US Airways Grand Slam Promotion Update (10-25-11)

I admit, I have not been on top of the US Airways Grand Slam promotion as I thought I was beyond all of the free or really cheap hits we were able to earn. What was especially concerning was I had been completing all kinds of hits for my wife’s account, and nothing had been showing up in our account. However, when I finally saw some bonus miles posting this week, I was encouraged to get my act together and try and earn as many more cheap miles as feasible.

So here is where my account is at as of this week. Dates below correspond to when the miles posted to each of our accounts, not the date of the order.

– (9-15-11) Magazine order (-400 miles)(cost $0)
– (9-16-11) Dining (+21 miles)(cost $7)
– (9-19-11) Audience Rewards trivia (+2 miles; I earned many more but only showing 1 questions miles)(cost $0)
– (9-21-11) e-Rewards transfer (+500 miles)(cost $0)
– (9-29-11) Grand Slam Bonus (+3,000 miles)(total cost $7 or $0.022/mile)

– (9-22-11) Exchange via Points.com (-5 + 184 miles; I had to transfer points out to Frontier and then back into US)(cost $0)*
– (10-3-11) e-miles transfer (+500 miles)(cost $0)
– (10-4-11) Thanks Again Groupon purchase (+12 miles)(cost $12)
– (10-6-11) Toolbar Earn (+38 miles)(cost $0)
– (10-24-11) Grand Slam Bonus (+7,000 miles)(total cost $19 or $0.0018/mile includes miles and costs from previous round)

– (10-6-11) Shopping Mall Groupon purchase (+40 miles)(cost $10)*
– (10-14-11) Super Shuttle (+50 miles)(cost ~$5)*

* Hits earned prior to the bonus posting dates but I am carrying them forward to the next hit bonus.

All the below have yet to post.

Biscoff
I placed my Biscoff purchase back at the beginning of October, and never received credit. I called them 10-25-11, and for some reason my Dividend number was not associated with the order. So they added it, and said 10-25-11 is the next batch of miles to be submitted, so hopefully it would get into the system in time. Well here it is a couple days after, and I still have not received credit. Now I need to wait until the next submission in November, which has me worried since it is after the Grand Slam promotion. I may have to call again to see about this and my wife’s miles.

SkyMall
I keep hoping that all the partners will release a new batch of cheap hits now that the initial flood has passed. However, it has not always been the case. I decided to pull the plug this week on our SkyMall purchases, and went and ordered the Pet Loo Odor-Eliminating Cleaning Agent in 16-oz. Bottle for $10.09 after tax with free shipping. Here was the key thing I noted. When I went through the US Airways site, SkyMall was going to earn me 3 miles/$1; however, I happen to notice quite by accident that when I went through the US Airways Shopping Mall, I could earn 5 miles/$1. Excellent! Any time I can score another hit for around $10, I am all in.

Vinesse Wine Club
I went ahead and ordered the cheapest wine accessory I could find, which happen to be a “kids with messy fingers art project apron.” It is an apron that will be perfect for those sticky little fingers when they are deciding to paint their next Picasso. Total cost was $12.95.

Account #2

As for my wife’s account, it is a different picture since I started on hers later. I have to admit though that now that she has seen the power of miles getting us to Hawaii for a total cost of $30, she is all about maximizing earning power on her purchases.

– (9-19-11) Audience Rewards trivia (+2 miles; I earned many more but only showing 1 questions miles)(cost $0)
– (10-11-11) Magazine order (-400 miles)(cost $0)
– (10-14-11) Super Shuttle (+50 miles)(cost ~$5)
– (10-20-11) Shopping Mall via Disney Store (+76 miles)(cost $38); note, my wife has not realized the goal is to spend the least amount for miles!
– (10-24-11) Grand Slam Bonus (+3,000 miles)(total cost $43 or $0.0158/mile)

– (10-25-11) Exchange via points.com (+1 mile); this is where collecting the Best Buy Reward Zone points via Audience Rewards came in handy at a ratio of 3:1).
– (10-26-11) e-Rewards transfer (+500 miles)(cost $0)

e-Rewards
This is another one of those hits that everyone should be keeping mind of for next year. I occasionally go into my account all year long and complete a couple of surveys. I had built up $100+ in my account, which I was able to score a hit for myself. Then I realized that US Airways allows a transfer once every 30 days. So I waited, and then transferred miles to my wife’s account. A little bit of planning all year and we were able to score hits in each of our accounts with plenty left in the account for next year.

If the Grand Slam were running slightly longer, I would consider opening up an account for one of our sons to transfer miles over to them too, but I will not meet the 30 day deadline by the time the Grand Slam ends in November.

All the below have yet to post.

Toolbar
This is another one of those hits that took some smart planning. Once the miles posted to my account last month, I logged out and logged back in with my wife’s account, where I have been earning miles all month. This saved me from having to install the toolbar in another browser. Miles will post at the end of this month.

Thanks Again
I am a little bothered that my $2 restaurant.com purchase via Thanks Again has not posted yet, but looking at when they posted for my account, I am thinking they should credit our account at the end of the month. Otherwise I may need to follow-up with them or place another order.

Biscoff
Since I knew 10-25-11 was the deadline for getting my miles credited with Biscoff (see my discussion above), I went ahead and placed an order under my wife’s account. We ordered the Anna’s Assortment because if I was going to be spending $17.95 on cookies, I wanted to make sure there was plenty of them in the box to make it worth my unit cost. Besides, they will come in 4 separate boxes, so maybe I will use them as Christmas gifts. I am hoping because I placed my order today there is a small chance our miles will post before the end of this month, but nothing as of this posting.

SkyMall
See my discussion above.

Vinesse Wine Club
See my discussion above.

So overall, we really have not had to shell out a tremendous amount of money, and are starting to rack up the miles. I still do not know what our ultimate goal for this promotion is, maybe 16-20 hits each. I do not see the point in shelling out money to purchase vehicle rentals or hotel rooms since it really escalates our costs. If I start to approach $200 all in for around 25,000 miles, it is not worth my time and effort because I equate those miles to a domestic ticket, which I value at a minimum of $200 on a good sale, which would be a wash.