US Airways grand slam promo - up to 110,000 bonus miles

US Airways is running a scavenger hunt-style promotion offering up to 110,000 bonus miles for earning miles through all sorts of partner activities (other than flying).  It's actually pretty easy to rack up some bonus points for very little effort.  Four activities gets you 3,000 miles.  Eight gets you 10,000 miles.  What do you need to do?  There are a number of helpful blog posts from Mommy Points, View from the Wing, etc that give you some good ideas.  See the complete rules for details.  My vote for easy "hits" include:

• US Airways Dividend Miles Mall: Buy an e-mailable gift card from Amazon.com for as little as $0.15.
• Restaurant.com: Buy a gift certificate using one of their frequent coupons (use "NEW" for 50% off through today).
• Points.com: Exchange as little as 4 AAdvantage miles for 1 Dividend Mile.
• Hotel point transfers: Transfer 850 Starwood points to 850 Dividend Miles.
• Redeem transferred miles for a magazine: Sunset magazine for 400 Dividend Miles

Get US Airways miles on the cheap

(expires December 30)

US Airways, a Star Alliance carrier, is giving bonus miles on purchases made through the Dividend Miles Shopping Mall.  Miles, you say?  Sounds like another crazy scheme, you say.  It is.  The US Airways holiday bonus ramps up with the number of merchants you shop with.  Shop with 5, and you get a 250% bonus.  Shop at a store that pays out 40 miles for every dollar you spend, and you're looking at 140 miles per dollar spent, or 71¢ per mile.  That means business class to Europe for $568...North Asia for $426...see more details with their award chart here:

Frugal Travel Guy has some good suggestions on merchants to shop with before shelling out the big bucks at TrackItBack, the 40-mile-per-dollar merchant.  Personally I have not always had the best luck getting miles posted from shopping at airline websites, and 5 purchases seems a little risky, but it's definitely fun to think about flying around the world in first class for $2,840 -- which wouldn't even get me to New Zealand one way in first.

Free Silver status on US Airways

(expires August 31)

For a limited time, you can get free silver status on US Airways for a 90-day period.  Silver status is good if you're flying domestically on a Star Alliance carrier (e.g. United) and want to avoid checked baggage fees ($15 per bag), because status comes with 2 free checked bags.  You'll also get some bonus miles in the Dividend Miles program on each flight you take.

For anyone flying to Europe, also check out the free silver status from Virgin Atlantic.