MilesBuzz! - Is it truly 'Useless'?

Can anyone suggest a way in which a Star Alliance/oneworld ff can earn miles from a flight that they are obliged to take on US Airways?

My partner has BA and Air Canada membership, but United doesn't seem to cover the route travelled, and the American return flight is completely sold out.

Do we just bite the bullet and lose these miles?

What about Delta? I know there aren't many destinations served by USAir that Delta does not go to, and on Delta you can now earn United miles, but maybe that doesn't help since they're an AC member and not UA ...

Get the miles - they do not expire. Maybe if you are able to get enough partner miles on USAirways via MCI, hotel, car, clickrewards, affiliated visa, you could get to something useful.

Also USAir miles can be pooled with AA miles to get award travel on USAir or AA (but not on their partners).

Thanks for the info.

The reason for the lack of airline choices is that one leg of it is a flight from Urbana-Champaign, which is basically a university town. Just before Christmas all the flights are filled by students...

It's good to know that the USAir miles don't expire - who knows, maybe in 20 years time we'll have enough to get a free flight!

pgupta - do you know if one need to join the USAir program in advance of the flight, or is it sufficient to send in the application form with the boarding cards shortly after flying with them?

As I joked in another post, I flew US between PHL and BOS a few days ago. First time I have earned miles with US in 4 years but I still made sure I got them since they never expire.

You never know...maybe I'll be relocated or changed jobs and find US works best for my travel needs.

In my experience it is always a good idea to sign up with the program in advance (or during check in on your first flight). Their number is 1-800-872-4738

I think DL does operate from Champaign to Cincinnati. Other alternatives might be UA out of Springfield, or just drive to ORD or STL (2 1/2 hours each). I'd not be crazy about a commuter plane from PIT to Champaign!

Jamiel - the problem, as I said, is that this flight is during the next week - i.e. when hordes of students are leaving Champaign to go home for the holidays. Even students prefer some airlines to others...

My beloved spouse will be the one suffering the tender mercies of USAir. From what I've read here, I might prefer to walk!

Since you're stuck, I wont get into just how bad Useless can be...but suffice to say that I have about 12,000 USair points that have been sitting for many, many moons. I keep hoping they'll join the HHonors or Marriott families so I can rescue the points, but so far no luck...

Correct me if I am wrong, but to my knowledge you cannot transfer miles from any airline program to Marriott.

Matt, as I mentioned earlier you can now pool USAirways miles with AA miles, so if you have AA miles you can pool the 12K USAirways miles with AA miles and use them. MCI is offering 10K USAir miles to switch which could get you quite close to 25K.

For those of you who are still frightened of US Airways, don't be. I make no promises about their (or anyone's) commuter flights, but in my view they have made great strides in improving their overall service during the past few years.

With the AA partnership, their FF program now has enough domestic destinations. If I weren't primarily concerned with collecting miles for international partner flights (of which AA has a lot better selection), I'd probably switch most of my business to them.
(Being located in DC, I am not captive to any hub, though the downside is I can't ever manage to take all of my trips on any one airline.)

Charlie

Au contraire, Chazas. If you are willing to fly out of IAD, you can get just about anywhere in the U.S. on United. It may mean flying to Chicago in order to get to San Antonio or Miami, or flying to Denver to get to Kansas City...but just think of all the extra miles you rack up that way.

Now admitedly, IAD is FAR less convenient than DCA (out of which USAIR has many non-stops), but as soon as I was permitted to make my own arrangements, I switched from Useless to Untied (as long as we're making fun of names).

So, while USair may have improved services, and I'm sure the AA thing helps, I have only flown USAir twice in three years, and both times was 'cause I voluntarily gave up my seat on a United flight.....and I'm happier that way.