For 5 days only, get up to 100% more miles*

[legroom]

Yup, me too. At A$0.021/mile it's too much considering the stockpile I'm already sitting on.

I thought it is more expensive this time

"...... Miles are sold for $0.035 per mile plus a tax recovery charge of 7.5%....."

 

[markis10]

I thought it is more expensive this time

"...... Miles are sold for $0.035 per mile plus a tax recovery charge of 7.5%....."

Thats for 2x or 2000 miles pro rata if hitting the 100% bonus, so the costs divided by 2 equal what was quoted in nett terms.

 

[moa999]

Yes asg29e but only once per account that has been open 12 days for the bonus.

While it does say that... you certainly seem to be able to buy miles with a fresh account.

 

[boomy]

Looks like a good promo to buy my first USDM miles.
Do I need a US address to buy points?

 

[JessicaTam]

The buy promo, however, was targetted.

Yep, that's the one I meant.

 

[smit0847]

Looks like a good promo to buy my first USDM miles.
Do I need a US address to buy points?

No, you don't need a US credit card to buy either. Your DM account must have been open for 12 days already though.

 

[legroom]

Thats for 2x or 2000 miles pro rata if hitting the 100% bonus, so the costs divided by 2 equal what was quoted in nett terms.

OK, thanks

Still slightly more expensive than the SHARE offer a few weeks ago.

 

[bcworld]

OK, thanks

Still slightly more expensive than the SHARE offer a few weeks ago.

It's substantially more expensive (about 65% more expensive) than the share offer.

Hence the reason the 100% share is quite rare!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

While it does say that... you certainly seem to be able to buy miles with a fresh account.

you will be allowed to 'buy' miles with an account less than 12 days. And an authorisation will go against your credit card.

but the miles won't credit. And the authorisation will stay there until the bank releases it (per their standard policy).

your credit card will not end up being charged.

 

[smit0847]

Under $800 all up in J with QF to Singapore looks pretty good to me!

That's assuming by the time you can use you DMs to book OW flights AA haven't decided to do a massive devaluation of their award chart in the same way UA recently did.

Not surprised at all - last week information was released that indicates it will likely be into 2015 before DM is absorbed be AAdvantage.

(From April 1 *A specific access to awards disappears and *O becomes the base.)

Anyhoo, I'm skipping this - hoping for another "Share" promotion which normally have a better miles/$ ratio.

Share promos were usually once every 12-18 months so to have 2 share promos in 3 months was extremely rare. I would be very, very surprised if there is another share promo in the next 12 months.

I do wonder what happens to DMs from 1 April 2014, US will have exited *A, so no new *A bookings allowed, but to redeem on OW you would assume they will adopt AA's redemption chart, routing rules etc which will surely take much longer to implement. It would be fantastic if you could book OW flights with DM's existing rules and requirements but I highly doubt this. I personally think they will limit DMs redemptions to US and AA metal/(codeshare maybe?) for several months come 1 April 2014 while they align their systems for partner redemptions and OW partner awards will be available for DMs account holders on AA terms in late 2014. I think AA will 'enhance' their award chart just before this.

 

[hummel]

Not surprised at all - last week information was released that indicates it will likely be into 2015 before DM is absorbed be AAdvantage.

I would be expecting a pretty big devaluation by then...

I won't be buying any more miles Have approx 160k and don't want to plan travel more than 12 months out with these kind of loyalty programs.

 

[anat0l]

Does USDM have a yearly limit? ie if I got 50K + 50K in the recent promotion will this one still work?

There are no annual limits for buying/gifting/sharing miles.

There are limits for bonus points received per promotion period, which is often set at 50k. This means you can keep on buying points, but once you receive 50k bonus points, you won't receive any more bonuses on purchased points in this promotion period (i.e. you'll be effectively buying points at twice the cost, or rather the "standard" cost).

As cove mentioned, and stated in T&Cs, accounts which are less than 12 days old are not eligible to receive buy / share / gift miles.

