US Airways Grand Slam Final Status! Last Day Today!

Today, Monday November 14th, marks the end of the US Airways Grand Slam Promotion! If you did not get in on it yet, there is still time – seriously! While I wouldn’t recommend going all the way, you can still get 25,000 points with little effort! Just remember, it all depends on the activity date, so I would not wait till the end of the day on Monday – you never know when the order will be processed and unfortunately US Airways holds no responsibility in partner activity post dates.

My final tally is 28 hits. I was contemplating going for 32 or 36, but it would require some more of the expensive purchases and hotel transfers which I do not think is worth it (although I could be convinced otherwise! I do have another 24+ hours left)! I did transfer from Starwood and Club Carlson points, but am hesitant with Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott. I am contemplating Wyndham depending on where I end up with the number of hits I have. 28 hits will get me 60,000 points and can be redeemed for a free round-trip ticket to Europe – not too shabby!

My assumption is that most of you reading this hit are pretty award of this promotion, but if not, read my previous blog post outlining the entire promotion and what exactly a “hit” entails. If you have not started yet and are committed to a fun Sunday evening/Monday day, make sure to register first – “hits” earned prior to registration will not count (I learned the hard way… more to come on that)!

I am bring back a previous blog post which outlines how to get the quick and easy 25,000 points. While I did have some already planned hotel and car rentals included, all in all this cost me about $300 out of pocket (for the 28 hits). I also got some stuff I would have gotten anyways – restaurant.com certificates, flowers, another domain name, etc. I also got an additional 10,000 points with just purchases from these partners.

Free Hits:

1. Download the Dividend Miles Toolbar and perform 3 searches: Download the toolbar here.
2. Swap points from another loyalty program into Dividend Miles at points.com. To swap points go to:
1. Trade, Exchange and Buy
2. Click the “Get more into a Program” radio button
3. Select US Airways and then 1 mile –> It will list for you all the trade options you have available (I was able to move 4 American Airline miles for 1 US Airways miles)
3. Audience Rewards: Answer the 5 questions correctly to get 2 miles per correct answer. This weeks answers are:
1. London Cast
2. True
3. False
4. Victor/Victoria
5. A comedy
6. He Could Be a Star
4. e-Miles: Sign up for an e-Miles account and select US Airways as your partner loyalty program. If you already have an e-Miles account with another loyalty program, create a new account using a different email address. This will probably take you 30 minutes in total to fully get 500 points (the minimum number needed to transfer your points the US Airways). Just for signing up and filling out various profile questions you will get 250 points. This will take about a week to get enough surveys to get the 500 miles, so do not delay. If you are just starting this today, you probably will not receive enough surveys to get to 500 points, thus not resulting in a hit.
5. Magazines for Miles: This partner activity requires you to redeem miles for a magazine subscription. I was able to get a subscription for 400 miles, but some can be up to 2,000 miles. You must have existing miles in your account to redeem. If you current do not have any miles you can share or purchase miles (both count as a hit as well).
6. e-Rewards: An invite only program where you take surveys to accrue dollars that can be transferred over to US Airways miles. I have been doing e-Rewards since 2005, but have not participated much lately. I currently have about $3.00 in my account and not nearly enough surveys are coming my way to be able to hit the $25.00 mark. While some of you might have luck with this, I am not going to get this hit and instead start preparing for next year! If you are just starting this today, you probably will not receive enough surveys to get to 500 points, thus not resulting in a hit.

So with just those free 4 hits, you can earn 3,000 miles! However, for just a little more effort and money, you can continue on and accrue many miles! For the purposes of my analysis, I am going to take out e-Rewards and e-miles from earning a “hit” since you are out of time if starting today.

Really Cheap Hits (Less than $5):

1. Dividend Miles Shopping Mall: Make a purchase at the US Airways Dividend Miles Shopping Mall. You will only get 1 hit regardless of the number of items your purchase from the Shopping Mall. You will need to log-in with your US Airways Dividend number and select a merchant. This will take you to the regular merchants shopping portal (do not worry, it is all tracked). I personally purchased a restaurant.com certificate for $2 (Google “Restaurant.com discount code). Others have purchased $1 iTunes song.
2. Dividend Miles Dining: Register a card with the dining program, and eat out at a participating restaurant in your area. You can even just purchase a $1 soda to get the hit.
3. Thanks Again: Purchase an item from the Thanks Again website. This is a free site where you can earn miles with local businesses and online retailers. Again I purchased a restaurant.com certificate for $2.
4. SuperShuttle & ExecuCar: I had no usage for this, but many have reported making/paying for a reservation and still getting the hit. I reserved a trip from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to the local Aloft Phoenix Airport Hotel. Using discount code UYR59 brought my total to $4. And if you want… you can still leave a tip!

Now, you have 4 free hits and 4 cheap hits that cost no more than $10 in total, which will earn you 10,000 US Airways miles!

Inexpensive Hits ($5-$20 range)

1. Biscoff: Go to the Biscoff website and enter your US Airways number on the main page. I purchased the 2 jars of spread for $12.95 (plus $5 flat shipping on all orders). There are some items slightly less expensive, but this looked good! And for the record, I LOVE the Biscoff spread, would highly recommend it!
2. OfficeMax: Go to the OfficeMax website and enter your US Airways number immediately. Then purchase any item from their site. I actually ordered something I needed, so paid slightly more – only $13 though including shipping.
3. SkyMall: Go to the SkyMall website and purchase an item. People have reported purchasing batteries, but there are many cheap items. Unfortunately, shipping was $7.95, but I was still able to only spend $10 for this hit.
4. 1-800-FLOWERS: Purchase and have flowers/balloons/teddy bear delivered from 1-800-FLOWERS by November 14, 2011. Reports have shown that the activity date is the purchase date NOT the delivery date. So if you purchase something today and wait for delivery later in the week where there are no extra shipping charges, you should be okay. I purchase a book for $9.99 + shipping. Search for “books” in the category search field.
1. Note: Special items offer will not give you miles, so do not purchase these.

