More bad math, it's rampant! :) :)

First, the double points in the case of the US card does refer only to US purchases (though not just flights, onboard purchases for example should count). There is at least one airline card, WN's Chase Visa, that extends that to their frequent flier partners, so with the WN card you get double credit for purchases at hotel and rental car partners.

That being said, in the case of the US card, even if it were doubled on that rule only the 1 mile/dollar you earn from the card would be doubled, not the bonus you get. The correct math when using a US credit card is:

40 miles/dollar + (40 miles/dollar x 250% bonus) + 1 mile/dollar = 141 miles/dollar. Even if you got "double miles" on the purchase it would only increase it to 142 miles/dollar.

You're right...I got too excited by the prospect of all those miles! :D

Thanks for straightening us out.

Superb suggestions in this thread - thanks, guys.

One thing missing, however, is inclusion of the value of some of the products purchased to obtain the miles. Of course, if you spend $300 with TrackItBack and could care less about the service, then you shouldn't assign much value, but if you are buying $300 worth of flowers/gift baskets that you were planning on sending for the holidays anyway, then your value of such goods should be factored into the equation.

For example, let's say you were *already willing and planning* to use the 20 miles/dollar offer with FTD to order a gift basket priced at $100 for your grandmother's birthday, and that you value your miles at 1.5 CPM. This means that the gift basket itself is worth at least $70 to you, as you were willing to pay $100 to obtain the gift plus the value of the miles (100*20*.015) = $30. Now with this new promo, you are *still* paying $100 to get the gift you deemed to be worth $70, but you are now getting 7,000 miles as well. Therefore, you are paying $30 over your valuation of the gift to obtain 7,000 miles, or about .43 cents per mile (CPM)! This is a much better price than outlined in previous analyses that ignore the value of the product being purchased and focus purely on the miles. Of course, if you change the original assumptions (for example, if you were only willing to place the original order with a 40 miles/dollar offer, indicating the real value of the gift to you is $40, then you are paying .85 CPM), then it might not be as appealing of a deal, but in many cases, still a good one.

Shifting gears... as the promo lists Dividend Miles Shopping Mall as one partner, what would happen if your first four partners (to boost yourself to 250% for $20) are handled, but then you make purchases from *multiple* stores within the DMSM (say, Dell, Macy's, and Shoebuy)? In a similar vein to the above discussion, someone might be inclined to focus their purchases on items they already intended to buy and value, shunning the pure mile purchase play. Do the rules indicate that only one of these purchases would see the 250% bonus?

This is sound advice, the FTD stuff gives a pretty high miles/dollar rate that is likely something useful (though I think Track-It-Back is useful, there is probably a limit to how many tags one person needs :)).

Note that with FTD shipping and/or delivery can be pricey and does not earn miles, just make sure to factor that in your calculations.

Hmm...I'm sorely tempted to make use of this offer and get miles through this route, but the unfortunate thing is I will need the miles rather quickly, and it appears I will have to wait till March 2010 for the bonus miles to post. :( This makes sense from a US perspective, otherwise US would run the risk of cannibalizing customers from their other ongoing mileage offers.Too bad!

One more point for clarification:

The text of the rules state: "We'll add your final big bonus to every purchase you make throughout the entire promotion period, up to 10 individual purchases."

From past experience, can anyone tell if this typically means 10 individual products purchased, or 10 transactions (regardless of the number of items purchased as part of a single transaction)? If, for example, I purchased two (or more) flower arrangements from FTD at the same time as part of a single shopping cart transaction, will that count as one or two of my 10 allowed?

Sorry - I had done a quick edit on my original post and accidentally deleted its second half. I've corrected it now.

Your point is a good one, and you'd need to adjust my numbers to account for that, but the illustrated point remains the same: If you are purchasing items you assign real value to, this value should be added to the equation.

IMO, a "purchase" will equate to a single posting in your US Airways account -- so if you buy 10 products from a partner, and they all get shipped, billed, and posted to US Airways in one fell swoop, that will count as 1 partner.

It seems like the consensus on WebFlyer, the previously mentioned blog, and others in this thread is that the use of 5 partners will cause every bonus posted to be 250%. Since I haven't seen anyone post a clarification of the matter from US Airways, I guess I'm the only one who finds the original wording problematic.

That being said, once a person purchases from 5 different partners, is the consensus that one can get partner credit for Nos. 6-10 by purchasing from a previously used partner, or does one have to use 10 unique partners?

I am assuming from the email that if I use 5 different vendors than all purchases will get the 250% bonus. Finally a good enough offer to join Netflix. Time to buy a BIG gift card from everyone if the DM Mall counts as more than 1 partner?

JudyJFLA

I'm wondering this too. Anyone have the answer?

The "Bose on-ear headphones replacement audio cable – short" is $3.95 and free shipping. Slight improvement on this.

good, because it's effectively a mileage purchase outright. trackitback.com is going to be soooo bankrupt having to make good on all promo taker even at 40 miles per dollar, much less 140....

It's US awarding the additional 120 miles per dollar, not Trackitback.

I decided to snag a Sears gift card. You can buy as low as $5. I can always pick up hardware. I need new drill bits. Seems only logical that from now on I will buy gift cards from retailers if I can qualify for miles or points.

I don't agree with this. First, US is likely covering the cost of the promo miles. Second, partners with high MPD offers are typically high-margin businesses. If you look at TrackItBack's business model, you can see how their business might involve a high percentage of customers never pinging them for services, and the majority of those who do might be serviced at a relatively low cost. If you pull in $80 of profit for every $100 of sales, you can afford to give away a huge chunk in rebates/awards.

The FAQ says it takes 6-8 weeks after the item is shipped before these will post. I know when using the AA mall, it takes forever for the miles to post. Anyone have previous experience on how long transactions take to post with the US Air mall?

I'm assuming that they'll wait at least 30 days, after the return periods for most places.

So hopefully it won't matter the order in which the transactions post, and we'll get the 250% bonus on EVERY purchase. This is kind of a big leap of faith though. The return periods will be long gone by the time they calculate and post the bonus miles in March.

If every purchase counts as 250% bonus with 5 activities then why go for the cheapest items?
Just wondering?

JudyJFLA
In a turkey coma