I f you are not an elite member — or if you happen to hold Silver Preferred elite level status — of the US Airways Dividend Miles frequent flier loyalty program, there is one bit of good news for you pertaining to the recent announcement of it being brought into the American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flier loyalty program that if it has been reported elsewhere, I have not seen it…
…and that is that — because you will be able to combine your US Airways Dividend Miles frequent flier loyalty program account with your American Airlines AAdvantage Dividend Miles frequent flier loyalty program account — you will be able to redeem your hard-earned miles free of charge as opposed to spending your money on the following fees:
- $25.00 Continental United States, Alaska and Canada
- $35.00 Mexico and the Caribbean
- $50.00 Hawaii and all other destinations
If you do not already have an existing American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flier loyalty program account, open one as soon as possible. There will eventually be information on how to quickly and easily match your accounts via the Internet.
Other than Alaska Airlines charging a non-refundable $25.00 to use Mileage Plan frequent flier loyalty program miles for flights operated by partner airlines, US Airways is the only domestic airline in the United States which charges an award processing fee. I have never agreed with this policy, as I believe that you should not have to pay to simply redeem your Dividend Miles which you earned as it does devalue them; but it appears that the award processing fee policy will be eliminated as a result of the merger of the two frequent flier loyalty programs.
There is one other minor positive AAdvantage for Dividend Miles members: if you book your tickets via telephone, American Airlines currently charges $25.00 for domestic flights within the United States and $35.00 for international flights to everyone except for those with Gold elite level status and above — as well as who pay the close-in award booking fee for travel booked within 21 days — whereas US Airways charges fees of $30.00 for flights within the United States and Canada, and $40.00 for all other regions. Those fees are waived for those with Chairman Preferred elite level status and those who book flights on airlines which are members of Star Alliance. Assuming that American Airlines does not raise the fees, this means that you can save $5.00 in fees per booking when using the telephone.
Hey — $5.00 is better than nothing.
The bottom line is that — unless you hold elite level status higher than Silver Preferred, in which case you would most likely be unaffected — the merging of the two frequent flier loyalty programs could save you money on some fees.
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
