US Airways Premier World MasterCard
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Features
Annual fee: $89
Intro Bonus: Up to 35,000 bonus miles. 12,500 with first use, 12,500 after $750 in purchases within 90 days, up to 10,000 with balance transfer up to $10,000. 5,000 Bonus Miles With First Use, 5,000 Bonus Miles After $750 Spent In The First 90 Days, Up to 10,000 Bonus Miles With Balance Transfer In The First 90 Days. Plus earn 10,000 miles toward Dividend Preferred status.
Earning: One mile per dollar spent, 2 miles per dollar spent on US Airways purchases.
Foreign Transaction Fee: 3%
First class airport check-in line privileges, and priority boarding. Does not include free checked bag privilege.
5,000 Mile Discount Off Each Eligible Award Ticket. For example, if twenty-five thousand (25,000) Dividend Miles are required to redeem an award ticket, then as a US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard Cardmember who met the criteria set forth in the Terms and Conditions, the Cardmember’s Dividend miles account would only be deducted by twenty thousand (20,000) miles instead of twenty-five thousand (25,000) miles.
Annual Certificate Redeemable For One $99 Companion Ticket
One US Airways Club visit annually
Miles good for travel on: US Airways, United, Continental, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Singapore Airlines, and several more.
Our review: High intro bonus…if you use balance transfer
This card offers one of the most generous introductory bonuses available — up to 35,000 miles. However, it’s only 25,000 if you don’t elect to make a balance transfer. You need to make a $10,000 balance transfer to capture the full 35,000 miles. We generally advocate never carrying a balance if you’re using mile credit cards, as the rates are not as competitive as with non-mileage cards. They are designed for people who pay bills off in full each month, so someone with a $10,000 balance to transfer may not be the best candidate for this type of card.
If you are a frequent US Airways flyer the priority boarding privilege may be helpful, and is something not offered by other airline cards at a sub-$100 annual fee.
US Airways is a decent program for earning and redeeming miles. It’s part of the Star Alliance, the largest partnership of airlines in the world. Your US Airways miles are good for redeeming travel on United, Continental, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Singapore Airlines, and several more — with more available destinations than any other alliance.
Try entering your monthly spending in our Mile Credit Card Value Calculator. You’ll probably find that although this card scores well the first year value because of the intro bonus, it does less so as you enter future years due to the annual fee.
That said, you may be best off if you choose a card that lets you transfer miles into many more airline programs like the Starwood American Express. With the Starwood card you can transfer miles directly into US Airways and over 20 other airlines — with a special 25% bonus, making it among the most valuable cards in ongoing years. It only carries a $45 annual fee.
II will be cancelling my USAir Premier card as soon as I can spend the points I have earned since I have had the card. I will tell you why.
I tried to book a full fare flight and use my $99 Companion Ticket for my husband, but nooooo!!!!! I was told that my certificate had expired and I would have to order a new one! (We had just decided to take a vacation.) What good would that do me when I was traveling sooner than the 4 to 6 weeks it would have taken for the new certificate to get to me. The flights would have been very expensive and not worth the savings if I had waited. Instead I booked on another airline and got better satisfaction and free baggage!!!!! I have had my card for some time now and have faithfully paid the annual fee of $95 since the second year of having this “privileged” card. They would not honor my request. Mind you, I went to make my reservation 15 days after the expiration month on my certificate. I will not fly USAir nor will I ever recommend that anyone get this card. The customer service representative did not go over and above to help me! I guess I just didn’t have enough points or I am not high enough on the totem pole. I am a peion in USAir’s eyes! They speak about rewards with this card – WHAT A JOKE!!! What’s in YOUR pocket!!!!! My frustration level is beyond with this company. It’s too bad.
I want to cancel my application immediately. I am legally disabled and did not understand that it has an annual fee.
I cannot find a phone number to reach you. My son read and explained the details after I came home from my brother’s funeral.
Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for understanding. I’m a widow on a fixed income and cannot afford this card.
Ruthie Barbour
@Ruthie- We don’t process the applications, but you can call them (Barclays bank) at 1-866-419-0881 to cancel it.
We signed up in September 2010 on a flight to the Caribbean and stopped using all our other cards to accrue as many points as possible within the next 12 months so we could at least get one round-trip ticket with points. The deceptive advertising included earning enough points on the flight we were on to get a free round-trip for the same flight. Yeah, right. Ten months later, we still don’t have enough points. With 25,000 points, assuming all the Dividend Miles seats aren’t already sold out, you can buy the round-trip ticket. In every month except September, our chosen route required 60,000 points. Unless you travel and purchase extensively, this card is not worth it, particularly with its $89 annual fee. Any issues regarding the card must be answered by Barclays Bank. USAirways staff only sells the card on its flights; however, it offers absolutely no service and will not intervene if there is an issue with deceptive advertising or customer service.
Jack-
This whole ’3 tier’ mileage pricing on US Airways is causing a lot of dissatisfaction. Another issue that makes it look bad, but that you can work around is the fact that their website only shows US Airways flights. However, you can use your miles to book on flights with United, Continental, and any other Star Alliance carrier. To see more availability — go to http://www.continental.com — then search for the reward flights you want. If they show up with the ‘low’ 25,000 mile availability on Continental.com, go ahead and call Dividend Miles directly, and ask for those flights. They should show up as available to the phone agent for 25,000 miles using Dividend Miles.
This card is a real nighmare. I have had many cards over many years and this is by far the worst. They didn’t honor the promo miles that were promised, so if you want the card for that reason, forget it. They charged interest on balances that were supposed to be 0%. The biggest problem is no customer support. Calls are sent to gigglinig moronic Filapina teenagers who can barely speak English. No supervisor is ever available and whatever you do, don’t permit yourself to be put on hold because you’ll never hear from them again. Want to talk to an American? No can do. Stay away at all costs!
I hate this card. I absolutely hate it. Worst customer service ever.
They say they will waive the annual fee. They won’t. They charge it. You’ll call and ask if you can get that money restated faxing in proof that they said they’d waive. You’ll get your money back….7 months later and after calling them every month. This happened to both me and my wife two years in a row.
Then, they’ll just close your account unexpectadely without verifiying that with you and you’ll be unable to reopen it. They just closed it – probably because I was always saying, “this is the worst credit card I’ve ever had”.
I hate this card – its the bane of my existence.
This US Airways Master Card issued thru Barclay’s Bank, Wilmington DE is a pure scam. All customer service is handled in Manilla, Phillipines. They do not speak clear english, & offer extremely poor customer service to cardholders who pay their balance off each month. For instance, Barclay’s & US Airways advertise the $25 processing fee will be waived if you meet their $25,000 threshold in a calendar year. This will continue for 12 consecutive months. They state when you make your on-line reservation the fee will automatically be deducted. Not true!! Beware, they tack it on with all other govt taxes. When I called US Airways to question, they said I have to call Barclay’s to have them send the waiver. I called Barclay’s & they respond “I’m sorry there is nothing I can do, you need to call US Airways! Pure nonsense. In addition Barclay’s told me they would change the miles to be transferred into my husband account starting in March. US Airways now tells me they cannot do that & when I call Barclay’s to transfer the 3200 miles from Feb/Mar to the original account, they again respond “I’m sorry there is nothing I can do!” After several headaches dealing with US Airways & MasterCard, I decided to cancel my account. I had to make 3 phone calls before I was assured the account was closed because they conveniently hang up on you!