OMG you are brave! What are you going to do with all those miles? We basically have 2 projects we are working on for US DM (since we also have AA miles and SQ courtesy of Amex):

April 2011 BNE-x/AKL-x/LAX-MEX (see pyramids then get bus to Acapulco for cruise); MCO-LAX (stop)-x/AKL-BNE 80k in Y class, 110k in J class. We might have to pay one LAX sector if they won't give us both the open jaw and stop in LAX. This can't be booked until early June 2010.

April 2012 BNE-x/AKL-RAR rt. 30k in J class. This can't be booked until early June 2011 so have time to play with on this one.

So I need to get 110-140k miles in both our accounts and we both have around 43k plus an easy 25k each from SPG. So sometime between now and June 2010, we need to at least get 42k in both accounts from promos as we won't have to pay for travel until 2013 so no miles earned from flying and we can't get USA credit cards. I did another round of Club Bing after getting lucky in Oct for the Grand Slam but won't know until around 21 Dec if we will get lucky again for another 4100, plus we can use E-rewards for maybe 2k a year as we don't qualify for many surveys.

2.1 million? I wish I had $14,700 to spend. Big ups to you!

Maybe a better investment for me at least is to start buying some Track it Back stock ...

I may be getting paranoid, or it could be the late hour getting to me, but:

The promo page says you need to use the links on that page, which I might have done for some merchants but maybe not all, as I have the airline malls bookmarked.

Do you think they'd be that strict and not award the bonus if one didn't use the exact link on the promo page but rather went through the regular US DM mall?

Again, sorry for maybe asking a stupid question.

I'll try my best to answer your questions.

Based on my experience and my communications with Sharebuilder, the names on the accounts don't matter as far as Sharebuilder is concerned. They'll pay out the bonus once per customer or custodial beneficiary to whatever US FF# you give them. So, I believe that the answer to your question about having an American friend set up an account is yes. YMMV, of course.

You'll need a valid SSN, so no pet parrots unfortunately. :( You might get the miles by randomly generating numbers, but you'll be buying yourself way more than 10k miles worth of trouble. In the States kids get their SSN pretty much at birth. If you have friends here, offer to buy then or their kids a couple of shares of stock for Christmas. Maybe you'll find someone who'll take you up on the offer.

As for the mechanics of the trade, when you set up an automatic investment plan, it's possible to set it up to fund from your Sharebuilder cash balance rather than your bank account. Also, you can set it up for a one-time automatic purchase. You should be able to use the $10 in your account to make an automatic purchase of $6 in LCC on Tuesday. Just make sure you set it up before 5PM Eastern on Monday or you'll miss the deadline. Good luck!

Andyandy

new and confused
 

Hi y'all. I am trying to learn all I can here as fast as I can. :confused: Forgive me if this is a dumb question but...
Looking at the Star Alliance chart it says that a RTW economy ticket requires 200,000 miles. Using this promotion, I could get that many miles for under $2000. Is this really possible?!?! Or am I reading something wrong?

It was YOU who gave us the idea!
That is what made us brave.

Also, there are different types of automatic plans. Some cost more than others. But when I did it for the Grand Slam promo, there was a free trial for the middle tier one. So I used the trial and bought the stock with NO fees.

LOL good idea.. sadly TIB is not publicly traded.. which makes sense, given that all they do is sell overpriced stickers..

Yep it's possible. Although there might be something wrong with you after flying around the world in economy...:eek:

btw, welcome to FT!

SkyMall: 10 miles or 3? (BEFORE the bonus)
 

I'm up to my fifth purchase, and I thought I'd check out SkyMall (thinking about an LP-to-digital system). When I clicked on the "SkyMall" link on the promotion page, the SkyMall page that it sent me to had a banner saying, "Earn 3 Dividend Miles for every dollar you spend!". But when I clicked on "Dividend Miles Shopping Malls", then clicked on "SkyMall", the banner said "Earn 10 Dividend Miles for every dollar you spend!".

Is this just a matter of knowing the right way to get to the same page? Can I really expect to get 35 miles per dollar spent at SkyMall this way--buying a $400 system will earn me 14,000 miles?

