Visiting the Caribbean with a Free Stopover with US Airways Dividend Miles
The Caribbean is definitely one of my favorite destinations and I make a trip (or two or three) every year. For that reason, I always appreciate airline miles that have some good uses for trips to the Caribbean. In the past few winters, I have visited Barbados, St. Lucia, the Cayman Islands a few times, Mexico a few times and have a trip to Trinidad coming up in 2015 already planned. Unsurprisingly, tickets to the Caribbean in winter tend to be very expensive as that’s where everyone wants to go!
US Airways and American Airlines both have very extensive networks of flights to the Caribbean islands. With US Airways joining oneworld, US Airways miles can now be used on American Airlines flights as well as its own. This gives us some very nice opportunities to use our Dividend Miles. In particular, with US Airways, we can get a round-trip to the Caribbean with a free stopover for as little as 30,000 US Airways miles.
The Cost of Award Tickets to the Caribbean
According to the US Airways Award chart, tickets to the Caribbean will cost
- 35,000 US Airways Dividend miles round-trip in Economy.
- 60,000 US Airways Dividend miles round-trip in Business Class.
If you actually only fly on US Airways operated flights, you get an additional 5,000 mile discount if you hold the US Airways World MasterCard. That means you can fly to the Caribbean for 30,000 miles round-trip and even get a free stopover along the way, as I explain below.
There is also an off-peak rate of 25,000 US Airways Dividend miles if you visit the Caribbean in the month of September and fly only US Airways flights. That said, September is not a very popular Caribbean season due to high hurricane possibilities and relatively nice weather elsewhere.
Getting a Free Stopover
With US Airways, all trips are booked as round-trip. There are no one-way awards. However, for trips between different regions, you can have a free stopover. That is, you can fly to the Caribbean and stop for several days anywhere along the way. If you want to spend some time in Miami and drive down to the Keys before heading to Aruba, you can do that without paying any extra miles. The only thing is that, in order to book the free stopover, you’ll have to call customer service as you can’t currently do this online.
Searching for Award Availability
With US Airways joining oneworld, we can redeem our US Airways Dividend Miles on US Airways flights and on American Airlines flights. The absolute best part is that the US Airways website itself will show availability on both airlines. This makes award space very easy to find and book right online.
As an example, say I want to visit St. Martin on an award ticket. To look for award availability, I would go to the US Airways website and click on Book Award Travel under Dividend Miles.
Once on the next page, I can type in my cities and dates.
On the next page, I will see days with the number of miles available.
On the next page, I can select my individual flights and book. As I am choosing non-stop flights on American Airlines, the trip will cost me a total of $107 + 35,000 US Airways Dividend Miles.
Of course, if I had instead selected US Airways operated flights, my cost would be $107 + 30,000 US Aiways Dividend Miles as a US Airways World MasterCard cardholder.
Earning US Airways Miles
The easiest way to rack up a quick number of US Airways miles right now is with the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® . The current offer is 40,000 miles immediately with the first purchase and after paying the $89 annual fee.
New applications for the card will stop being accepted as the two airlines US Airways and American Airlines come closer to completing the merger. With that in mind, it’s probably a good idea to get the card if you don’t already have one as there aren’t very many opportunities to pick up that many miles without a spending requirement.
The card also currently comes with a Companion Certificate where you can fly two additional passengers for $99 each on tickets booked on US Airways. We’ve definitely gotten some great value from the companion certificate when tickets during holiday travel periods were very expensive.
Summary
- US Airways Dividend Miles can now be used to visit the Caribbean by combining US Airways and American Airlines award flights into a single itinerary.
- With any round-trip between different regions, US Airways allows a free stopover along the way.
- Holders of the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® receive an additional 5,000 mile discount when redeeming awards on US Airways operated flights.
Great post – the Caribbean in the winter does sound lovely! Now while of course what mileage currency you use depends on what miles you actually HAVE! :-), how do you think using US Airways miles compares to other airlines? Specifically I think of United where you’re allowed one-way rewards, you also can have a stopover, AND due to the way the inter-island flights work, you can massage it so you have nearly a day in Panama City as a “connecting flight”
Anyway – thanks for making me thing of the Caribbean :-P
It depends on your travel patterns… if you like a day in Panama, then that’s great! But many would consider Panama kind of far out of the way and like more direct routes to the destinations. Even without 24 hour stops, United does have great availability, but the one place it loses out is the fact that the miles can only be used on United flights for the Caribbean, while US Airways/American Airlines have a far more extensive network now. British Airways is another good option if your flight to the Caribbean is a single segment, for example, and I am hoping to get up a post soon comparing the options on oneworld. My strategy is to have miles in a few different programs and then, when looking for flights, going with the best option. :)
Great post! I have received notice that I have been approved for my US Airways card but my wife has not received any notice. Is there a good phone number to call to check on the status?
Congrats on being approved. For your wife’s application, they have an online form to check the status https://www.barclaycardus.com/app/japply/checkstatus.do?default_partner=003 or you can call 1-888-232-0780.
Hi MP,
You state that for trips within different regions you can have a free stopover. If I wanted to stop in Hong Kong on my way to Bangkok is that allowed for the same number of miles? I believe they are different regions? Would the roundtrip cost be 60K miles in Economy or 80K miles?
You’re definitely asking the right question! You certainly can stopover in Hong Kong on the way to Bangkok. Technically, you should be charged the more expensive destination, but the routes are validated by a human agent and you do have to call to make the reservation. Many people have managed to pay the lower 60k cost for such a route by calling and saying they would like to visit Hong Kong and then giving a routing that “stops over” in Bangkok… if you get lucky with an agent who does not catch that Bangkok is in a different region, you can get it for 60k miles.
Thank you! The other choice I have is to use American Airlines miles. If I use AA miles the round trip cost of the miles to Bangkok would be 70,000 but it wouldn’t allow me to stopover in Hong Kong. Is this correct? Would it count as to separate awards?
That’s correct, American Airlines does not allow stopover anymore and you’ll have to book the segment from Hong Kong to Bangkok separately. However, if you do want to add that segment, then it costs 7,500 miles with British Airways Avios from Bangkok to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. Using British Airways miles may also be a good option to bounce around Asia for short distance flights. Finally, both American and US Airways will allow you to have up to 24 hour stops for free and not count them as stopovers on international trips.
Hi MP
— Interested in going to Puerto Rico from Miami – what’s the best approach/ mileage to use ?
Have never been to Puerto Rico, but hear lots of good news about it – Perhaps you could devote a blog post , one day to Puerto Rico ?
Miami is an American Airlines hub with frequent award availability to Miami. If you can find availability on American Airlines, it will be 15,000 British Airways miles round-trip, which is a great deal! Check out this post for how to use British Airways miles to the Caribbean: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/2013/09/23/caribbean-british-airways-award-miles/ :)
You mention the companion pass in this post about flying to the Caribbean with an award ticket. I was under the impression that the companion pass could only be used with a $250+ paid ticket and could only be used with the contiguous US. Is this correct or can we now use them with award tickets and to the Caribbean? Thanks.
You have it correct. The companion pass can only be used with paid fares $250, as you said. I just mention it in connection to the US Airways credit card as an extra perk with the sign-up bonus for getting those miles for the award ticket.
First off…….. Thanks for all the info you provide. I am looking into LAX to Nassau with a stopover in Charlotte for 2 days but am confused on how to incorporate a 2 day stay as the website wants a 1 hour layover. Help??