US Airways has just announced their 2011 version of their annual Grand Slam promotion. With this promotion, you can earn up to 110,000 miles (and many miles in between), based on the number of “hits” you earn. You will earn 1 “hit” each time you complete a qualifying transaction with a Dividend Miles partner. There are many strategies to get the miles for limited spend, but I will save that for another post that week. Right now, I just want to get the details out there as I am sure many are anxious. Currently, there are many posts on FlyerTalk plotting out this promotion! Stay tuned for an updated post.
This promotion runs between September 14 and November 14, 2011. Only partner activity completed after registration counts, so make sure to register first.
Total bonus miles awarded:
- 4 hits: 3,000 miles
- 8 hits: 10,000 miles
- 12 hits: 15,000 miles
- 16 hits: 25,000 miles (2,000 of which are Preferred-qualifying miles)
- 20 hits: 35,000 miles
- 24 hits: 45,000 miles (5,000 of which are Preferred-qualifying miles)
- 28 hits: 60,000 miles
- 32 hits: 80,000 miles
- 36 hits: 100,000 miles
- 40 hits*: 110,000 miles (10,000 of which are Preferred-qualifying miles)
*Only members with Preferred status are eligible to earn the top bonus level (40 hits for a total of 110,000 bonus miles). If you begin the promotion without Preferred status but earn status by flying or by buying Preferred status through the ‘Buy up to Preferred‘ or ‘Trial Preferred‘ programs during the promotional period, you will be eligible for the top bonus level.
Qualifying “Hit” Partner Options:
- Earn 1 hit when you buy a new US Airways Club membership or renew your current club membership during this promotion (max 1 hit per member).
- Earn 1 hit for every credit or debit card use per card type. You can earn this bonus once for each unique card partner: US Airways MasterCard, US Airways Business Card, US Airways Visa, US Airways Visa Business Card and US Airways debit card (max 5 hits per member).
- Earn 1 hit for every mileage-earning stay with a hotel partner (max 6 hits per member). The hotel families represent over 70 hotel brands:
- Best Western
- Carlson Hotels (Radisson)
- Choice Hotels
- Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands
- Hyatt
- InterContinental Hotels
- Marriott Hotels & Resorts
- Starwood Hotels & Resorts
- WORLDHOTELS
- Wyndham Hotels Group
- Earn 1 hit for every mileage-earning car rental with a car partner (max 6 hits per member). There are 8 car partners:
- Earn 1 hit when you convert hotel points from a hotel partner into Dividend Miles (max 1 hit per hotel partner, for a total of 9 hits). There are 9 hotel partners:
- Best Western Rewards
- Choice Privileges
- Hilton HHonors
- Hyatt Gold Passport
- InterContinental Hotel Group (Priority Club)
- Marriott Rewards
- Radisson (Club Carlson)
- Starwood Hotels (SPG)
- Wyndham Rewards
- Earn 1 hit when you make a qualifying purchase at the US Airways Dividend Miles Shopping Mall. Maximum 1 hit regardless of number of merchants used at the Shopping Mall. Purchases of SkyMall merchandise does not count towards Shopping Mall, but does count as a unique hit.
- Earn 1 hit when you download and perform 3 searches at usairways.com/shop (Maximum 1 hit)
- Earn 1 hit when you buy miles at usairways.com or points.com. (Maximum 1 hit)
- Earn 1 hit when you share miles at usairways.com or points.com. (Maximum 1 hit)
- Earn 1 hit when you swap other points into Dividend Miles at points.com. (Maximum 1 hit)
- Earn 1 hit when you Buy up to Preferred. (Maximum 1 hit)
- Earn 1 hit when you buy ‘Trial Preferred‘ status. (Maximum 1 hit)
- Earn 1 hit with each of our other Dividend Miles partners. (Maximum 1 hit per partner, for a total of 37 hits) Partners include:
- 21st Century Auto Insurance
- 1800Flowers
- AAA Carolinas Auto Club or AAA South Auto Club
- ADT Home Security
- Audience Rewards
- Biscoff
- Dish Network
- Dividend Miles Dining
- e-Miles
- Energy Plus
- e-Rewards
- FTD.com & Florist.com (counts as 1 partner)
- getAbstract
- Hilton Grand Vacations Club Ownership
- Lasik Plus
- LifeLock – annual membership only
- Life Shield
- Marriott Vacation Club (ownership purchase)
- Magazines for Miles
- Netflix
- Network Solutions
- OfficeMax
- Select Warranty
- Sentry Insurance
- ShareBuilder
- SkyMall
- Starwood Vacations Ownership
- SuperShuttle & ExecuCar (counts as 1 partner)
- TD AMERITRADE
- Teleflora
- Thanks Again
- TrackItBack.com
- US Airways Cruises
- USA Today
- Verizon Wireless
- Vinesse
- Wine Insiders
In total, there are 71 “hit” opportunities – some easier and cheaper to obtain then others. I will detail out my strategy later this week! Feel free to comment and post any good strategy ideas you see for optimizing your mileage potential.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
What’s the promo code on your link?