For international shoppers some stores. I went through all from the Dividend Miles Shopping Mall, picking those that seem to be willing to do international purchases, don't have any 'no miles on gift cards' rules and egift cards for not more then 10$.

With some stores you have to keep an eye on if you're really using the US site or you're being forwarded to a local department which most likely wont generate points (some also explicitly state that, e.g. lego.com). I would also expect that paypal usage means a lot less potential for trouble then using the CC right away (e.g. I have no idea if my phone number is stored with my CC data at all, although that seems to be checked sometimes).

Every shop on the list is about an egift card unless stated otherwise.

Stores I tried myself:
Ohamasteaks 5$ - Paypal - asked if I really wanted to order it 'gift to a friend', then allowed it without further issues. Miles posted
Barns&Noble 10$ - Paypal - went through without any issue. Miles didn't post for me, but that was due to an ad-blocker I believe.
Charles Tyrwhitt 1$ - CC - allows to set any full dollar amount. Refirmed via local (german) CT if I really want to do that purchase. Miles posted.
Palm.com 2$ - CC - Miles never posted, didn't bother to escalate
Cabelas.com 5$ - CC - cancelled my order twice due to CC address issue, does allow international addresses in theory at least, got miles from them although effectively never paid anything
Musiciansfriend.com 5$ - Paypal - requires US or Canadian address, but does work with international paypal payment - Miles posted.
trackitback - miles posted and package arrived internationally without any surcharges. I recommend to contact TIB regarding import duties.

Also looking interesting (I tried if the checkout process allows for non US paypal accounts):
Footlocker 10$ - paypal
Sierra Trading Post 10$ - paypal
teva.com 10$ paypal
UGG Australia 10$ paypal
Lighting Universe 5$ paypal - however their servers currently look broken to me, I can't get a egift card into my shopping cart nor run the checkout

Trying with a bit modified address to fit us format also worked for me with:
Gaiam - 2$ - CC (donation) - Miles posted
Borders - 5$ - CC - Miles posted

I also tried sears.com 5$ but that was cancelled, miles first appeared in my account but were removed ultimately.

Interesting question since some airlines offer as many as 15 miles per dollar spent if not more so many of us may want to consider holding off our Sky Mall purchases at least to go with a larger bonus earning opp for at least that store. Anyone have any recommendations as to who is the best airline to use for SkyMall?

I'm curious, did you not use the discount code to lower the cost...and did the folks who have used the discount code not yet seen the miles post?

International shoppers, maybe you can use Ronald McDonald House, Salvation Army, or some other US charity's address for shipments.

Please understand I'm not going public about my mileage generatring to brag.

Rather, I want to put US Air on notice that if I'm willing to commit 5 figures worth of cash on this promotion, that it is a signal that:
* I have absolutely done my due diligence in researching how the promotion works
* I have absolute confidence that if I follow the promotion process, that I will receive the miles
* I am buying a 'risky' enough quantity of miles that US Air has plenty of opportunity to post to warn me off if I am indeed misunderstanding/misinterpreting the rules
* I am buying a 'newsworthy' amount of miles, so if there is a problem, it will be easy for the media to latch on to a 'poster child' for the promo

Basically, preemptive damage control.

Well that opens a new can of worms. If you're not from the US you probably don't know any US charitys. Then there is quite a lot stores that don't like to send to PO Boxes (which is often the official contact address) and I suppose they won't be that happy about a random junk item either. But most importantly, companies that don't allow for international shipping won't allow for international billig either so you'd still need to fake address data and risk getting it cancelled etc.

A more general fix would be to use a mail forwarder like http://www.bongous.com/ (unless they're blacklisted by the store), but for the promo there actually are enough stores that offer international shipping/buying. Just hard to find in that long list of stores and no way to search for it, which made it a pretty annoying and time consuming task, but now hopefully nobody has to do again. :)

Or of course you could PM one of us for our US address to send all the minor value items to. I for one would be more than thankful for B&N or Borders cards no matter how low the value. Knock out those low value purchases to get to the big ones.

