-USAirways Offer Linky
-SPG-US Transfer Linky
Yesterday I wrote about the promotion for transferring Starpoints into American miles. Turns out there’s also a promotion for turning Starpoints into USAirways miles through July 31st with the same rules I wrote about yesterday for the American promo.
Sure, in 2015 the American and USAirways programs will be combined. But in the meantime there are several differences:
1. You can transfer Starpoints into anyone’s USAirways account, the names don’t have to match (though this can change at any time). Transfers into American require matching names.
2. USAirways requires round-trip award travel while American sells one-way award travel.
3. USAirways allows for a free stopover while American doesn’t (with the exception of when 2 awards price out lower than 1 award like US-Europe-Israel off-peak)
4. American allows free date changes on award tickets. USAirways charges $150 for that. American charges $150 to cancel a ticket but just $25 to cancel additional awards at the same time. USAirways charges a flat $150 per ticket. American charges a phone fee for tickets that can’t be booked online while USAirways waives the phone fee, however USAirways charges a $25-$50 award processing fee which applies even for tickets made online.
5. American has very strict routing rules. You can’t fly to Australia via Asia for example. USAirways has much more lenient routing rules. American also requires a “paid published routing” on awards, USAirways does not. American’s system prices awards correctly. USAirways has booked several 40K awards to Israel and South Africa for DD readers like this one among several other “bugs” I’ve heard of.
6. American can book travel on El Al, USAirways can’t.
7. USAirways charges 50,000 miles for domestic first awards on 3 class planes, such as JFK-Los Angeles, JFK-S. Francisco, and Miami-Los Angeles on American as well as JFK-Vancouver on Cathay Pacific. That rate goes up to 65,000 if you book after July 31st which is the same rate American charges.
8. USAirways charges just 120,000 miles to fly first class to Asia on Cathay Pacific, the biggest bargain in the entire mileage game. People have even been able to book the 110K business class ticket to Asia with a stopover in Israel along the way.
9. If you have a Barclays US Airways Premier World MasterCard you can get a 5,000 mile discount on USAirways awards (besides for free checked bags and pre-boarding). That means round-trip domestic awards are just 20,000 miles, off-peak coach awards to the Caribbean for cardholders are just 20,000 miles round-trip, and off-peak awards to Europe or South America are just 30,000 miles round-trip if you fly on USAirways. Off peak First Class/Envoy awards to the Carribean are just 45,000 miles and to South America are just 55,000 miles round-trip if you fly on USAirways.
10. Round-trip coach to Israel is 80K, business to Israel is 120K, and first class to Israel is 180K. With the card USAirways flights to Israel are 75K in coach and 115K in business. On American round-trip coach nonstop to Israel is 90K coach, 135K business, 180K first.
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18 Comments On "20,000 Starpoints Transfers Into 30,000 USAirways Miles This Month; Where Should You Transfer?"
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dan,
how does one book a us airways ticket to hong kong with cathay and a stopover in israel?
what would the routing look like? thx very much!
@david:
LGA-PHL-TLV (stopover)-LHR-HKG (destination)-JFK
All partner awards have to booked over the phone…YMMV!
Dan, what does “allows for free stopover” mean?
If I wanted to goto Japan, how would I get a free stopover elsewhere in Asia?
@Annie:
You could fly JFK-HKG on Cathay Pacific, stopover in Hong Kong as long as you want, then fly to Tokyo on Cathay or JAL, stay as long as you want, and then fly back to JFK on Cathay or JAL all for 120K in first class.
Hi dan Is it safe to transfer a like 1 or 2 million spg to us airways if names don’t match?
@A:
You can only do 60K per day.
Worst case scenario is they reject the transfer and it goes back to SPG.
dan i have spg points, but not that much. Should i use it for my hotel stay or for my us airways flight? where do i got more for my points?
If I don’t have a us airway acc can I open one today names don’t match and transfer 60k for 30days straight? U think its safe? Bec I’m hesitant doing it?
@E.:
Depends which hotel and which flight…
@A:
It’s fine. Worst case is the transfer is rejected and the points go back to SPG.
But it should transfer unless they start cracking down on mismatched names due to this promo.
K thank u very much
Also does us airways know that it was transferred from spg with name that doesn’t match?
Because I don’t want them to give me a problem in the future
Can I transfer more than 80,000 points (in separate 24 hour periods) and get the standard 5000 bonus for all the points? I wasnt sure if the 79,999 cap limits that?
And I assume that to maximize my bonus, I should transfer 60,000 at a time? Can you explain the best way to maximize?
You are saying that I can’t book JFK-HKG-MEL for 62,500 in Biz?
on usairways its telling me that i need 170000 mile per person to book round trip travel nyc-tlv in august, not the 80k posted here? am I missing something here?
Dan,im plannong to say at a spg hotel 5 which is 12,000 points a night. and i wanna fly to sc from ny, which is abt $300 a ticket.(4 people) should i transfer my points for flight of use for hotel? thnx
off topic, but i want to clarify something. i want to fly in November to Europe. and i know my dates. and united saver award is usually “always” available. but i want to fly business and thats tricky to find!
would you recommend to wait and check everyday when that flights business award opens? or is it safer to do now a plan B?
@dan,
What about europe free stop
Nyc -Lhr(stopover)- hkg-nyc
For 110,120?
Hi Dan,
I am trying to use the US airways 25,000 award trip but i cant seem to find one online. Do I have to call? I also have the credit card and would like to use the discount.Please let me know.
Thanks