round-trip (30K for cardholders) will be going away with the end of the program.
Other sweet spots, like 120K miles to fly to Asia on Cathay Pacific first class, will go away as well.
It’s been painful to lose valuable programs like Airtran, America West, Continental, and Northwest over the past decade. The airlines have been able to push through lots of devaluations and I don’t doubt that a big one is coming for American this year.
But for the most part the age of consolidation in the US is over. American, Delta, Southwest, and United are the victors and won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
so what will be with us airways? and what about the us airways flight to isreal, will that be history?
“USAirways sweet spots like off-peak coach awards to the Caribbean for 25,000 miles round-trip (20K for cardholders)”
Worth noting that round trip to the Caribbean from the East Coast of the US is only 20K BA Avios.
Oy this merger is painful!
What will be whit the USAir credit card ? It will get a American credit card
Silver lining: 50% bonus on all spending between now and june?
Dan: I got approved for this card a few weeks ago, and already paid the $89 fee. All i have left to do is purchase something for $1 and pay the bill to get the 50K bonus. Am I at any risk of not getting these miles (once the transfer to AA happens), even assuming I pay the $1 charge asap? Point #1 (that miles already accrued will transfer) doesnt really apply to me as i dont have the actual miles yet.
Thanks for another concise and comprehensive post. How do I book an Asia/Australia itinerary for 110K in Business? Searchable online? Multi city? Only over the phone?
I just got approved for the US Air card a few days ago. By the time I get the 50K mile bonus it will probably be after mid April… Will they still deposit the 50k into my Us Air acct.?
@eli:
They’ll repaint the planes to say American.
They will continue to fly to Israel. Probably will add flights from Miami and/or JFK to Tel Aviv as well.
@Simon:
Yes.
@Amusch:
True.
@Yehuda:
You’ll get the miles.
@ZD:
Over the phone.
@AVI:
It will do into your AA account that’s merged with the US account.
@ dan
when is going to be the last flights that could be redeemed as usair
Hi. The mile transfer options you mention– should I assume those transfers are only recommended for travel to be booked prior to the merger? Or are you recommending converting Am Ex miles to US Air for after merger opportunities?
@jake:
I wrote my guesstimates in the post.
@Kathy:
Hard to say what will be post-merger.
Could be the award chart won’t change until later on.
do you suggest applying for a second or third US airways card as this will be our last chance
@ZD: wheres the best place to look for available for such flights, before calling.
Thanks Dan… Can you tell us how member status’s will be effected..
I still have a $99 companion certificate for two travellers through my US Airawys card. Do you know approximately:
a. how much longer can I book those companion flights for,
b. for what period of time can they be ticketed (i.e. can I book a flight for August, when it will technically be an AA flight)?
Thanks!
@dan Thanks!
How would you handle linking 2 Us Airways accounts to my one AA account?
Could I book a one way with Dividend miles or do I have to wait for the merger?
Dan you forgot one: go and sell your us airways miles now so you don’t have to deal with American shutting you down for life!
Applied for the US Air in 1/14- got 40k
want to apply again.
Do I cancel my current card or do I downgrade to a Barlay arrival ?
Is the 2y requirement to get a second award upheld?
@dan first things first thank you very much I have made thousands of dollars worth of points over the last year due to the information on this site and its really been a great help.
If I booked a flight on AA with advantage points could I reinstate the points? I didn’t know that I could book for 20k thorough usairways I basically wasted 5k if I can’t.
Dan – I am building a house and need to apply for a CC as I pay all expense accoriding to terms with my contractor.
Whic CC do you reccomend?
Will not use GC or HD.
Thanks,
@martin: combine the US account, then it will be transferd to AA with the merger.
wheres the best place online to see whats available, before calling (no ones picking up for reservations) for an Asia/Australia itinerary
1. If I have a pre existing aa account, will us airways track it down and merge them automatically…..? Or I have to manually enter it?
2. If my wife has us miles and doesn’t have AA ACCOUNT, will one automatically be created for her?
@martin:
first merge the US Air accts you have
What will happen to the US Airways companion passes from Barclays? Will they still work on US Air?
Dan, thanks for the great post, much appreciated. Do you know if you can apply for the US Airways card and get the 50k bonus miles again if you already have the card open? What if you cancel now, how long would you need to wait? Thanks!
I consider myself a pro but I had no idea points.com had such a decent ratio transferring Air Canada into USDM. Usually their transfer ratios are so poor I would never even consider them and haven’t logged into my account for years. Thanks for the heads up that this opportunity to consolidate my underutilized Air Canada miles into US-AA miles before the merger.
If I’m flying at around the 13th of April on AA does that mean I’ll get up to 4 free bags ( i don’t have a citi aadvantage card)
Hi Dan, can you address the audit problem. If I was audited from AA a few years ago, is there a chance that they will take away my US miles too if they combine it to aa?
Who’s going to take over Alaska Airlines?