Now, you will have 4 free hits, 4 cheap hits, and 4 inexpensive hits, with a total out of pocket of about $55. These 12 hits will earn you 15,000 miles! If you’ve gone this far, you might as well keep on going.

Moderately Inexpensive Hits ($20-$30 range)

1. TackItBack.com: Purchase a single pack for $19.00 (plus $5.00 s/h) on TrackItBack.com. These stickers can be attached to personal items to help you recover items when lost.
2. Share Points: Find a friend or family member to share your points with. Both parties will receive a hit for this transaction. The minimum you can share is 1,000 points which will cost $10 plus a $30 transaction fee. You can count this as $20 per party. Feel free to comment on this post if you are looking for someone else to share your points with to get a hit.
3. Network Solutions: Purchase a domain name for $28.99/year for three years. However, using the current 70% off code “SAVE70DAF” and “TECHDOM3AF” will bring the cost down to $26.09.
1. Do NOT chose a duration less than 3 years. You will not earn the miles, thus not earning any hits. You will also get 1,000 extra bonus points with this hit (some have reported getting 2,000 bonus points).
4. Purchase Points: I would suggest finding another inexpensive hit (car rental, hotel transfer, hotel stay, e-miles, e-rewards, etc.), but if you are strapped for another hit, you can purchase 1,000 points at $37.

Now, you will have 4 free hits, 4 cheap hits, and 4 inexpensive hits, and another 4 moderately inexpensive hits. These 16 hits will earn you 25,000 miles! This will give you enough points for a domestic flight in the US. Your total cost will be about $170, not too bad for a ticket that could be worth around $400. At this point, there are many other relatively expensive hits and subscription based hits that I am not going to get into. They are primarily worth it if you were going to purchase the item anyways, or if you are going for the full amount and can ultimately get 110,000 points for about $800.

However, there are many hits that you can get by staying in hotels and renting cars that can help you earn more hits or eliminate the need to pay for hits, depending on what your ultimate goal is.

Hotel/Car Hits

1. Hotel stays: You can earn up to 6 hits with stays at partner hotels – Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, InterContinental Hotel Group (Priority Club), Marriott Rewards, Radisson (Club Carlson), Starwood Hotels (SPG) and Wyndham Rewards. With each brand, you must set your earning preference to miles (thus forgoing your points) and earn 200 miles to qualify as a hit:
1. Best Western: Each stay earns 250 Dividend Miles
2. Club Carlson: 250 miles for stays at Country Inns & Park Inn; 500 miles for Park Plaza and Radisson stays
3. Choice: Any stay earns 250 miles
4. Hilton: Hilton, Conrad, Waldorf earn 500 miles per stay for fixed miles or 1 mile per dollar spent; Hampton, Homewood, and Home2 Suites earn 100 miles (fixed miles) or 1 mile per dollar spent *remember, to get the 200 miles minimum, at lower tier hotels, members must have at least $100 on their room charges
5. Hyatt: Any stay earns 500 miles
6. Intercontinental Hotels Group: 500 miles for Intercontinental, 2 miles per dollar at other properties
7. La Quinta: 250 miles per stay
8. Marriott: 2 miles per dollar spent at Marriott, JW Marriott, and Renaissance; 1 miles per dollar Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Summerfield Suites, Residence Inn, etc.
9. Starwood: 2 points per dollar; Gold and Platinum members earn 3 points per dollar *remember, to get the 200 miles minimum, regular members must have at least $100 on their room charges
10. Wyndham: 2 miles per dollar spent, 500 miles for Wyndham
2. Car rentals: You can earn up to 6 hits with partner car rentals – Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, National, Sixt and Thrifty.
1. Others have reported calling a local car rental and getting a cheap one day rental, explaining the situation to the manager, and not even having to pick up the car
3. Hotel loyalty program transfers: You can earn 1 hit per loyalty program transfer (max 1 per program), up to 8 hits. You must earn at least 850 US Airways Dividend miles to count as a hit:
1. Best Western: 5,000 points = 1,000 miles
2. Choice Hotels: 5,000 points = 1,000 miles
3. Hilton: 10,000 points = 850 miles
4. Hyatt: 5,000 points = 2,000 miles (I value 5,000 Hyatt points quite high so not sure this hit is worth it)
5. Priority Club: 10,000 points = 2,000 miles
6. Marriott: 10,000 points = 2,000 miles
7. Radisson/Club Carlson: 8,000 points = 1,000 miles
8. Starwood: 1,000 points = 1,000 (minimum transfer for regular members is 2,500 points; Gold members can transfer a minimum of 1,000 points, and Platinum members have no minimums – but you must transfer 850 points to generate the minimum for this promotion)
9. Wyndham Rewards: 8,000 points = 3,200 miles

My prior blog post outlines all the hits one can earn. Also, check a post by Mommy Points where she lays out some good tips on certain hits (i.e., Starwood hotels post as check-in date, so if you have a hotel stay tonight at an SPG property it should count). If you have any suggestions or other ways to earn cheap hits for readers, please comment and share the wealth.

Hope you enjoyed playing with me! Who cannot wait till next year?!