Kenji.1

We have used seperate accounts to book 2 seats at the same time with no problems. On one occasion they asked to speak to the other account holder to authorise points from their account but no drama.

Amazulu

Thanks

louie

Ditto. If you are concerned about seats disappearing before all have been booked, you could put the first two on hold before booking the third, then go back and confirm the first two. Only problem might be if there are overbookings or something similar, when you might not all be treated the same if you are on separate bookings, whilst you would if you were all on the one booking. Don't think you can do anything about that.

Budawang

Amigos, I've just booked me and the missus Sydney - Rarotonga (Cook Islands) Air NZ business class in late August. All up, it will cost about $530.
That's more than $300 less than the economy fare. The outbound flight is 6 hours non stop, but the inbound goes via Auckland.

While the Air Canada website indicated availability for the non-stop return flight, this was only available to Air Canada Aeroplan members and not U.S. Airways Dividend Miles members. Apparently, each Star Alliance partner can vary availability to different partner airlines.

bcworld

Nice one...these South Pacific rewards are great value!

It's true there is some jiggery pokery between the airlines, but generally Aeroplan and ANA are a good start.

nic75

Hi - I have been following this thread with interest but this is my first post. I would really appreciate if someone could answer the following questions:
- I see how you can purchase 100K miles immediately but can you purchase the remainder needed to buy a business class ticket
- we were hoping to visit our son in Australia at the end of November returning on the 4/5 January, would this be a problem time to use the air miles.
Many thanks in advance

mvagusta

There are a couple of ways of doing it.

1) If the gift miles promo is running then you could use that although it works best when there are two people.
2) You could wait until the next promo to buy more miles but there is never a guarantee that it will actually run.
3) Just buy the miles required

There may be other ways of doing it as well.

The dates you have for outbound should be fine as the busy period starts around the 8th December for most airlines. The inbound flight might be a bit more difficult although there should be availability at the moment.

The earlier you start the booking the easier it gets.

bcworld

Yes you can purchase as many miles as you like.

If you have been following hopefully you have already created your accounts as we are now right up to the 12 day limit before this promo ends.

Jan 4/5 is certainly not the best time to be looking although I did it the first time I used these miles at just a couple of weeks notice.

papilon

Is it too late to join today? The US is behind nearly a day

bcworld

It's probably fine, but it all gets a bit fuzzy very close to the 12 days.

nic75

I opened our accounts yesterday (and a third in my daughter's name) so just waiting for the 12 days to pass to buy miles - a little nervous about it but if I use a credit card to purchase them, this should give a bit of comfort.
Do you phone US Airways to buy tickets or can you contact the individual partner alliance airlines? Many thanks again.

bcworld

You can only book by calling US Airways.

Not meaning to concern you, but buying with a credit card shouldn't offer much comfort. The points will post & at that stage your purchase is finalised and honoured. If you then later struggled to find flights you wouldn't have any recourse or means of getting your cash back - if that's what you meant?

There are risks with all of this which are worth bearing in mind. With 3 of you consider the possibility you might not all travel together if you can't find 3 seats on the same flights.

nic75

I didn't mean the fact that I might not get flights but rather (as someone mentioned) the possibility of US Airways going out of business. And there are only 2 of us, I opened an account in my daughter's name so she could gift us the remainder to bring our 100k up to the amount needed for business class flights. Unless I have got it wrong, maybe you could correct me on this. Cheers again.

bcworld

Ah OK. I'd say there is little chance of US going out of business but if they did I don't think the credit card company would cover your losses...the points have a minimal cash value.

Now, the gifting of points. At this stage there is no reason to have a third account for gifting as there is no gifting promo. Your daugther's account could buy points with the bonus 20+20 and she then has to SHARE (not gift) them with you. Sharing costs $0.01 per mile + tax + $30.

So to get your additional 20k it costs:

To buy (10k+10k): $295 +
To share (20k): $245 = Total $540

If you just bought the extra 20k from your own account it would be $591.

BUT...there is a 50/50 chance that when this buy promo ends, a gift promo will start which would mean you could get the extra 20k miles for $295 each.

So definitely have the 3rd account, but it's up to you if you make use of it before June 30. If you don't at most you're going to pay an extra $50 each.

nic75

So brilliantly explained - thank you.