Air Miles Experts ... Help!

[kpk89]

OK, since dh is self-employed now, custody of the FF miles he earned while employed in corporate American has fallen to me.

We have 41K miles with United, and 25K with US Air. Is there some way to combine these into one itinerary? (otherwise we could fly separately which probably wouldn't bother me too much if we were going without kids, but that's a topic for another thread ...) I thought there was some sort of partnership of miles where you could combine different airlines' miles??

If anybody has experience with this, I'd appreciate it -- we are now total SWA converts, but hate to let these miles go to waste if they can get us a "bonus" trip to DW!

 

[NancyIL]

Back in 1999, I was able to combine US Airways miles with American miles, but that has since ended. I don't know of a way to merge your United and US Airways miles. I do know that 25,000 miles = a free domestic ticket on either airline, so I'd suggest one parent go on US Airways, and the other on United - and somehow split-up the kids. If you had the Starwood American Express card - points earned (one per dollar spent) could be transferred to most airline FF programs on a 1:1 basis, so you could add to your United miles to get 2 free tickets. Warning - FF seats to Orlando aren't that easy to come by, so FIRST see if you can get a FF reservation on each airline and put it on hold for two weeks.

 

[NancyIL]

Well...just looked at United and US Airways' web sites...and they are both members of the Star Alliance. So...looks like you can use miles from one airline's FF program for FF seats on the other airline! Best bet is to have firm travel dates in mind and see if you can get at least 2 free seats on one of the airlines. But as I mentioned...9,000 more miles with United would equal 50,000 miles = 2 free tickets! https://www124.americanexpress.com/cards/starwood/?Card_name=Starwood&link=CARD_SELCTOR

 

[DebbieB]

The hardest part is going to be able to find seats. Anytime I have tried to use my USAir miles there was either no availability or only horrible times (arrive in Orlando at night, leave early morning).

 

[kpk89]

I wonder if I want to use the Star Alliance thing if I need to call to make the ressie rather than doing it on the website? I was trying it out yesterday, and both times got the "you don't have enough miles ..." Well DUH! I was hoping that a little popup would give the option of doing the Star Alliance.

Since we're planning to use these for a parents-only trip, I think the easiest might be to just fly on separate planes. Maybe I can get the remaining 9K points, though.

KWYM about the travel times, though -- I'm used to flying direct from MHT to MCO on SW, so even with Magical Express we're at the resort by noontime. The United flight was like take off at 6 AM, get to Washington by eight, sit around for hours, then get to MCO by 5 PM. Fun! Even for a free ticket, I think I'll try to nab a bit nicer itinerary.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You need to call the awards ticket number for one of these airlines to make this reservation, as it will be a bit complicated.

 

[NancyIL]

Delta and Northwest have a partnership, and one can book available Delta FF seats on Northwest's website. Not so with Delta - which shows only their own available flights.

Good luck getting something!

 

[tkldisney]

UAL & US Airways are partners, yes you can do this.
I just booked flights for a summer trip to NYC.
I paid for two of the flights on US Airways, booked one FF on US Airways using US Airways miles, & booked one FF on same flight using UAL miles. You have to book the flights with whichever airline your miles are in. So if you want to fly UAL and are using US Airways miles, then you book with US Airways and vice versa.