This was posted 13 years 6 months 19 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Star Alliance Business Class to USA/Canada with Europe stopover award tickets US$1700 (A$1740)

134
Star Alliance Business Class to USA/Canada with Europe stopover award tickets US$1700 (A$1740)
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tonester on 22/10/2010 - 14:28 usairways.com (338 clicks)
Last edited 22/10/2010 - 23:40 by 1 other user

mod - there are suggestions that some people have had difficulties with this deal in the past and perhaps some experience with the systems involved is needed or the deal can go quite badly wrong.

US Airways is a member of the Star Alliance network and their Dividend Miles normally cost US$27.50 for 1,000 miles.

However, there is currently a 100% bonus up to 50,000 miles (US$27.50 for 2,000 miles).

Whilst the present promotion ends November 15, slight variations have been run almost continuously for over a year, such as with a 100,000-mile maximum bonus, so similar offers could be expected in future.

When redeeming a Star Alliance award for return travel between Australia (South Pacific) and USA/Canada, one stopover or open-jaw in Europe is allowed at the inbound airline’s hub city.

The number of Dividend Miles required and their cost with the above promotion are:

First Class: 140,000 miles = US$2,475
Business: 110,000 miles = US$1,650
Ecomomy: 80,000 miles = US$1,100

There is a US$50 award processing fee and airport taxes are also to be paid.

Star Alliance member airlines include Adria, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Blue1, bmi, brussels airlines, Continental, Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines, United, and US Airways.

Join Dividend Miles between October 11 and December 31, 2010 with promo code NMCB – earn 1,000 bonus miles.
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/promotions/mcen…

Star Alliance award travel chart
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/Resources/_downloads/dividend…

Dividend Miles membership guide
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/…

Star Alliance Award Bookings Using US Airways Miles - FAQ and Help Thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-airways-dividend-miles/101…

Award Routing Quirks and Making the Most of Award Stopovers
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2010/06/06/awa…

Dreams Come True: PER-JFK, TG C/F, LH C/F, LX C/F
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/1114275-dreams-c…

Travel

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closed Comments

  • PS3God on 22/10/2010 - 14:37
    +4

    There are SO many caveats around this… worst case scenario you buy the points and then cant get the routing you want…then all of a sudden you have 150k points with NOWWHERE to go and are almost 3k outa pocket…

    the post does NOT mention credit card fee issues, some taxes are processed AFTER the booking and can be another $500 on top.

    • TimmyStrong on 22/10/2010 - 14:44
      +2

      US is clamping down on this, many people have had flights cancelled and points in limbo for months during investigation.

      • PS3God on 22/10/2010 - 14:47
        +3

        I had 2 friends who did the above with buying and then gifting each other.. T&C's say non refundable and their accounts were locked after an audit…

        if it was say, $500 its worth a punt, but after fees, taxes and almost no availability its not a bargain.. its a massive risk with no guarantee of service ever eventuating.. there is NO guarantee with this.. its gaming the system and that's not a bargain by any stretch of the imagination.

        • tonester on 22/10/2010 - 15:07
          +1

          how is this gaming the system?

          there are no tricks like trying to identify a barcode to score a free chocolate bar :)

  • davem on 22/10/2010 - 14:40
    +2

    Availability is pretty much non existent.

    • anthony on 22/10/2010 - 15:05

      That is the same when using points with any airline

      • davem on 22/10/2010 - 15:09
        +2

        Doesn't change the fact that your selling this as some magical way to travel the world, whereas its stupidly complicated and restrictive.

        Ever wonder why there are 14 trillion unused miles out there (http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/jan/08/business.theairl…) , its because finding availability for when you want it is almost impossible.

        • anthony on 22/10/2010 - 15:52
          +1

          Doesn’t change the fact that your selling this as some magical way to travel the world,

          Really? I am?

          Ever wonder why there are 14 trillion unused miles out there

          I travel on points a few times each year.
          It is easy to do if you book early and can be flexible within a few days for travel.

          If you cant do either then you shouldn't be looking at a points system.

        • kanister1987 on 22/10/2010 - 15:56
          +1

          I wish this was the only issue.

          The fact remains that people have had points arbitrarily taken off them because the airlines believe they have acted improperly. or they suddenly change the T&C's and the $2000 worth of points you bought now only gets you half the way.

          Dont get burnt by this people.

  • antler on 22/10/2010 - 14:50
    +4

    Does not work! Too many problems! Had miles taken off me by US Airways myself. I'm not flying them again.

  • tonester on 22/10/2010 - 14:57

    credit card fee issues? you mean the usual foreign currency exchange fee?

    what taxes are processed after booking? airport taxes are paid when booking airfares and for a recent booking like this were less than $200 (no Qantas fuel surcharges)

    cancellations/investigations were as a result of abusing the system and selling (bonus) miles on ebay via sharing (which is excluded from the current promotion)

    availability can be checked before you buy miles

    doesn't work? it did for friends and i - visit forums such as flyertalk and australianfrequentflyer for feedback

    • kesin on 22/10/2010 - 15:02
      +2

      Booked a flight to Canada to have it canceled by someone in India :-(

  • anthony on 22/10/2010 - 15:03
    +2

    Travelling to the USA through Europe is a very long flight.

