US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Newbie Dividend Miles Questions

This is my first post on this forum and I have some questions about the Dividend Miles program. I recently took a roundtrip from SLN-MCI-PHL-FCO. I received 11,822 miles for this trip. I also did the bonus code entries and received 1000 bonus miles for "Discontinued Service Adj." and 5000 bonus miles for "Corp. Dividends First flight". Thanks for the bonus code thread!! When I log into my Dividend Miles account it shows my status as "Silver Preferred Member". I have only flown the 11,822 preferred miles and 6 preferred segments. How did I get the Silver status? I did this same trip last year in October but it shouldn't count for this year. I also have received about 50,000 miles so far this year from the Dividend Miles Visa card but these are not preferred miles. The only thing that I can think of is that it must have been one of the bonus codes. Does anyone have any ideas? If this is not a mistake when do you normally receive the Silver Preferred packet? How long do you retain this status? Is there a time limit as to when you can used the preferred upgrades? As you can see this is still very new to me so I hope these do not seem to be silly questions. Thanks in advance for any replys and thanks to flyertalk for providing us with this forum.

Mark

Maybe one of those bonus codes is an early 'silver challenge'. They usually do that during the late part of the year and give people an opportunity to make Gold or Silver with a specific number of segments/miles. If you have earned it since the beginning of the year, I think you keep the status this year and through the next, but don't quote me on that.

When you get your packet, your upgrades will have expiration dates on them - usually a year from their issue.

It looks like a "challenge" promo as well. They are 6250 for Silver, 12500 for Gold (in like a 6 week span). If I were you I would call Dividend Miles and see if you can go for the gold challenge. All you need is another flight as you are 678 miles away. If this isn't a pure Mileage Run, I don't know what is! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

edited in embarassment for my 2nd math error in 2 weeks... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif

[This message has been edited by chexfan (edited 04-22-2001).]

Originally posted by chexfan:
It looks like a "challenge" promo as well. They are 6250 for Silver, 12500 for Gold (in like a 6 week span). If I were you I would call Dividend Miles and see if you can go for the gold challenge. All you need is another flight as you are 678 miles away. If this isn't a pure Mileage Run, I don't know what is! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

edited in embarassment for my 2nd math error in 2 weeks... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif

[This message has been edited by chexfan (edited 04-22-2001).]

Definately sounds like the Silver Challenge. The wifey flies 6200+ in a couple weeks. We need to find a CHEAP fare for the last friggin' 50 miles...


NPeterson: what's connecting in MCI like? Seems kinda like a cozy, but strange operation out there in the plains...

Originally posted by ITRADE:
Definately sounds like the Silver Challenge. The wifey flies 6200+ in a couple weeks. We need to find a CHEAP fare for the last friggin' 50 miles...

Itrade,

Try BWI-CMH for $95. Not bad if you ask me, and you get 2000 miles...

RZ

Originally posted by Arrzee:
Originally posted by ITRADE:
Definately sounds like the Silver Challenge. The wifey flies 6200+ in a couple weeks. We need to find a CHEAP fare for the last friggin' 50 miles...

Itrade,

Try BWI-CMH for $95. Not bad if you ask me, and you get 2000 miles...

RZ

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking somewhere out of BWI (CMH, MHT, PVD) or waiting for a cheap e-saver to pop up like ORF or PHL. But with an additional 1000 miles (I'm assuming that's a bonus), she should be set.

I called Dividend Miles as chexfan suggested to see what was up with the challenge promos. It turns out that the silver challenge promo and the gold challenge promo are seperate offers with different time periods. I have already met the silver challenge so i didn't ask which code this was. The gold challenge is 2311 and is in effect from April 6 thru July 10. Fly 12,500 preferred miles or 16 segments during this period and receive gold status. My outbound trip to FCO was on March 30 and I returned on April 11. Therefore only the return trip qualifies for the gold challenge. This leaves me 6589 miles short on this promo. This leads to my next question. The new rules for the Dividend Miles Visa card go into effect June 1. These new rules state that if you purchase $25,000 or more each "calender year" that 10,000 of those miles will be counted as preferred miles. I am already well over that requirement this "calender year". Does anyone know if these miles will be credited on June 1? If so I will have plenty of preferred miles to satisfy the gold challenge within the time period allowed. This would eliminate the need to take a mileage run. Sounds good if it actually works that way. Any opinions?

Thanks
Mark

My inclination is that it wouldn't work. Chances are that 1) the mileage wouldn't post in time (esp. if this is calculated at the end of the year when they can total your spending) and 2) I'm not sure that the "preferred" miles from the card would be counted towards the challenge promos the same way as "flight" miles or segments are. You could try it, but it would be safer to do a mileage run if you really want to be sure to get Gold status.

Can you get out west using any of the Southwest sale matches? What about going to PVD from BWI, then from PVD to LAX? Anyway, good luck with the promo. A friend of mine got the Silver challenge unexpectedly as well.

Well I found the following on the Bank of America web site in the questions and answers section. I guess I will have to call to find out when the miles actually post and if the miles would be usable for the promo.

How will I know that I've earned 25,000 Dividend Miles and that US Airways was
notified so I can use 10,000 miles for my Preferred Status?

Bank of America keeps the year to date miles earned using your Dividend Miles Visa account.
Once we show that you've earned 25,000 miles, we will send the information to US Airways.
Once the Preferred Miles have been posted at US Airways, you will see those Preferred Miles in
the top right corner of your US Airways Dividend Miles frequent flyer statement.

It appears that the miles post as soon as you meet the qualification. Not sure though. I will need to find out soon so I will have time to plan a mileage run if needed. I will try to post a link to the Dividend Miles Visa question and answer site in case anyone is interested.

http://www.bankofamerica.com/creditcards/answers/

We'll see if this works. As you can probably tell I am still new to this forum.

Thanks
Mark

[This message has been edited by mpetersn (edited 04-24-2001).]

[This message has been edited by mpetersn (edited 04-24-2001).]

I finally talked to a CSR at Dividend Miles Visa and she informed me the the 10,000 preferred miles bonus based on calender year card usage will not be in effect until January 2002. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Seems a little unfair since they are taking away the 20% bonus miles offer effective June 1, 2001. I guess I will still try to get a mileage run in before July 10.

Thanks
Mark

I know this is a stupid question but I can't help it. If I go to register via the phone for the bonus codes, when it tells me to enter my FF #, what do I do about the letters in my #? Do I just use the number on the phone pad that corresponds to the letter? How will they know it is the correct one when most of the numbers on the phone pad have 3 different letters on them?
Thanks
Cindi

[This message has been edited by cndij (edited 04-24-2001).]

cndij, yes, you are correct. Just enter the number with the corresponding letter in your DM account. The system will then ask you to enter your PIN, which I suppose is what differentiates your account number from any others with the same "number" keys.

cndij, yes, you are correct. Just enter the number with the corresponding letter in your DM account. The system will then ask you to enter your PIN, which I suppose is what differentiates your account number from any others with the same "number" keys.

Is the 'Gold Challenge' bonus code 2310 or 2311? The bonus code thread seems to suggest 2310...