US Airways Dividend Miles - Great news for Latin/South America Travel! (Copa & Taca/Avianca join Star Alliance)

Now US flyers have more options: Copa & Taca/Avianca have joined Star today, yea!!!

An example from MCO you can fly both Copa Taca/Avianca (including TAM)to all of Latin/South America and even parts of Europe.

I have to say this is great news for those wishing to use miles are get cheap tickets throught the Americas.


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-alliance/1359201-avianca-taca-lifemiles-may-best-program-star.html

There are many great parts of the Lifemiles program just like US & BMI.

So here's a question.

Given the cheap fares US announced today to GIG, as well as UA and US both having some good award availability to South American in general, is it worth an award to go to GRU?

I'd be looking at WAS-GRU sometime in August and I'm debating the merits about buying a ticket vs. taking an award.

If I took US on the ghetto bird 767, how likely is it to be able to upgrade to C? Is it worth a C award (either upgrade or all out)? Y fares are cheap, but C still seems to be expensive for SA in general. :(

Thanks!

Finally! I've been watching the news/rumors for a while now waiting for the join date of Taca. Since US' site is not yet updated, when will we know for sure we get full credit (and on which fares) for flights on these airlines?

Finally! I've been watching the news/rumors for a while now waiting for the join date of Taca. Since US' site is not yet updated, when will we know for sure we get full credit (and on which fares) for flights on these airlines?

I've been wondering the same thing. Given that the website still lists Spanair as a partner, it may be a while...

What are the odds I can someone post-hoc accrue miles for my flights last week on TACA and Avianca? The US website doesn't say anything about accrual (yet).

What are the odds I can someone post-hoc accrue miles for my flights last week on TACA and Avianca? The US website doesn't say anything about accrual (yet).

Probably zero since the official *A entry date wasn't until today....

Probably zero since the official *A entry date wasn't until today....

That has to totally suck.

My boyfriend and I have been waiting for this to happen, because he really wants to go to Peru and Machu Picchu. I'm anxious to find out which of Avianca/Taca and Copa's fare classes earn miles and which ones only earn a percentage (and which earn zero)! I've also been looking up on each of their websites RDU or the nearest city (CLT, IAD, MIA) - LIM to see what airfare looks like and I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to use miles on the trip since everything is over $1K. Do you think that US will arrange codeshares with anyone other then Taca to get to LIM? Right now RDU-LIM on US (codeshares with Taca) is astronomical in price!

Great news. Coverage in this alliance to South America is rather sparsh. So this is good news.

That has to totally suck.

My boyfriend and I have been waiting for this to happen, because he really wants to go to Peru and Machu Picchu. I'm anxious to find out which of Avianca/Taca and Copa's fare classes earn miles and which ones only earn a percentage (and which earn zero)! I've also been looking up on each of their websites RDU or the nearest city (CLT, IAD, MIA) - LIM to see what airfare looks like and I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to use miles on the trip since everything is over $1K. Do you think that US will arrange codeshares with anyone other then Taca to get to LIM? Right now RDU-LIM on US (codeshares with Taca) is astronomical in price!

Possibly UA. UA does IAH-LIM. Even so, you can still get miles and bonuses if you buy a ticket there.

Earning rates for Copa, TACA and Avianca are now up on the US website.

Copa:

Business class C, D 150%
Economy class B, E, H, K, L, M, N, Q, S, T, U, V, W, Y 100%
No mileage credit I, P, X, YN, XN 0%

Avianca / TACA:

Business class C 125%
Business class D, J 100%
Economy class A, B, E, G, H, K, L, M O, P, Q, V, Y 100%
Economy class S, T, U, W, Z 50%
No mileage credit I, N, R, X 0%