US Airways sent out an email this morning to frequent flyer members announcing that it was going to make it harder to earn frequent flyer miles. It used to be that no matter how far the trip was, you would earn at least 500 frequent flyer miles per leg. Now you will only earn the actual number of miles flown. “This pretty much kills anyone who makes US Air Shuttle Trips from NYC / Bos. / DC locations,” writes reader Mike. In addition, if you use your frequent flyer miles to schedule a ticket within 14 days of purchase, they will charge you a $50 fee. Full text of the announcement, inside…

Dividend Miles program changes
As part of our continuing efforts to provide valuable benefits to our frequent flyers, US Airways is making a change to our Dividend Miles program. We’re making these changes to offset record fuel prices and rising airline related expenses while maintaining the benefits you’ve come to expect. Beginning May 1, 2008, Dividend Miles will award the actual number of miles flown rather than a minimum number of miles flown for each segment. Also, members who redeem miles for award travel within 14-days of departure on usairways.com will be assessed a quick ticketing fee.

Here’s a summary of the policy changes:

Accrual

* Tickets purchased on/after March 1, 2008 for travel on US Airways on/after May 1, 2008 will earn the actual number of miles flown and will no longer earn a minimum of 500 miles per segment.
* Tickets flown on partner airlines after May 1, 2008 will earn the actual number of miles flown.

Tickets purchased prior to March 1, 2008 will continue to earn the 500 mile minimum for travel after May 1, 2008. Accrual on flight segments greater than 500 miles in length are not impacted by this change.

Redemption

* Members redeeming miles for award travel online within 14-days of departure will be assessed a quick ticketing fee of $50 per ticket.

A quick ticketing fee of $75 per award ticket will continue to apply for award tickets purchased from US Airways Reservations. Chairman’s and Platinum Preferred members booking within 14-days (both online and by phone) are exempt from the fee.

Dividend Miles members still get award travel for as low as 25,000 miles. And, we offer the most generous Preferred upgrade windows in the industry. Earn miles when you fly to any of our 230 destinations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. You can also earn and redeem miles to the nearly 900 destinations served by the Star Alliance.
Thanks for continuing to fly with US.

(Photo: Meghann Marco)

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