MilesBuzz! - Miles4Sale.com legit?

As I am relatively new to the whole FF game, I am somewhat reluctant to purchase miles from any website except the carrier's websites themselves. I need to purchase 1500 miles to put me over the top on a DL reward ticket. Miles4Sale.com sells in increments of 500 miles, while DL sells only in 1000. Has anyone ever used Miles4Sale.com? and if so, A) is it legit? B) any hidden items I should be aware of? and C) good/bad comments would be appreciated. Thank you all in advance for your help.

I went to the Miles4Sale.com website and read all of the terms and conditions quite carefully.

They are selling miles at the inflated price of four (4) cents per mile!

There is no way that I would ever pay that kind of money to 'top off my account'.

All of these airlines participate in Idine and I can get ten (10) miles for each dollar that I spend PLUS THE FOOD & DRINK!

I'll take a pass on this...

"zoosh"

Gee what an innocent question from a newbie.

I figure that when a guy with four posts asks a questiomn like this that they are touting , plugging their business intrest.

I almost hate to reply as it has the effect of bumping his advertisment to the top.

Not very economical, but if you need a few miles really quickly without much effort, it works just fine. Posts within a day, IIRC. And generally cheaper than the airline sites.

Which airline are you flying (there may be other alternatives)? E.g. you can buy a membership at www.points.com (http://www.points.com) for $14.95 (500 miles). Or a subscription to Inside Flyer (see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/008315.html ).

[This message has been edited by cactuspete (edited 02-17-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by const88:
As I am relatively new to the whole FF game, I am somewhat reluctant to purchase miles from any website except the carrier's websites themselves. I need to purchase 1500 miles to put me over the top on a DL reward ticket. Miles4Sale.com sells in increments of 500 miles, while DL sells only in 1000. Has anyone ever used Miles4Sale.com? and if so, A) is it legit? B) any hidden items I should be aware of? and C) good/bad comments would be appreciated. Thank you all in advance for your help.</font>

It's legit. But the only purposes I would recommend for it is if you're about to lose miles in an account because of inactivity and thus need a small transaction (500 AA miles cost $21.50) or as in your case, need a small amount of miles to make it to an award level. I wouldn't use the service just to get miles to pad your account (e.g., buying 20,000 AA miles for $860). Doing that is almost certainly a money-losing proposition.

Newbie I may be Writetorich, but rest assured, I have no business interest in that website. Just an honest question from someone who is trying to get from 58,862 DL Skymiles miles to 60,000 so I can hopefully get 2 R/T to Hawaii. I see your concern, but it is not needed. What I really need is an answer. I am wondering if I should just get 2,000 miles from DL directly. Thanks again for any feedback.

[This message has been edited by const88 (edited 02-17-2003).]

I see that 2000 miles can be bought from Delta for $84 - not a great bargain either.

If you are in a great hurry because your trip is very soon, it probably makes sense - but if you have some time I'm sure there are other ways to get 1500 Delta miles for less money.

As was mentioned above, register one of your credit cards with Skymiles Dining (idine). You get 10 miles per $ spent on your first visit to each particicpating restuarant each month. Just find some restuarants you'd be heading to anyway, and voila miles will pop up quickly.

Guess I should have mentioned that I am in a bit of a hurry, because I am trying to get theses reward tix for Feb. 2004. I am going to enroll in Idine, as it seems like a good way to earn miles, but I need these miles relatively soon.

Go to the Delta board and see if you qualify for the "500 miles for any partner" promo - either miles4sale or points.com as mentioned above count for a partner and, if past experience is any indication, the bonus miles post immediately.

[This message has been edited by cactuspete (edited 02-17-2003).]

Appreciate the heads-up Cactuspete. Tried it out, and it said I was not elegible for the promotion. Any other ideas?

IF you are thinking of spending $80+ to get 2k Delta miles, you may as well spend $85 for the Amex Delta Skymiles Gold Card -- you get 10k bonus miles on your first charge

http://www66.americanexpress.com/cards/Fmacfservlet?csi=24/7756/b/68/0/048142353200/0/n

FYI, the idine miles post within a few weeks, usually.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by const88:
Guess I should have mentioned that I am in a bit of a hurry, because I am trying to get theses reward tix for Feb. 2004. I am going to enroll in Idine, as it seems like a good way to earn miles, but I need these miles relatively soon. </font>

It seems to me that you don't really need the miles too soon - but you feel you will need to make the reservation soon. Maybe Delta will allow you to hold the reservation before you have the full 60,000 - then you will have ample time to earn through Idine or other source.

Actually, I need the miles posted to my account very soon. My intentions are to go to the 2004 NFL Pro-Bowl which is February 8th, 2004. I have been advised that in order to have a good chance of getting 2 Delta reward tix to Hawaii, that I need to reserve as far in advance as the system allows, which I have been told is three hundred tirty something days from departure, correct? If this is incorrect, or anyone has any other suggestions, please speak up. Thank you again in advance.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by const88:
Actually, I need the miles posted to my account very soon. My intentions are to go to the 2004 NFL Pro-Bowl which is February 8th, 2004. I have been advised that in order to have a good chance of getting 2 Delta reward tix to Hawaii, that I need to reserve as far in advance as the system allows, which I have been told is three hundred tirty something days from departure, correct? If this is incorrect, or anyone has any other suggestions, please speak up. Thank you again in advance.</font>

Well, if you need miles quick, you might as well go the www.miles4sale.com (http://www.miles4sale.com) route. Your 1,500 miles will cost something like $65, and should post within a week or less.
Other suggestions here may take many weeks, or more, to post.