Not surprised at all - last week information was released that indicates it will likely be into 2015 before DM is absorbed be AAdvantage.

I wonder what that fully means. That's an awfully long time.

Anyhoo, I'm skipping this - hoping for another "Share" promotion which normally have a better miles/$ ratio.

I thought it is more expensive this time

"...... Miles are sold for $0.035 per mile plus a tax recovery charge of 7.5%....."

The cost turns out to be - once you factor in the taxes and fee (for a purchase of 50k miles + 50k bonus) - 1.88 US cents per mile. The full whack that will max out your bonus at a shade under USD 2,000; or a decent shade over AUD 2,000 due to the exchange rate. :-|

It's certainly not as good as sharing miles, however Share Miles promos are more rare (though we may just see another one if US DM seems to continue their rather generous spree) and only work on accounts with some mileage in them (and decent mileage for that matter). For those topping up miles to make an award (particularly as a promotion afresh usually only affords you 100k miles, not quite enough to fill some popular awards) or those with 0 points balance, Buy Miles promos are useful. The cost isn't overly prohibitive either once you translate your award to a cash cost; it's just of course much better value if you used shared miles.

Anyway, all depends on your situation.... and for some of us, I think that's also a financial decision (viz. credit cards, the Ministry of War and Finance, etc.)

While it does say that... you certainly seem to be able to buy miles with a fresh account.

Some spotty evidence yes, some no. I'm not that prepared to take that risk.

I believe the portal immediately will not reject a new account attempting to buy miles, however once the transaction goes through the system will pick this up and the transaction will not proceed.

Do I need a US address to buy points?

No.

 

[Alanslegal]

Can someone clarify ... it says Buy OR Gift .... so does one need to choose either? ie. can I buy for myself 50k + 50k, and then still be able to Gift to someone 50K + 50K ... or must I choose either. All the past promotions, usually allowed those two transactions.

 

[anat0l]

Can someone clarify ... it says Buy OR Gift .... so does one need to choose either? ie. can I buy for myself 50k + 50k, and then still be able to Gift to someone 50K + 50K ... or must I choose either. All the past promotions, usually allowed those two transactions.

You can do both (in fact, you can gift as many miles as you want, but each receiving account is limited to 50k bonus miles).

 

[medhead]

This is the first buy promo for the month is it not? AFAIK the targeted one ended Nov 30.

True there was no other buy promo this month. But the last buy promo was targeted and you clearly replied to a post about missing a targeted promo. It is interesting that the last share promo was not targeted, but it still wasn't a buy promo.

 

[markis10]

True there was no other buy promo this month. But the last but promo was targeted and you clearly replied to a post about missing a targeted promo. It is interesting that the last share promo was not targeted, but it still wasn't a buy promo.

I was wondering I had missed one, it's been somewhat of an end of year flood!

 

[burmans]

It's substantially more expensive (about 65% more expensive) than the share offer.

Hence the reason the 100% share is quite rare!

Not that rare in the last few months, and while I'm not counting on it I suspect we may even see it again before USDM goes.

 

[burmans]

Share promos were usually once every 12-18 months so to have 2 share promos in 3 months was extremely rare. I would be very, very surprised if there is another share promo in the next 12 months.

Sometimes the past is not a great way to predict the future, USDM seem to be on a mission to earn money. Perhaps someone whose going to lose their job (and not worried about the long term) but who has a sizable bonus linked to revenue.

 

[Beta4Me]

You can do both (in fact, you can gift as many miles as you want, but each receiving account is limited to 50k bonus miles).

So that means I can't buy 50K + bonus in my account and gift 50K + bonus from the other 3 family accounts I manage to my account? They have to buy it for themselves to get the bonus 50K?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So that means I can't buy 50K + bonus in my account and gift 50K + bonus from the other 3 family accounts I manage to my account? They have to buy it for themselves to get the bonus 50K?

the max bonus you can receive in any one account is 50k miles.