The TLV/S.Africa option doesn’t make sense anymore to me, Dan, considering US Airways left Star last May. Is there still a way to do it? How do you get it done “manually” anyways?
Good Shabbos!
Thank you for this concise yet informative post!
Will we be able to use the Barclays USairways card to get a free bag on AA flights booked with Avios?
When will this begin and what is the process?
I’ve had two Barclay USAir cards for a couple years now. I’ve kept them because I get the 10K annual bonus, plus they’ve lured me back at expiration by sending me postcards where if I spend $500 for 3 months in a row they gave me another 15K miles. Nice deal…
Now, however, it will only let me merge one of them with my AA frequent flier number. When I try to link the second one it tells me that my AA is already associated with a US Air account.
Do you know how I can link them both, or do you think I have to set up a second AA account (if I can do that) and merge with that?
I’d cancel the second US Air card, but I’m waiting for 15K bonus miles to post and I don’t know how quickly they’re going to do that. In fact, I doubt it will be by the merge date since it takes up to 6 weeks past the end of the offer, which is 3/31.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
what kind of route do you use to fly to Australia. On the USAir website I do not see Australia as a city that you can fly to? Thanks!
will life time platinum on aa still get me good coach seats
how do you book a trip to Australia? I do not see how to do this on the USAir website?
How quick do miles transfer from SPG?
Out of respect for the dead, let’s use the correct name: America West, not American West.
i closed my 1st us air card back in oct 2014 and i tried to apply again, without entering my USDM #. i got a pending review and i’ll get an answer in 7-10 days. it doesn’t seem like i’ll get a 2nd approval / card. 🙁
I can’t seem to find off-peak dates for a South America 35k award. Can you please link?
@eli:
The justice department has lost its way and has totally allowed the flying public to get screwed by monopolistic mergers in the commercial airline sector. Continental/United, Delta/Northwest and American/USAir(ways) should NEVER have been allowed to happen.
I have 50k miles
Would it get me rt to Israel?
If not how about nyc Europe nyc hi w long stop
Over?
Book over phone?
How many miles?
Can be some on aa flights? Tia
Is Lih included?
Regarding #3: I can’t find Amex MR on Points.com (or British Airways points, but that’s not this conversation). Am I missing something?
Can I use my USAir card to get free AA checked bags?
aa audit my account and closed it
will the merger affect this too?
what is the official last day to apply for the card?
are there any links with that annual fee WAIVED the first year?
Dan,
Even tho the 110k on CX business is going away for USAir, it is still unsure if it will go away on AA yet right?
I have the 50k us miles What’s my best bet to fly from ewr/Phl to tlv rt I’m new to this .any ideas?
@moshe:
Just to let you know, that you should open a new AA account, and than merge it together with your US airways account, if it doesn’t work, than call US airways that you want to make sure that they merge it to this AA account number,
maybe you’ll need to change the address on both (US airways and AA) to be more safe.
not a need to change it on the credit card, just on frequent flyer acct number
Dan do you recommend
1) merging accounts ASAP or maybe not to?
2) applying for a second US airways card
Dan, thanks for a great summary.
Am I correct: I can only redeem Dividend Miles for round trip award flights, no one-ways?
@Dan
Will combining my us airways points with my aA account extend the life of my aA points? Thanks.
my AA points are going to expire by April 16, will the merge extend the life of my points?
Dan,
Can you please provide directions on how to book a stopover trip for the price of 1 trip. I would like to do Newark/JFK to Israel to Honolulu and back to NY/NJ.
Thanks for all your help!
@Dan,
Will they still honor the companion pass deal and lounge certificate that came with the credit card?
Thanks!!
will be honored later on?
I got some offer from US airways to share miles and receive 30% bonus what is this all about
should i use up my dividend miles quickly or should i just use AA for my next trip in one month? the miles needed seem to be the same (12,500 one way and 20,000 the other). not sure if AA has the 5,000 mile discount though
so tom is last day to get domestic for just 20k?
We all ask questions
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Transferred spg to three usair dividend miles accounts yesterday (wife and kids accts). Just received an email today from spg canceling the transactions because these are not my accounts. What to do??
@pghtown:
Guess that one is dead as well now.
Just transfer the Starpoints to your wife and kids and then from there to each of their accounts.
I called US Airways to ask how long I’d be able to use my US Airways Companion Ticket. I was transferred a few times to different departments until I spoke to a women who asked for my SHARE reference code and then told me that I could use it until the certificate said I could (in my case had to be purchased by 9/30/15 and travel completed by 12/31/15).
When I told her I heard that today was the last day to book US Airways awards, she said, “yes that’s true for awards” (as they are now merging), but US Airways will still be operating their own flights for now,” so companion tickets will still be honored, and that they’d send out a statement if the Companion Passes have to be booked before the date it says on the statement.
Hopefully, that information is accurate!
@Dan: Rules on spg.com state all accounts must have the same name. Looks like that applies to all airline transfers, not just the US/AA merger