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!