louie-m

Audience Rewards trivia is the easiest and should post within at most a couple of weeks.

divemistressofthedark

Just paid the $9 - but my DM account doesn't say how long the miles will be preserved. Anyone have 411? Searching yields outdated information. Thanks in advance.

louie-m

18 months from last activity. The expiry date will appear on your monthly email statement.

aztimm

Don't they still do the iTunes thing? That's ~$1, and posts fairly quickly--plus you get a song out of it too.

Dividend Miles Dining, surveys, there's tons of ways to keep miles for little to no cost.

alanh

You can also transfer a trivial amount of miles in or out with points.com . The advantage to that is that it usually posts immediately.

hauteboy

Does US purge inactive accounts? My wife had an account opened in 2001 (old America West), last activity was 2005 (only 343 points) so they expired a long time ago.

exiled2tx

My Dividend Miles account (with significant mileage in there) is going to expire on Jan 30.

I did have a pop up when I logged on to remind me and also let me buy a renewal of the miles from US Air. I figured I'd spend the same money in the online shopping mall and get the renewal and something I needed (or at least wanted).

So I made a purchase at Lowes.com (through the DM portal) about a week plus ago or so.

I recognize that this type of purchase may take a while to post. Anyone have a feel for what the posting time is nowadays? Do I need to worry if it is not posted by January 30?

Daisymonster

Do everyones miles expire every Jan?

hitherandyon

No they expire on the last day of the month on the 18th month following
your last posted mile. Say your last posted date was September 8th, 2011....
Then you must post/earn miles by March 31, 2013.

thomwithanh

The T's & C's usually say to allow between six and eight weeks for retail partner miles to post. I've never ordered through Lowes... maybe somebody who has used them in the past can weigh in.

That said, from mine and others' experiences on this forum anything from a week to several months (or never) is possible. The problem is that when you buy through the shopping portal, US Airways has very little control over when or if retail partner miles are issued to your account - the retailer has to initiate it, and there isn't much if anything the DMSC can do to speed the process along and they'll likely just tell you to contact the partner directly if you call them. Some companies are notoriously bad about doing issuing miles in a timely manner, either "forgetting" (I'm having this issue with 1-800-FLOWERS.com right now), and others may come up with any manner of excuses as to why you're not eligible for miles. You may need to send several e-mails or call a few times before anything happens, especially if you used a coupon, gift certificate, or your purchase was anything other than a straightforward order.

The good news is that if and when the miles do show up, it's the "activity date" rather than the "posting date" that counts as far as expiration dates are concerned. As long as the activity date is before your miles were due to expire, you'll be okay for another 18 months from then.

FYI: Dividend Miles dining is a really easy (and free) way to get a miles quickly to keep your account active. You register a credit/ debit card with them and you get something like five miles per dollar you spend at participating restaurants. They usually post in a few weeks: http://usairways.rewardsnetwork.com/

captainv

Question from a FF noob:

Flew USAir a bunch last year and just missed getting Gold status. Oh well, c'est la vie.

I typically fly USAir more, but occasionally fly United. Should I be using my UA FF# when booking to get the credit on United instead of USAir, to take better advantage of the Star Alliance miles? I've been told if I use my UA FF# i would get credit for both UA/US flights but if i use the Dividend Miles number, it only counts for award travel on US.

It's a lot easier when I get to sit up front...

-Confused Pilot

geo1005

US and UA are both current members of the Star Alliance. If you typically fly more on US AND you are Silver Preferred on US (you mention just missing Gold status on US) then by all means use your US number on all flights you take on either US or UA.

This will compile all your miles in one account (you can't effectively combine miles between carriers so you want them all in one place) and you will have a chance at free upgrades to First Class on US flights as you are Silver Preferred. Additionally, you will be able to reserve Preferred seats in coach on US flights.

captainv

Here's where i get confused: when it comes to redeeming miles for award travel, can i use US miles for UA tickets? or do they get diluted somehow if i cash them in for travel on someone in the alliance besides USAir? Would it be more worth it to be gold on UA vs. US? I'll be Silver on US for another year, so i'd still enjoy the benefits even if i was beefing up my UA miles in the meantime.

LM225

Yes. Here is US Airways' Star Alliance Partner Award Chart. As long as United has Saver Award availability (check through United's site), you can book award travel on their flights. You'll have to call US, but the phone booking fee will be waived, as you can't book partner awards online.

captainv

Sweet, thanks!