Comments on: How to Spend $2,000 on Stickers and Get 280,000 Frequent Flyer Miles

By: Nora - The Professional Hobo

Nora - The Professional Hobo — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:31:02 +0000

My fingers are gingerly crossed that I did everything right & that the bonus miles will post the way they’re supposed to. I did the five purchases, and even though I waited a week to make the TrackitBack purchases, the posting dates ended up being all over the place.
According to the forums, the 250% bonus miles will be applied to EVERY purchase, but I’m not that hopeful. The fine print at US Airways says something about applying the bonus amounts according to posting dates….
Anyway, I think it’s great value either way, as the worst case scenario still sees me getting a whack of miles at about 8cents per.

And since I’m a full-time traveler, flying is simply the cost of doing business! So if I can spend $1200 (which I did) to get $5,000 in long haul flights – business class no less – then I will.

Cheers, Chris – and thanks for the information. You rock!

PS – The Track It Back stickers are awesome! I actually plan to USE them; great lifetime value – and great gifts too.

By: Eve

Eve — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:26:25 +0000

Wow, Chris. I’m not in a financial position to buy anything non-essential at the moment, but this is AWESOME. Thanks for the info.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:05:59 +0000

I’m in for 2k.

Couple of thoughts:

People buying hoards of miles through this promotion and planning to slowly use the stash over the next few years should be aware of things like inflation, reductions in availability, bankruptcy, and even the possibility that USAir could get kicked out of *A.

Also, it’s amazing that Trackitback can offer this kind of a deal. As I understand it, they have to be paying USAir something for these miles. It effectively proves that while the product may have some intrinsic value, in monetary terms it’s worth nothing.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:36:43 +0000

Nope, as of today (8-December), it’s still there.

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:36:42 +0000

Did the TrackitBack offer disappear? I did the 4 (actually 5) other purchases and then waited to make sure they posted before making the big TrackitBack purchase and now TrackitBack is not in the list at the USAIRWAYS Dividend Miles Shopping Mall.

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:07:10 +0000

One more thing on booking flights with the USAir miles. To book award travel on one of the Star Alliance airlines, you will have to call Reservations -- you cannot book on-line. There is a $25 service fee for this + $5-10 for taxes (non-domestic flights are $35 or $50). I thought this chart was useful.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:29:38 +0000

Yep – after the other transactions went through.

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:29:37 +0000

To get the 280,000 miles, did you spend $2150 at TrackItBack?

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:24:32 +0000

Hey guys, a couple of quick updates. I’m traveling this week, so I haven’t been able to go through all the questions as quickly as usual.

@Benc,

The consensus in the forums is that the bonus will be applied to the points, not the dollars. I wouldn’t do this if I wasn’t fairly certain myself. However, there are no guarantees with this kind of thing, so if you’re hesitant, don’t do it.

@Bryan / WanderingAramean,

Actually, the upcoming devaulation is not so bad (I was expecting worse). Gary Leff has a summary of the changes here. First Class awards to Asia are left untouched, as is travel from North America to the South Pacific.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:41:31 +0000

Egad, if I could only find out if the miles I’d be getting via this hack could be used for an Economy to Business upgrade from Germany to Auckland (NZ) on Air New Zealand. I’ve been drilling through pages of the Star Alliance, US Airways and Air NZ websites but have yet to find an answer…

Any advice from one of you miles experts would be highly appreciated!