In mid-April I reported that US Airways was running a 100% Bonus Miles promotion, for shopping!  I love to shop and I love US Airways miles, so this was an easy way for me to earn extra miles.  So, one-month into the promotion I wanted to see where I stood and make sure I am maximizing my purchases.

US Airways 100% Bonus Miles

How to earn:

• Register
• Shop online with any of our participating partners April 22 – June 23, 2012*
• Enter your Dividend Miles number each time you shop
• The more you purchase, the more miles you earn ($50 minimum purchase to qualify)

Ways to earn:

Gift Cards:

Buy a US Airways Gift Card for someone (or yourself) if you’ve got upcoming travel. You’ll earn the points on your credit card for the purchase, you’ll qualify for up to 100% bonus miles (assuming you register and qualify by shopping w/enough partners), and if you know you’re going to use the card for travel, you’re not out any money. Gift Cards are available from $50 to $500.

Shop for gift cards

Shop with participating partners*:

Some of the best deals are in the Dividend Miles StoreFront – especially if you have purchases you’re going to make anyway.

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day gifts – if you’re like me, you know you’re going to end up buying something and if you’re like me, you know you’re going to ship it.  So why not buy it through the StoreFront.  I like to look for stores that are offering high numbers of miles per $1 spent.  Just before Mother’s Day I learned that my mom wanted a kitchen gadget. I searched to see what stores were selling it through the StoreFront and found William Sonoma was selling it with a bonus of 6 miles per dollar spent. That’s better than their normal bonus, plus, if I make 12 purchases it will really end up being 12 points per dollar spent plus the points I’ll earn from charging it on a credit card.  Normally you wouldn’t say this is a great deal – but it is if you have to buy something specific anyway.

Personal purchases – if you are going to shop for yourself, you might as well use the Storefront to help satisfy the required 12 purchases.  For myself, I’m always thinking about what I need in daily life that could qualify.  Before deciding what to buy on the StoreFront, I also consider the price on Amazon since I have Amazon Prime Shipping.  Like Amazon Prime, there’s a program called ShopRunner, it’s very similar in that you get unlimited 2nd day shipping from select stores for 1 annual payment of $79.  So that also plays into my decision making process.

While in London I ruined a pair of shoes and wanted to replace them.  Shoes.com was running a special last week where you could earn 12 points per dollar spent in addition to free shipping on order of $50 or more and there was a 20% code available.  I didn’t care about the free shipping because Shoes.com participates in ShopRunner shipping, but the 20% off and 12 points per dollar (24 per dollar if I qualify for the 100% bonus) made it a great shopping option for me.  So I purchased 2 pairs of shoes – a replacement for the ones I ruined and a pair of flip-flops which brought my total – after the 20% discount to $55 and change.

I won’t bore you with all my purchases, but I’ve been strategically shopping on US Airways StoreFront until I get to the required 10-12 purchases (to be safe, I’m going for 12.)

To date, including the two purchases noted above, I’ve earned 4,200 miles from US Airways which will be doubled w/the promotion making it  8,400 plus the points I’ll earn on my credit card for making the purchases (approximately 300.) Hopefully by the end of the promotion I’ll have spent around $600 on things I would have bought anyway and earned 40,000 miles.  How does that compare to buying miles from US Airways?  With the current US Airways 100% bonus for buying miles before May 31, 2013 I’ll save $205. (You could buy 40,000 miles for $805 outright.)

So for me, it’s a good promotion because I’m buying things I would have normally!

Happy Shopping!

*Terms & conditions:

Eligibility 
Registration is required for this promotion. Registration begins on April 22, 2013 and ends on June 23, 2013. Only miles earned after registration and between April 22, 2013 and June 23, 2013 qualify (“Eligible Activity Date”). Eligible Activity Date is based on the date the qualifying partner records the mileage transaction, and not necessarily the date on which the transaction occurred. 

General terms 
All Dividend Miles terms and conditions apply. You must be subscribed to US Airways e-Statement, You must be subscribed to US Airways e-Statement or Earn More Miles emails in order to register for this promotion.If you are not currently subscribed, we will automatically subscribe you using the email address you provide when registering. You may opt out of these emails at any time. This promotion is not a game of chance, lottery or contest. It is open to all Dividend Miles members except where prohibited by local law. Members may only participate in this promotion with one Dividend Miles account. If a member is found to be participating with multiple Dividend Miles accounts ALL bonus miles earned from this promotion will be forfeited and removed from the member’s account. Miles do not count toward Dividend Miles Preferred status. US Airways is not responsible for the quality or delivery of goods and/or services provided by Dividend Miles partners. Participating partners and partner offers are subject to change without notice. This offer subject to change without notice. Offer excludes any partner sweepstakes offers. 

Earning bonus miles 
Bonus miles will be awarded to registered Dividend Miles members as a percentage of total miles earned from qualifying partners via a tiered structure. Tier structure is as follows: 

Qualifying Activity 1 – 3 = 25% bonus miles
Qualifying Activity 4 – 6 = 50% bonus miles
Qualifying Activity 7 – 9 = 75% bonus miles
Qualifying Activity 10 – 12 = 100% bonus miles 

Qualifying Dividend Miles StoreFront transactions must also meet a minimum purchase amount of $50.00 to be deemed an eligible transaction. Bonus miles are in addition to miles awarded by Dividend Miles partners. In order to earn a bonus, a valid Dividend Miles number must be provided to the qualifying partner. Use of a partner without earning Dividend Miles will not count as a bonus. To earn a bonus, Dividend Miles members must click on partner offers through the US Airways website or request Dividend Miles when making a purchase. Transactions must have an Eligible Activity Date between April 22, 2013 and June 23, 2013 to qualify for the bonus. DM Storefront miles will be posted within 10 weeks after promotion end date of June 23, 2013. All bonus miles will be posted on September 8, 2013 and will be awarded based on the Eligible Activity Date, not the date in which the transaction occurred. 

Additional terms 
US Airways assumes no responsibility for how qualifying partners count qualified transactions or record eligible activity dates; some partners record Eligible Activity Dates based on completion of the required activity (for example, delivery of the item purchased including delivery of flowers). You must check with the participating partner to confirm how the partner records Eligible Activity Dates and what counts as a qualified transaction. The last date that activity from a qualifying partner must be received by US Airways for bonus miles consideration is September 7, 2013, regardless of the Eligible Activity Date for such activity. Please note that some partner’s products and/or services are not available in all states. 

Qualifying partners:

• 1800Flowers
• FTD
• FedEx
• Teleflora
• Vinesse
• Wine Insiders
• Dividend Miles StoreFront
• SkyMall
• DM Dining