Delta has all kinds of promotions, but if time is of the essence, most of them are not feasible. You could book a short roundtrip to Atlanta ASAP to earn more than the 1,138 SkyMiles you need (500 bonus miles for booking on Delta's website plus 500 minimum miles for each segment), but with little or no advance purchase that may not be cost competitive. If you had more time, signing up for AT&T long distance nets you 5,000 bonus miles, but you can't expect the miles to post for six to eight weeks.

The suggestion to use idine as your mileage accrual vehicle is probably the best. At 10 miles per dollar, you will need to spend $113.80 to get the desired 1,138 SkyMiles you need for your Hawaii trip. You could either splurge for one really nice meal or eat all your meals exclusively for a couple of days at participating idine restaurants. Or, best of all, round up your friends for a big group dinner at a participating idine restaurant, charge the meal to your registered idine credit card, and collect cash from the rest of your dining companions! The great thing about idine is that the miles usually post within a few weeks.

For what it's worth, the NFL ought to spot you the 1,138 SkyMiles for being such a dedicated fan. I doubt too many people travel all the way from Florida to see the Pro Bowl. Of all the "All Star" games in professional sports, it's the absolute worst IMHO, save for the fantastic venue.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SRQ Guy:
FYI, the idine miles post within a few weeks, usually.</font>

Generally post in the first few businessdays of the month following the dining activity.

VolleyballFerd & CactusPete are correct. Idine sent all my January dines to my FF accts. on Feb. 6.
DL & AA don't require you to have the miles in your acct. already when you hold seats. But NW does.

SO: Call DL in March to reserve your space. Start earning now with Idine & by April 7 you should have enough to issue your tix to Hawaii http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Also, don't forget, many hotels give 500 miles for a stay--even one night.
Don't waste your money on Miles4sale.com--way overpriced as noted above.

------------------
Play the travel game 3 vacations into the future!

I wouldn't buy the miles from Miles4Sale. You have a bit of time to secure the award tix. Since you are looking at coach tickets, there is more availability (and so more time) than if you were looking to redeem F tix. Also, if you are a bit flexible (departure and return dates) by a couple days on either end and don't mind connecting via a different island, you shouldn't have any problems. I would do the iDine route because at least for your $$ you are going to get a nice meal. The tip about rounding up your friends for a meal at an iDine restaurant is a great way for racking up a bunch of miles at a cheaper cost to you. Follow the wise advice of some of the folks on this board and you will be well on your way for cheaper.

[This message has been edited by onedog (edited 02-18-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by const88:
As I am relatively new to the whole FF game, I am somewhat reluctant to purchase miles from any website except the carrier's websites themselves. I need to purchase 1500 miles to put me over the top on a DL reward ticket. Miles4Sale.com sells in increments of 500 miles, while DL sells only in 1000. Has anyone ever used Miles4Sale.com? and if so, A) is it legit? B) any hidden items I should be aware of? and C) good/bad comments would be appreciated. Thank you all in advance for your help.</font>

Simple questions deserve straightforward answers (didn't see many! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif).

miles4sale is legit. But personally, I would just buy the miles directly from DL. It's the most efficient and effective way to do what you want.

------------------
Vasant

[Edited for typo]

[This message has been edited by vasantn (edited 02-18-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by vasantn:
miles4sale is legit. But personally, I would just buy the miles directly from DL. It's the most efficient and effective way to do what you want.</font>


Well, this horse is dead, but one more beating can't hurt. Miles4sale is legit. But the most efficient manner of acquiring the 1200+ DL miles instantly is the combination of points.com and miles4sale (cheaper and, surprisingly, quicker than Delta).

By the way, IIRC DL will allow you to hold an award reservation for 14 days.

I recently used this service to top up my Delta miles and can vouch for its legitimacy.

The points posted the day after my purchase, which was much quicker than the transfer from my Amex.

I would recommend you buy the points directly from the airline as it is cheaper, in my case I did not have a U.S. address on my credit card so this was not an option.

For me the difference between Upper Class on VS vs Premium Economy was well worth the 4 cents per mile I paid to top up. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I believe you can transfer AMEX Membership Reward Points at a 1:1 conversion to Delta. If you don't have Reward Points, you can purchase them for $25/1000 making the 2000 points only $50 instead of $84 on Delta.

Delta Conversion Info:
http://www.delta.com/skymiles/member_guide/award_travel_info/other_partners/index.jsp#membership_rewards

Buying AMEX Membership Rewards:
http://www48.americanexpress.com/en/docs?request_type=un_staticpage&linkid=8#Q14