@Worldtraveller2 – The promo code to register is GS11, or if you click the link on my site it will take you straight to the registration page (http://shopping.usairways.com/promotion/dividendmiles/registration.aspx?PromoCode=GS11)
Do you know the minimum number of miles to transfer hotel points into US airways points for a hit?
@Worldtraveller2 – There is a 200 mile minimum per stay to earn a “hit”.
Here are the minimums (excluding taxes) you need per hotel stay this year to meet the 200 mile minimum, based on chain. This assumes no elite status:
Best Western: Any stay earns 250 miles
Carlson: Any stay earns 250 miles at Country Inns & Park Inn, 500 miles at Park Plaza and Radisson
Choice: Any stay earns 250 miles
Hilton: 500 miles per stay (fixed miles) at all except Hampton, Homewood, and Home2, which require $200 (variable miles)
Hyatt: Any stay earns 500 miles
IHG: $100 most brands, $200 Staybridge & Candlewood
La Quinta: Any stay earns 250 miles
Marriott: $100 (Marriott brand and better), $200 (all mid-tier and lower brands)
SPG: $100
Wyndham: $100, or any stay at a Wyndham Hotel or Wingate (these chains are 500 per stay)
nevermind, found it on MP!
Would it suffice to just buy a pen for the Officemax hit?
[…] Deals We Like has an excellent summary of what the promotion actually looks like. […]
Re: hits for car rentals – max. 6 hits per member. So one could certainly maximise this to acquire a healthy inventory of hits if you can find 1 day rentals for < $20 all-in across multiple car partners? I do not see a max number of hits threshold.
This could prove to be a low cost hit for many of us.
@Simon – unfortunately, it is only 6 hits total, which you mentioned in your next comment. However, these 6 hits could be inexpensive to achieve.
Disregard – I see it is 6 hits per member, not 6 hits per partner.
@Simon – also note that the 6 hits can be from the same partner, so that is a positive. Additionally, as View from the Wing pointed out, there is a current promotion with Avis to earn 3,000 US Airways miles with a 3 day rental.
Where does it mention 200 miles minimum per stay?
In the FAQs it states:
How can I earn hits for hotel stays?
You earn one hit for every mileage-earning hotel stay with a maximum of 6 hits. Earn your hits from the same partner (6 stays with Hilton = 6 hits) or from different hotel partners. For example, if you stay with Hilton on September 15 and again on October 1, you’ll earn two hits. If you stay twice with Hilton and twice with Marriott during the promotion then you’ll earn four hits, two hits from Hilton and two hits from Marriott. You must earn at least 200 Dividend Miles for each stay in order for the stay to qualify as a hit.
The additional 3k miles could be an incentive to sniff out an inexpensive weekend (3 day) rental. However, I’m more inclined to go hard out of the gate & get my car rental hits under the belt ASAP (i.e. the rental hits I know I will not get from work rentals).
[…] We Like has compiled a list of the 2011 US Air Grand Slam hits. There are 71 opportunities for hits, but our task is to choose the least costly […]
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can i get the 15,000 bonus miles with Energy Plus plus a hit?
@Sol – you need to go through the dividend miles site. If you have to go through a specific URL to get the 15K bonus miles then it will not work. If it is just entered a code, then it should work, but cannot guarantee!
[…] Deal’s We Like […]
US Airways Grand Slam is Back – Earn up to 110,000 Miles – Deals We Like is a sensible subject, trate with more attention.
Hey I used your sign up page in the link above to sign up for Grand Slam 2011 and want to get earning hits, but no email has come through confirming i have registered and so don’t want to start earning hits as they won’t count if i am not registered… How can i confirm that I am???
@Mark – I would suggest re-registering and seeing if it allows you to go through. If you are already registered it will typically let you know that you have already been registered. I would advise taking a screen shot of that.
ok thanks, and lastly if i earn a hit, where should it appear in my US Air Dividend account? Will it be fairly obvious in saying i have a hit or a bonus or something?
@Mark – Yes, it will be very obvious. I actually just earned my first bonus points today and it appeared as: “10/24/2011 10/24/11 GRAND SLAM 2011 MULTI PARTNER BONUS – 4 3,000”
Ah ok, so not every hit but every time you get a 4-hit bonus it comes up…
[…] speculate either 28 or 32 “hits”. If you have no idea what I am talking about, read my previous blog post outlining the entire promotion and what exactly a “hit” entails. In a nutshell, you […]
I am trying to convert some points in different programs to dividend miles program. Is there any minimum points for these. I am not talking of hotel stays, which I know has a minimum of 200 points. I am talking of transfering points through points.com like if i convert my frontier airlines miles or best buy points, is it fine if I just do conversion so that I get 1 US Airways dividend miles. Also, what is the maximum number of hits that I can get by converting various points through points.com.
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