    I would rather go direct in Economy and spend 20 hours less in the plane

    • tonester on 22/10/2010 - 15:07

      but you can stopover in Europe for as long as you like

      • infernal_max on 22/10/2010 - 15:13
        +1

        tell me you cant be that naive

        • tonester on 22/10/2010 - 15:25

          ok - as long as it's less than a year and you're legally allowed :)

          else skip Europe and just fly direct over the Pacific

  • tessie1 on 22/10/2010 - 15:11
    +2

    I bought points through this and had them taken off me. Waste of money and time!

  • kanister1987 on 22/10/2010 - 15:18
    +3

    Hi,

    Long time Lurker on this site and first time poster.

    I felt the need to respond to register and respond to this one as i looked into it a few months ago. I really like this forum and dont want to see people lose significant ($2000+) on these sort of things.

    This deal sounds good but there a several problems
    -hidden fees, Taxes, Charges
    -very limited availability of flights
    -several cases i have read where people have had the points just taken off them.

    I looked into this in depth a few months ago but it has loads of problems and i have been told by several people in the travel industry that these deals are not good.

    If you feel like a gamble then go ahead but this deal is pay upfront and hope you get flights later.

    or you can just book a flight through air aisa where you know you will get the seats and its $1000 to europe return.

    Just my Two cents.

  • trievalot on 22/10/2010 - 15:27
    +1

    TL:DNR

    • Davo1111 on 22/10/2010 - 15:54

      is not a reason

      • trievalot on 22/10/2010 - 16:22
        +1

        please reinstate my -ve

        Availability is pretty much non existent.
        1 - Lots of hidden fee’s and loopholes this is defintely not worth it seen people burnt by this
        2 - Does not work! Too many problems! Had miles taken off me by US Airways myself. I’m not flying them again.
        3 - There are SO many caveats around this… worst case scenario you buy the points and then cant get the routing you want…then all of a sudden you have 150k points with NOWWHERE to go and are almost 3k outa pocket…
        the post does NOT mention credit card fee issues, some taxes are processed AFTER the booking and can be another $500 on top

        • baz123 on 22/10/2010 - 18:18

          I've also had my -ve removed and am not happy with the moderator's unjustified interference

  • BenMHarvey on 22/10/2010 - 15:34
    +3

    Lots of hidden fee's and loopholes this is defintely not worth it seen people burnt by this

    • tonester on 22/10/2010 - 18:09

      please be specific - what hidden fees and loopholes?

  • baz123 on 22/10/2010 - 15:39
    +2

    Judging by lots of comments, not a good deal, which is a shame as it sounded promising

    • Davo1111 on 22/10/2010 - 15:54

      not a valid reasobn

      • baz123 on 22/10/2010 - 18:15

        I negged this because it appears to be extremely difficult to redeem points, and some people have lost their points and not gained any benefit from the cost of the points. I think that is a valid reason and want my negative reinstated

        • infernal_max on 22/10/2010 - 21:28
          -1

          you didnt say that before you posted a negative vote did you?

  • dman801 on 22/10/2010 - 16:41

    This is a pretty good deal, considering business class return MEL-AKL-PPT (tahiti) is only 30K on US Dividend Miles.

    I don't think an offer like this is suited to the OzBargain community, it would be a lot more well recieved on AFF or Flyertalk.

  • ferni on 22/10/2010 - 17:34
    +1

    I'm actually about to take off to London Via Bangkok on this deal. My mate put me onto it a few months ago, he did it. Flew first class to Europe and then the states. He then booked it for his parents, they did the same thing, so i gave it a shot.

    All up including taxes, booking fees, buying points, it's cost me pretty much spot on 6k in total for 2 first class tickets for my wife and I… SYD BKK LHR BKK SYD.

    While 6k isn't cheap, it's defiantly a bargin for first class flights. Yes there is some risk involved for all the reasons mentioned here, but if you're patient enough, research enough and follow the rules it is doable. Go read up on flyertalk for all the people doing it. Thousands have done it ok, a few people have had trouble, probably doing something dodgy.

    I could of done business class all the way for less than 5k, but could be once in a lifetime op to try out first class.

  • tonester on 22/10/2010 - 18:11

    mods - why was my comment http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/33007#comment-298332 removed? in it i tried to answer people's objections

    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 22/10/2010 - 21:28

      It's not removed.

      Your commment was given a negative vote by someone.

      That has hidden your comment.

      However, at the top of the page, under the deal, you can click on show hidden comments and your comment will be visible.

  • baz123 on 22/10/2010 - 18:17
    +1

    Why is the moderator removing negatives when they're based upon logical reasoning? Just because you don't agree with other people's opinions is not valid justification for removing their votes.

    • SomeGuyOnOzB on 22/10/2010 - 23:39

      It looks like people's votes were revoked because they only said it was their opinion that the deal looked bad, at the time of the vote.

      As we've had spates of people rocking up and just saying deals look bad before, we introduced in the guidelines that people should share their experience or identify a specific problem (and not just give an opinion or a vague indication).

      The reasons given after the negatives were made do sound like reasons to leave the negatives. Unfortunately, people only gave their reasons as a response to having their negatives removed.

  • cairnsn on 22/10/2010 - 18:46

    So people have had their points taken off them and T&Cs says its non-refundable…

    If you paid for the points using a credit card, then would it be possible to go through your banks dispute resolution policy on the basis that you did not receive the goods or services from the merchant?

    Personally i wouldn't risk it.

  • Techie on 22/10/2010 - 19:04
    +2

    This is definitely a good deal but requires some knowledge of how the air travel industry works. Probably not suitable to someone who has never redeemed points for flights. But the reasoning about the hidden fees, taxes and points taken off people is flawed, and the availability can be easily checked before buying points.

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