# US Air to Continental



## abcnews (Nov 15, 2010)

Somebody recently asked about Delta - I guess no luck there. I was wondering, can you convert US Air over to Continental? I noticed tonight that they are a "Starwood"member. Is that meaningful in the world of airline points?

Thanks!

Mike


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## PRR 60 (Nov 15, 2010)

abcnews said:


> Somebody recently asked about Delta - I guess no luck there. I was wondering, can you convert US Air over to Continental? I noticed tonight that they are a "Starwood"member. Is that meaningful in the world of airline points?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Mike


There are no ways to move miles out of US Airways Dividend Miles to any other program. Starwood points can be exchanged into DM, but it is a one way street.


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## sechs (Nov 15, 2010)

A useful tool:

http://webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/


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## abcnews (Nov 16, 2010)

Thanks for the quick answers. I have a bunch of US Air points.


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## Devil's Advocate (Nov 16, 2010)

If you have enough points to buy a plane ticket you can sell them on the gray market for cash. If you live in a city of decent size there should be listings online and possibly one of the local papers that will put you in touch with a reseller who will tell you the details for the ticket(s) another party wants and will meet you in a parking lot later that day with cash in hand. It definitely feels shady but I've known folks who sold thousands of dollars of tickets that way and apparently everyone ended up happy. Well, maybe not the airline, but everyone who was privy to the exchange anyway. Supposedly the airlines try to prevent this, but since it's perfectly acceptable to buy a ticket for a friend or even a stranger I don't see how they'd ever know enough to act on it.


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## the_traveler (Nov 16, 2010)

daxomni said:


> I don't see how they'd ever know enough to act on it.


How about if the person "buying" the ticket was from US Air?




Then I think (s)he would know it's being sold!


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## Devil's Advocate (Nov 16, 2010)

the_traveler said:


> How about if the person "buying" the ticket was from US Air?
> 
> 
> 
> Then I think (s)he would know it's being sold!


True, but it hasn't happened yet. *Knock on wood* To my understanding the buyer won't know in advance which airline it's on so they might be handing over several thousand dollars before they finally get a hit. If they were buying a ticket to a city only their airline served I'd imagine the reseller would refuse the transaction, either because they'd be wise to the attempt or they'd have too much trouble fulfilling it. However, I honestly don't know how the buying process works as I've never seen that end of the transaction.


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## abcnews (Nov 16, 2010)

I guess I would prefer to find someone wishing to trade AGR Rewards (which are transferable) for a for a US Air ticket (coach/USA). I would even take a current 10,000 mile gift ($275 fee on AGR) with the 3,000 bonus points. Either would be fair.

Too bad we don't have a forum location to do above board trading of travel items (Delta points in exchange for 20,000 AGR Award, etc,,,).

The bummer with US Air is that their very best awards - for the most bang for points - are RT airfare. If they offered one way "free tickets for half the points - I could use them to combine with East-West Train travel. Fly out - ride back, etc.. As it is they are OK for getting us to gateway cities to catch the train and return back to the same Airport - to return home . Denver comes to mind, Denver or Chicago, or New Orleans. All good points to begin a nice rail vacation.

US Air does offer one-way First class upgrades for just 15,000 points, which are nice. Fly out with a low one way fare on US Air- but ride in FC. That may be my best use with rail travel. Then travel back East to Virginia by train in a bedroom. All travel in First class.


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## sechs (Nov 17, 2010)

Round trip awards is the industry standard. Only a few of the national airlines offer one-ways.

You can throw-away the return, or try to book it far enough into the future that you may use. You can also look into getting open-jaw itineraries rather than strict return.


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## the_traveler (Nov 17, 2010)

If you have enough posts (at least 90 posts) and have been a member of FlyerTalk (at least 90 days), they have a forum called "Coupon Connection" where members trade one reward or points for another reward or points! If you're eligible, check it out!





Or as sechs said, consider an open jaw return. That is (say) fly to SEA, take the train from SEA to CHI to LAX, and fly back via LAX!


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## amamba (Nov 28, 2010)

At one point last year I seriously considered only using the outbound leg of a PVD-SEA roundtrip that I had booked with a voucher after getting bumped. I was going to take the train back. I ended up cancelling my trip but I can't see how there would be repercussions with the airline - obviously I lose out on my trip home and a one way flight but it was a voucher flight so its not like I used points or anything.


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## the_traveler (Nov 28, 2010)

amamba said:


> I can't see how there would be repercussions with the airline - obviously I lose out on my trip home and a one way flight


True, you could do that, if you fly in the outbound and take the train home. But you could not do it if (for example) you took a train from PVD to SEA and expected to fly home.

Unlike Amtrak, airlines know instantly if you do not take a reserved flight. They then *CANCEL* all remaining flights on that reservation!



So in that case, you'll get to Sea-Tac and find out there is no reservation for you! You would have to buy a full fare ticket, stay a few days (so you could get a discounted ticket) - or suffer



and take Amtrak home!


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## transit54 (Nov 28, 2010)

the_traveler said:


> Unlike Amtrak, airlines know instantly if you do not take a reserved flight. They then *CANCEL* all remaining flights on that reservation!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just a minor point - from someone who used to work on the airline side of things! You're correct about almost all airlines - and all legacy carriers, including US Airways, Continental, etc. However, some airlines (pretty much only low cost carriers) treat all reservations as one way, even if they are booked as a round trip. JetBlue is one of these. So you could book a round trip ticket and not fly the outbound trip, but you'd still have a valid return reservation (but you forfeit the cost of the outbound leg). Of course, these carriers also let you book a one way frequent flier award!


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