US Airways has dividend incentive packages starting at $1000 for 50,000 points. These packages are targeted at organizations. Is it possible for an Individual to pay the $1000 and get the 50,000 points certificates for their own use.

I believe that most programs like this have a limit of 25,000 miles per year that can be deposited into a person's account from a single source.

It is interesting to look at the cost per mile in such a case

$1000 for 50,000 miles = $1 for 50 miles = 2 cents per mile

It's an expensive way to get miles.

cheers Peter

Woof!

Most of the major US airlines have a similar deal where you can buy miles for incentives and such, and the cost is typically $.02 a mile for all the programs ...

Is $0.02/mile is an expensive way to get miles?

Normally a ticket from JFK to LAX will cost $400 with major airline� for this RT one will get 5000 miles.. which means $0.08/mile.

5000 miles in this offer will cost $100 only

am I doing something wrong here? Please correct me

KSA_USA

KSA ~ The primary thing to consider is not how much the miles cost to earn, but how much they are worth when you spend them.

Actually, in many cases $.02 may not be that bad, especially when you start talking about internations Business and First Class tickets.

For domestic US travel, $0.02/mile is almost always a bad deal if you can buy any kind of discounted ticket ahead of time. On most airlines it is 25,000 miles for a free roundtrip. That's $500 if you value the miles at 2 cents each. In the example you site, the ticket in question could be purchased for $400, obviously a better deal. You are correct in noting that the purchased ticket would also provide you miles, 5000 in this case, not including any bonuses. Therefore, you could consider the true award cost to be 30,000 miles (25,000 for the award ticket plus the 5000 "opportunity" miles you are giving up because you are riding free). This suggests that at $0.02/mile you are really paying $600 for that award ticket. Purchasing the ticket outright is, of course, still a better deal than using miles.

I find the $0.02/mile valuation high (again, for domestic travel - don't know much about international). My reasoning is that if you can buy them for 2 cents each from the airlines their real value must be lower than that. I usually value them around 1.5 cents each.

Yes MileKing - and in add: a earned flight-mile counts also versus your next status - which makes flight miles often worthier than third-party- or bought-miles!

KSA--you are right, that buying miles this way would be cheaper than earning them by traveling, but for the flight, you are getting the flight PLUS the FF miles. therefore, you are not just buying the miles from the airline. If you look at the value of the miles themselves, FFers may try to use a 25,000 mile award for a ticket which might otherwise cost them between $400 or $500, somwhere between .015 and .02 in value per mile in the award.
Therefore, in your example, if your flight is costing you .08 per mile, the mileage you are earning is worth about .02 per mile, so you are paying the remainder for the flight you are actually on (about .06 per mile).
However, you can't compare the two, because one is the cost of flown miles (actual air miles) whereas the other is the worth of FF miles (where 25,000 "miles" may get you a flight that actually goes only 5000 real miles round trip).
Looked at from an earning perspective, .02 is a generally neutral figure, neither good nor bad, for purchasing miles. It's just about what they are worth to you.

That's my two cents worth.

Djlawman

I totally agree that it is an expensive way to buy miles if it is a domestic flight. In my case I need an additional 40,000 miles to get 2 business class return ticket to Australia. With those tickets currently at aroung $7000-8000 each I think boosting my miles for an additional $1000 to go from coach to business for such a long trip is worth it.

I am well aware of the credit card bonuses and E'trade etc etc. But I don't have the time to build that extra 40,000 with these methods.

thanks all, I got the point now... it makes sense..

always ask the experts ...

KSA_USA

So now that we have had the debate over whether it is a worthwhile method to accumulate points, does somebody have an answer to my question. Can an individual buy these miles ? In my case I need US Air miles ???
Thanks all...

I'm afraid the answer is "no". I happen to have a copy of the Dividend Incentives brochure (actually it says VIP Miles but that's the old name, I think).

The application requires you to define whether it's a Customer Incentive/Reward or Employee Incentive/Reward. I don't know how closely they monitor this.

BTW, there's also a 7.5% federal sales tax and a $75 handling fee.

andrew