US Airways and Student Advantage are joining forces to provide college students special promotions through the Student Advantage Membership Program.

Students who join Student Advantage, or who renew their membership for 2002, will receive an array of benefits for travel on US Airways. For example, students who book online for the first time will earn 5,000 bonus miles, and every subsequent online booking is worth another 1,000 miles. At that rate, 20,000 miles could build up pretty fast. These bonuses expire June 30. More information can be found on both the US Airways and Student Advantage Web sites.

The statistics certainly substantiate US Airways actions. College students travel an average of 3.3 roundtrips by air each year. Approximately 15 million students are enrolled in the nation’s colleges.

This might be another sign that the United/US Airways deal is in danger. United has the very successful college frequent flyer program called CollegePlus, and it’s unlikely that US Airways would spend time and money creating a competing program that would abruptly end if United were to take over.