Since US Airways and American Airlines have merged, it made sense for US Airways to join OneWorld, as no way would American Airlines leave OneWorld and join Star Alliance. I’m not sure if this is good or bad right now, but in terms of miles, it could be a positive situation for us. The plan is that US Airways will have officially joined OneWorld by the start of 2014, which is not too far from now.
When United and Continental became one last year, we saw both mileage accounts merge eventually, and If history serves me right, we will see our US Airways Dividend Miles merge with any American Airlines AAdvantage miles we may have, thus creating a super pot of miles (if you have a lot in both of them), which could be redeemed for some superior trips in first or business class in any of the OneWorld carriers. I recommend getting the US Airways MasterCard while you can, since they will end their relationship with Barclays. Eventually, I am sure we will see a new card under the new merged airline. The sucky part is they are leaving Star Alliance, which includes Thai Airways and Lufthansa, which have a great business class product on their A380 fleet. The cool part is, they are joining OneWorld, which has Malaysia Airlines, and they have a pretty cool First class product on their A380’s. My favorite destination is Kuala Lumpur, so I am welcoming this move. I also have racked up over 180,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, and I have over 250,000 US Airways Dividend Miles, which brings my total to a whopping 400,000+ miles. I even have time to accrue more, as I will apply for another Citibank AAdvantage MasterCard in my next upcoming churn. Hopefully, I will have enough miles to fly a family of 4 in business class to KL, so my daughters can swim with the fishes in Pulau Redang.
So now your asking: What should I do Oz? Well, the plan is simple ; rack up as many US Airways and American Airlines miles as you possibly can between now and the end of the year. Like most of my readers, you have no status, and you are an infrequent flier, so getting miles with credit card sign-ups is your best option.
- Apply for the US Airways World Premier MasterCard from Barclays – the current offer is 30,000 after first use. $89 annual fee which is NOT waived the first year.
- Apply for the Citibank AAdvantage Signature VISA –current sign up bonus of 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 90 days. Annual fee IS waived first year.
- Apply for the American Express Starwood SPG card – current sign up bonus of up to 25,000 SPG points, which transfers into AAdvantage 1:1
So there you have it – some lucrative ways to rack up some major miles before the merger and even after the merger!! More than enough for a ticket to anywhere in the world- for FREE!
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