US Airways Premier 40,000 Mile Offer

Over the past few months, as many of us have rotated through the entire portfolio of “low hanging” Credit Card Miles like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Starwood Preferred Guest AMEX, etc, I have been getting quite a few FFU Reader Emails asking what is an easy Card to get next.

This is going to come as a surprise, but I have been recommending the US Airways Card from Barclays.

If you are scratching your head wondering why I’d recommend US Airways over any of the other Chase or AMEX Cards, the reason is simple, THERE IS NO MINIMUM SPEND!

If you have noticed in recent months, Chase has added at least a $1,000 Minimum Spend Requirement to all their Travel Credit Cards.

While $1,000 isn’t terrible and you could easily Amazon Payment it, most people still prefer the No Minimum Spend Cards.

It is astonishing to think that at one time last year, you could get 2 Free Nights at any Hyatt Worldwide simply by signing up for their Card and charging a cup of coffee to it.

Well luckily with US Airways that is exactly what you can still do!

US Airways Premier World Mastercard

Link To Sign Up For US Airways Premier World Mastercard

By signing up for the US Airways Card, you get 40,000 US Airways Miles after 1st purchase. (50,000 Miles if you do a Balance Transfer)

While most people write off US Airways because they aren’t one of the Big 3 (United, Delta, or AA), US Airways Miles are fairly valuable.

The reason for this is because US Airways is a Star Alliance Partner. This means that almost any Award Ticket that you can purchase with your United Miles, you can also purchase with your US Airways Miles.

What is also exciting is that with the potential merger of US Airways and American Airlines, more than likely any US Airways Miles will become AAdvantage Miles in the future!

I signed up for the US Airways Card in November. I had 20,000 or so US Airways Miles laying around from their Grand Slam Promotion a few years ago, so with the additional 40,000 Miles from the Credit Card, I now have 60,000 Miles! That is enough for a FREE trip to Europe!

Also what is neat about the US Airways Card is that there are a few perks in addition to the 40,000 Miles.

• $99 Companion Certificate that allows 2 Friends to fly with you

• 1 Complimentary US Airways Club Day Pass (not sure why they didn’t offer 2)

• 5,000 Mile Rebate on certain Award Tickets

• Waived Award Processing Fee (YMMV)

While the other benefits are okay, the real gem here is the 5,000 Mile Rebate & waived Award Processing Fee.

Off-Peak Award Tickets

Way back in October I talked about US Airways Off-Peak Award Chart where in January and February you could fly to Europe for 35,000 Miles in Economy or 60,000 in Business.

Well if you have the US Airways Credit Card, you get 5,000 Miles off of that, so it is only 30,000 in Economy or 55,000 in Business!

That is almost a 50% discount compared to the normal amount of Miles (60,000) it takes to fly to Europe!

Also with the Credit Card you might not have to pay the annoying $50 Award Processing Fee! Although YMMV because this is a benefit defined in the Welcome Packet and it worked for my Friend below, but when I tried to do it online, I couldn’t get the $50 fee waived (My screenshot is below).

Literally this afternoon my Friend decided at the last minute to join my other Friend and I in Madrid for the Alitalia $287 Mistake Fare this upcoming February.

The options were either to spend $800 on a Revenue Flight, 60,000 United Miles on an Award Ticket, or 30,000 US Airways Miles for an Off-Peak Award. I’ll let you guess which one she picked…

Honestly if I had remembered that US Airways offers Off-Peak Awards, I would have just spent 55,000 US Airways Miles to fly in Business Class instead of paying $287 out of pocket for a 16 hour Alitalia flight in Economy!

Targeted 15,000 Mile Bonus

Additionally what I have heard from Friends who have had the US Airways Card is that after a few months of Card Membership Barclays will send you an offer in the mail for 15,000 additional Miles if you spend $750 in the following 3 months.

I haven’t received that offer yet because I just got the Card at the end of November, but if it is true, then you should be able to easily get 55,000 US Airways Miles!

Recap

If you don’t have a US Airways Card, I’d suggest getting one or including it in your next App-O-Rama.

Since the Card is issued by Barclays, I’d recommend getting it when you apply for your next Chase or American Express Card.

From what I have heard, the US Airways Card is also churnable which is a huge plus.

Overall, you can’t beat this US Airways Card because for spending $1, you can get 40,000 Miles.

Depending on how you use those Miles, if you did an Off-Peak Award like my Friend did, you could go to Europe for 30,000 Miles and still have another 10,000 Miles left over!

-Parag

Don’t ever miss another FFU Update or Travel Deal!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, RSS, or Email!

---