JudyJFLA

OK, I am a bit lost here. :o As in this case above, TIB purchase was the last transaction, but posted first. From the T&C, it seems like since that posted first, it should get 50% bonus.

Once the four other qualifying purchases post , ALL five will be calculated at 250%.

See mile marker #317 where vysean had it confirmed that the order of posting is irrelevant. Its the total number of partner posts that will determine the percent bonus. That percent bonus amount will determine the bonus that is applied to ALL miles earned through this promotion.

As I stated earlier in the thread, I'm glad that there are folks like you that are in for a lot more miles than me. :)

But I'm confused by what you posted above. How do your posts on this forum mean that you've given them "plenty of opportunity" to warn you? Do you have some insider knowledge that US Air is tracking this thread?

First off, as the largest FFP website in the world by far, every FFP monitors FT. And every FFP gets coverage and reviews in FT suister company Inside Flyer Magazine.

Secondly, US has confirmed lurkers on this forum, even though they aren't necessarily active and involved as posters:

DMInsider (Fernand Fernandez, Director of Customer Loyalty and Marketing Programs)
DM Advisor
USClubTeam

Finally, FT has led campaigns to protest/rollback undesireable changes with DM.

So, I have no inside info about US watching this forum, it is pretty common knowledge!

I'm wondering if it is too late to start making purchases?
Anyway, I will make a few small purchases now.

Really appreciate the many helpful insights of Beaubo, Beckles and others.

I'm in for $3500 at Trackitback for 140k miles, which I plan to use immediately for a first class *A ticket to Europe in the spring. Because Trackitback gives you 30 days to return the merchandise for a refund, I figure if *A award flight availability suddenly goes to zero before I'm able to book, I'll just undo the purchase and will have lost nothing.

Worst case scenario is I spend $3500, about what I would be willing to pay for a seat that ordinarily goes for $17,000 (sheesh!). Best case is I get the seat plus 350k bonus miles in March.

I'm still a bit wary of wading in any deeper, though I might before the month is up.

Starnet blocking on the way?
 

So if the cost of partner awards is quite high, might US consider a Starnet type blocking system?

Also, they charge for EVERY change to an award ticket including date/time and class of service.

But this offer still seems very good!

Too much math...too early on Sunday...making brain hurt...

A note to people using Thanks Again.

I had a problem with my Thanks Again purchase not posting. There's a way to place an order on their site WITHOUT signing up for a Thanks Again account. That's the way I placed my order. The on-screen messages imply that you don't need an account to make a purchase, but you can just use your mileage account #. I emailed their customer service and was told that without an account, I wouldn't get credit for the transaction. They said that if I went and signed up now, they'd credit the previous purchase to my account. No idea if that means it would be valid as far as the terms of this US Air promotion, but I just wanted to give people a head's up (in case I'm not the only one that followed this path).

I have no doubt that if US' IT systems were capable of it, they'd go down the Starnet blocking route.

My great hope is that UA is eventually forced to give up on blocking, especially with CO having joined the alliance, not blocking, and putting tons of Star partner availability online.

Hmmm...so there is a (slight?) element of risk to this unbelievably good deal. I'm debating whether to go in for another million.

Miles ALWAYS devalue. The question is "when" and "how much".
If you can use the miles up in the next year, it's probably worth it. If you just want to "bank" them, I'd be very cautious: giving up cash for banking miles is not something I would do.

Great idea! What will you total mileage earning be with these plus trackitback?

With promos like these, who needs status?
 

I've finally had a chance to read through this thread. Amazing stuff -- but at first I thought there would be a dilemma for me regarding keeping/earning status on US. That is, if I'd buy say, two million miles, I could fly on nothing but award travel for many years. But if I did that, I would have no status on US.

But then I realized: who cares?! Since I'd be flying in F or C on all my flights (for the price of a Y fare, in most cases), wouldn't any perks I'd get as a GP be redundant?

The only downside is that when my award miles run out, I'd have no status for the following year.

But airfares could rise, which would increase the values of your miles. That's something I never see discussed on FT; instead, it's always about how miles devalue (usually due to increased award thresholds).

Haven't finally decided on that yet, I'm also waiting what info trackitback can give me regarding customs duty. If that'll be any noticeable amount then I'd really need a place to store the goods in the US for 30 days and then just dispose/ebay it...

/mod hat on:

Hi Guys - can we please keep the discussion in this thread on the topic of the 250% holiday bonus promotion?

It's an interesting discussion on accounting and mileage valuation, but it needs to happen in a thread of its own. :)

Thanks!

Upon looking at the fine print of all the shopping vendors, the majority publish a 6-8 week posting turnaround time. Hence, this promo would be worthless or at best quite risky for anyone participating at Nov 15 at latest.

So, US had to balance its original T/C that said 'US is not responsible for partner mileage posting' with the updated/revised/clarified policy that ALL partner postings will be aggregated and claculated on March 1, because they realized the nightmare of having so many partner postings likely coming in after the Dec 31 deadline.

Notice that the eligibility for the promo has gone from 'mileage posting by Dec 31' to simply 'SHOP by Dec 31'.

From US Air Corporate Dec 9:
For every different partner that Dividend Miles members shop that are listed on the promotion landing page (usairways.com/bigbonus) during the promotion period (11/23 - 12/30), members will be eligible for a bonus. The bonus is calculated on the number of DIFFERENT partners they shop with, up to 250% bonus on what the partner lists as their mileage offer.

For example: If you were to shop just at Bose during the promotion period, your bonus would be 50% more of their 1,500 offer, so 2,250 total miles. If you were shop at Bose, FTD and Macy’s, you be eligible for a 150% bonus on their offers.


To ensure that we have all mileage postings from our partners, we will run the process to post all bonus miles due to our members on March 1, 2010. What ever level of bonus that is due to members will be applied to the FIRST 10 transactions (If you shopped at iTunes 3 times, that counts as 3 transactions), based on the partner’s mileage posting timestamp, of transactions that occurred during the promotion period.


At this point there is NO need to have anxiety about checking your posting activity on your account until Feb 28. THEN, if you don't have 5 qualifying vendors, then you likely have more of an issue to fight for.

OK, the cash transfered in to my account so I changed the automatic stock purchase to be funded from my $10 cash balance.

I got an American friend to set up an account in his name with his SSN but crediting to my husband's DM account and I linked it to my savings account and put in an order for $5 of LCC stock 3rd Tuesday of the month.

***I just noticed something*** They take the $4 commission off the total investment.

So I redid the stock order for the whole $10 and then they will take a $4 commission and invest $6, is that right? So I need to change the order on my husband's (friend's) account too, otherwise if they think I am investing $5, they will take $4 off the top and invest $1.

I got my Mom's SSN now so I can set up a third account to pay into my DM account. Just wondering if I should set it up now or should I wait until they pay off on my first account? (concern being that their staff will notice two different Sharebuilder accounts paying into one DM account and throw them out)

Also, do the custodial accounts HAVE to be children? Or do they check ages? Like can I set up a custodial account for my 80 year old Mom on my account and set up a custodial account for me on her account?

It's totally blowing my mind that all I need are 3 Sharebuilder accounts per DM account and I can get a free J class award from Australia to any Pacific island NZ flies to!

Or maybe they are baiting us with this offer and the Buy and Share offer. And then, bam, Starnet blocking starts.

You do realize the bonus may not post until March 1? Well after the 30 day return policy.

This is a worry though hopefully if US is competing with UA and CO for the USA market, they need to offer something the other programs don't as an incentive to stay with them. I had no clue what Starnet blocking was so I had to Google it, found a thread in the UA forum and read back until I found a post that mentioned NZ which is the airline I want to redeem on.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12709510-post1776.html

From what I gleaned, US isn't going for the elite market, didn't they cut elite benefits in some way? If they are targetting "Kettles" who only redeem once or twice a year for the annual vacation and who get most of their miles from credit cards and promos, wouldn't they be cutting their own throats if the "Kettles" suddenly can't book their vacations?

The bonus won't post until then, but the normal miles will ($3500 x 40mi/$ = 140k miles).